Data-Driven
Business Management
When data drives decision making, confidence increases and success follows.
Running your business based on data (industry averages, financial reporting, internal and external trends) seems obvious. However, company leaders, particularly those operating with under $100 million in annual revenue, are pulled into the day-to-day operation and are challenged to step back and objectively look at the numbers. When this happens, opportunities are missed, expenses inflate, sales efficacy suffers, market share wanes.
We get involved with data-driven business management in a number of ways. We own and operate several of our own companies and brands, so we are comfortable in leadership roles. In fact, we have even been appointed by some of our clients to serve as a ‘Managing Director’ for their organizations. We typically do this on an interim basis and have served in this capacity in some cases for several years (and counting). But whether in an operational role or a consultative one, we are happy to work with the other senior leaders in your organization.
Other roles we have assumed: in some cases we serve as the financial administrators managing the books, including A/P and A/R, monthly financial reporting, payroll, and working with your CPA at tax time. Sometimes we serve as strategic consultants/management consultants where we simply consult throughout the month/quarter to strategize, analyze, research, negotiate, and help draft planning documents, operational processes, and even relationship agreements (pending legal review). We also help with vendor management. In other cases, clients ask us to serve as members of Boards of Directors or Advisors.
And as we do our work, we commonly review:
Sales
- Sales Target
- Conversion Rates
- Pipeline Stages
- Trial to Win Conversion Rate
- Client/Account Health
General Business Metrics
- Market Share
- Product Focus Based on Trends and Market Data Potential
- Product Uptime
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV)
- Employee Performance Based on Numbers
- Compensation Plans
Financials
- Gross Revenue
- Operation Profit Margin
- Net Profit Margin
- Monthly Burn Rate
- Working Capital
- AR Analysis
- Travel Expenses
- Budgets and Predictions Based on Long-term Performance and Trends
- Other Revenue and Expense Categories
- Top Product/Services in Revenue
Working in these capacities, we are able to provide not only an objective perspective to your operation from within its own vacuum, but we are able to look with the benefit of experience managing other companies in other industries. We can see what works and often, what does not, from different but often similar industries and apply that knowledge to shorten the learning curve/success rate that you might otherwise experience.
We also dive into technological analysis and recommendation as well as training as needed.
This is why we call our overall work Data-Driven Business Optimization. Because whether we are working on internal management, marketing, branding, web development, or search engine optimization, we are always focused on using data to drive good decision making, and ultimately help you Get Ahead and Stay Ahead of your competition.