When I started my career, you couldn’t pay me to look at a spreadsheet – how dumb was I?! I simply wanted to float around the store, buy stuff, make it look pretty and that was it. I had to grow up fast, otherwise it was game over.
You need to know your metrics in order to know the health of your business. If you think you’re too busy – without sounding dramatic – you’ll be gone before you know it. If you don’t monitor and manage things, you’ll find your hard work will slip through the cracks and problems will occur.
Each month I track, track and track again. Gross margins, customer complaints, shipment accuracy, exchange rates, production loses, like for like sales growth, sales to rent ratios, net profit and a whole lot more. Even if you are the smallest fish in the pond, doing it may seem inconsequential but believe me, its not.
Nowadays, this is what I spend so much time on. When you pay close attention to all of the above you will gain insights and improve things – it’s crucial to your business.