Sports teams know their individual stats as well as how they measure up against others – you should too!
As an independent agency owner/executive, hopefully you know your top key metrics such as growth rate, sales velocity, EBITDA profit, client retention rate and compensation expense. Monthly, quarterly and annually, the numbers are produced, and business adjustments are made. While it may seem to be a complete picture, there is an important detail missing. Keeping an internal score doesn’t win the game.
If your playing the game, shouldn’t you know if you are winning or losing?
In sports, the foundation of a score is how one team compares to its competitors. The same holds true for your agency metrics. Knowing your numbers is just the first step. You can’t fully determine if you are winning or losing until you compare it to your competitors/peers. The good news is that it really is as simple as looking at a scoreboard.
Yes, we’re talking about benchmarking.
It’s one thing to see the numbers on your reports – the true story comes out when you actually compare the cold, hard numbers. It’s actually the easy part of metrics. There are several great organizations that have done all of the groundwork – you just have to have your own score ready to compare.
Benchmarking makes the score meaningful!
Getting absolute clarity on the current performance of your agency is imperative. There’s an old saying, “What gets measured, gets managed.” It really is that simple. It is very difficult to improve anything if you don’t objectively measure it.
Benchmarking reveals where there are opportunities for improvement at your agency that are going unseen; it’s just as if you were walking over pile of money lying on your agency’s floor. In fact, we like to call it finding the money lying on the floor! It’s there, waiting to be picked up.
All great teams have a great coach!
One of the very first things we do for all our partner agencies is establish the validity of their scores and then benchmark them against peer agencies. The perspective gained is amazing. At a glance, we can determine where your agency is functioning well and where there are opportunities for improvement. Then, we continue to partner with you to monitor your progress and help you with the adjustments along the way. Game on!
