In this blog post I'll be covering the basics of KPIs and give you some examples of KPIs that you should look out for in your land surveying business.
Deciding what kind of Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to measure for your business can be tough. There are a lot of factors to consider, and it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. Do you want to measure something financial? Operational? Something else entirely?
If you're new to this, I'll give you some background and some examples.
This blog post will explore some factors to consider when deciding what kind of KPI to measure for your business. We will also provide examples of different KPIs types so you can get an idea of what might work for you.
What is a KPI?
A KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, is a metric used to measure and track progress against specific business goals. KPIs can be quantifiable, like revenue or number of new customers, or non-quantifiable, like customer satisfaction or employee engagement.
At the end of the day you might just be looking at just seeing how your progressing on your marketing strategy, your sales strategy or just if you're land surveyors are performing.
Here are some high level objectives you can set to work your KPI:
- I want my surveying business to reduce the number of reworks.
- I want my surveying business to increase the number of sales in London
- I want my surveying business to get more calls from X type of clients.
From these you can generate the following types of metrics to measure:
- Ratio of re-works vs number of projects; so you can calculate it like so: nr. or re-works/total number of projects (per week, month or year)
- KPI to track for the number of sales: you can look at conversion ratio from number of calls to measured survey booking in london. e.g. number of bookings for jobs in london/number of calls or bookings
- for this one might be a bit hard but you can prepare a pie chart or a ratio of number of calls from architects in a certain period divided by the total number of calls. e.g. (per week) number of calls from architects/ total number of calls per week
The important thing to remember about KPIs is that they should be aligned with your company's overall strategy. That means choosing KPIs that will give you the most insights into whether or not you're achieving your goals. It is up to you to generate these goals, we normally discuss these on a weekly basis with our team by looking at statistics from our business.
There are dozens of different KPIs you could choose to measure, but which ones are right for your business? There are a few general categories of KPIs that all businesses should consider:
- Sales KPIs: The measurement of calls and bookings. This can be cost per acquisition, conversion rate, conversion rate per medium, etc....
- Operation KPI: the measurement of failures, re-visits, errors, hours spent on a project or plan.
- Safety KPI: the measurement of incidents, close call, etc...
- Employee KPIs: These measures track employee productivity and engagement. Examples include time to complete tasks, quality of work, absenteeism rate, and turnover rate.
- Customer KPIs: These measures track how well you're serving your customers and meeting their needs. Examples include customer satisfaction scores, Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer churn rate, and lifetime value (LTV). (this is something I am aspiring to work out) it takes a lot of data and time to acquire this.
- Financial KPIs: These measures track your company's financial health and performance. Examples include revenue, profit margins, cash flow, and burn rate.
I'll talk about them a bit more on this blog to give you a better idea of what we're looking for in our surveying business.
Why Should You Measure KPIs?
There are several reasons why you should measure KPIs for your business. By measuring KPIs, you can:
-Get an insight into how well your business is performing
-Identify areas where your business could improve
-Benchmark your performance against others in your industry
-Set targets for improvement
-Monitor trends over time
Measuring KPIs can help you to understand where your business is performing well and where there may be room for improvement. This information can then be used to set targets and monitor progress over time.
I would use spreadsheets and if you have the money I would plug in and aggregate your data using Microsoft office business intelligence. It is pricy but you can replicate it
What Are the Different Types of KPIs?
There are four main types of KPIs:
-Leading indicators measure something that happens before the desired outcome. For example, new website visitors would lead to increased sales.
-Lagging indicators measure something that happens after the desired outcome. For example, sales would be a lagging indicator for increased profits.
-Input KPIs measure an organization's core processes. For example, a number of products produced per hour would be an input KPI.
-Output KPIs measure the results of an organization's core processes. For example, customer satisfaction levels would be an output KPI.
How do I find business objectives to write my KPI?
There are a few different ways that you can go about finding business objectives to write your KPIs. One way is to look at your business's overall goals and identify specific objectives that would help you measure progress towards those goals. Another way is to look at specific areas of your business operations and try to identify objectives that would help you improve those areas.
If you're not sure where to start, a good place to look for inspiration is other businesses in other industries. There are loads of articles on objectives for marketing or consultancy business that you can use to gather some ideas. See what kinds of KPIs they are measuring and see if there are any that you think would be beneficial for your own business. You can also look at general resources on KPIs and see if there are any that stand out as being particularly relevant for your business.
Once you have a few possible objectives in mind, it's important to sit down and really think about what each one could mean for your business. What would be the implications of meeting or exceeding each objective? What would happen if you failed to meet it? By thinking through these questions, you can help narrow down your list of potential KPIs to those that will truly be valuable for your business.
You can get some ideas on your objectives by looking at your business strategies.
What sales KPI should I measure in my business?
There are a number of different sales KPIs that you could measure in your business, but which ones you choose to measure will depend on your specific business goals and objectives. Some of the more common sales KPIs that businesses track include:
-Revenue: This is perhaps the most obvious sales KPI to track, and it can be helpful in gauging overall sales performance.
-Conversion rate: This KPI measures the percentage of leads or inquiries that are converted into actual sales. It can be a useful metric for evaluating the effectiveness of your sales team's efforts.
-Average order value: This KPI measures the average dollar amount of each sale. Tracking this metric can give you insight into whether your prices are too low or too high, and whether you're selling enough high-value items.
-Customer satisfaction: This KPI measures how satisfied your customers are with your products or services. Tracking customer satisfaction can help you identify areas where your business needs to improve.
What business operation KPI should I measure in my business?
There are a variety of business KPIs that you can measure, depending on your business goals. If you want to increase profits, you might measure KPIs such as revenue, costs, or margins. To improve customer satisfaction, you might measure KPIs such as customer retention or complaints.
And if you want to improve employee productivity, you might measure KPIs such as employee satisfaction or output per hour. It is important to choose the right KPIs for your business and track them over time to see if you're progressing towards your goals.
What health and safety KPI should I measure for my projects and business?
There are a variety of health and safety KPIs that you can measure for your projects and business. Some examples include:
- Number of reported incidents
- Number of injuries
- Number of days lost to injury
- Cost of workers' compensation claims
- ratio of safety inspections to accidents
- Training completion rate
- hours worked since incident
- ratio of incident vs hours worked
Each organization will have different priorities regarding health and safety, so it's important to tailor your KPIs to match your specific goals. By measuring the right KPIs, you can identify areas where your health and safety program is succeeding and areas where improvements need to be made.
What marketing KPI should I measure in my business?
Assuming you are asking about marketing KPIs (key performance indicators), here are a few examples to consider measuring:
-Number of website visitors
-Website conversion rate
-Cost per acquisition (CPA)
-Leads generated
-Sales pipeline velocity
-Customer churn rate
-Net promoter score (NPS)
The KPIs you ultimately choose to measure will depend on your business goals and objectives. However, these are some general examples that could be applicable to many businesses.
How to Choose the Right KPIs for Your Business
There are a few factors to consider when choosing the right KPIs for your business. First, you'll want to think about what kind of data you want to track. Do you want to track financial data? Customer data? Sales data? Once you know what kind of data you want to track, you can start narrowing down your options for KPIs.
Once you know what type of KPI you might want you want to start identify where you can get this data, if the data is not apparent you may want to start looking at finding ways to get this information.
I personally use XERO or spreadsheets where some of the data are coming in. For example I normally check the conversion ratio of my marketing for my land surveying business. We check the number of calls, emails and enquiry to converted bookings in a certain period. Normally I look at it per week, month and quarter to monitor if there is a shortfall in the bookings or calls.
I also look at just basic calls for new measured survey enquiry per day on average. It can be a simple check if there is a drop in calls (new or old) and highlight them on my spreadsheet.
Another one you can look at is the service ratio in the period and how much services are going towards measured building surveys, topographical surveys, monitoring survey or settingout (engineering surveying). As we're trying to reduce our risk and work only on measured surveys I want to see a growth on the measured surveys
Next, you'll want to consider what goals you want to achieve with your KPIs. What do you hope to learn from tracking these metrics? What decisions do you hope to make based on the data? By aligning your KPIs with your business goals, you can ensure that they are truly helpful in measuring your progress.
Finally, you'll want to take into account the resources you have available for tracking KPIs. If you don't have much time or budget for tracking, then simpler KPIs may be more appropriate. However, if you're willing to invest more in tracking, then more complex KPIs can give you richer insights into your business performance.
The bottom line is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to choosing KPIs. The best approach is to carefully consider your business goals and needs and then select KPIs that will help you meet those objectives.
How to Implement KPIs in Your Business
KPIs, or key performance indicators, are a vital part of any business. By tracking KPIs, businesses can identify areas that need improvement and make necessary changes. But how do you actually implement KPIs in your business?
There are a few steps you'll need to take:
1. Define what success looks like for your business. What are your goals and objectives? What do you want to achieve? Once you have a clear idea of what success looks like, you can start to identify which KPIs will help you measure progress towards these goals.
2. Decide which KPIs are most important for your business. Not all KPIs are created equal - some will be more relevant and important than others. Consider what data you need to collect and track, and which indicators will give you the clearest picture of how your business is performing.
3. Put systems in place to track your KPIs. This might involve investing in new software or hardware, or simply setting up some kind of tracking system manually. Whatever route you go down, make sure it's something that's easy to use and maintain so that you can keep on top of your KPIs on an ongoing basis.
4. Monitor your KPIs regularly and take action when necessary. Keep an eye on how your KPIs are trending over time - are they improving? worsening? staying the same? If they're not moving in the right direction, it's time to take
Conclusion
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best KPIs for your land surveying business will vary depending on your goals, and other factors. However, some general tips that can help you choose the right KPIs for your business include focusing on metrics that are relevant to your industry, setting measurable goals, and choosing KPIs that align with your company's values. By following these tips, you can ensure that you're choosing KPIs that will help you achieve success in your business.
If you have any suggestions or edits that you want to make on this post don't forget to reply!
