Page 29 - Australian Paint & Panel Nov-Dec 2020

29
Ben Fewtrell is the author of the Business Exceleration Blueprint, is a sought-after advisor, speaker, podcast host and traininer. He has mentored and coached hundreds of business owners in dozens of industries, including collision repair. Visit Maxmyprofit.com.au
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
Obviously, there are other KPI’s as well, but we want to know our number
of qualified leads, that is the high level.
We also want to know our cost acquisi- tion per lead. If the machine has a market- ing budget it must stick to an acquisition cost per lead. So, how we measure this ma- chine is through the number of leads per year, per month, per week and averaged dollar cost per lead.
Our next machine relies on our previous machine feeding it. That’s why they’re in this order. The next machine is the conver- sion machine. This machine is responsible for taking these qualified leads and turn- ing them into a customer. This machine has a little wastegate at the bottom for peo- ple that didn’t qualify, or for people that we didn’t convert. Where we lost out to a competitor or it where they didn’t like something. So, you end up with a percent- age that you can measure as to how many sales leads actually go through. This is an- other good KPI to measure.
So, our lead generation goes into our sales machine where it’s converted into a custom- er. From there it goes into the next machine which is the client fulfilment machine.
You can think of this next machine as operations. Once someone becomes a cus- tomer the goal of this machine is to make sure that the customer remains happy and that they continue to come back to the business, spending more on each transaction.
If a machine is
underperforming, we’re likely to have
a backlog, right?”
Once again, this machine is quanti- fiable, we can measure the lifetime value, how long the customer stays, whether this is in dollars or months. Average dollar sale per customer, num- ber of referrals, we can measure all of this. This machine is about making sure the customer is happy and that they will keep coming back to make more transactions.
So, our operations machine feeds our next machine, which we call the business machine. Now, this machine’s KPI’s or main functionality is all about profitabil- ity. This machine is what sets the budget for all the previous machines. So, if you think about it like that, the KPI’s will be matters like expenses or business sys- tems such as HR or recruitment. Things that make the business run becomes this machine’s main responsibility.
You can now start to look at who is responsible for making sure each of these machines are operating effectively. Also, remember
that some of these machines are going to be operated by more than one person.
Right now, you might be operating in the marketing machine, or any of them for that matter. But as your business grows, you must be able to delegate the operation or responsibility of these ma- chines to a manager. You have to be crystal clear about what the machine is, what its function is and what they are responsible for
BE CRYSTAL CLEAR
There are a few reasons why you must be crystal clear. Firstly, you as the leader have to be able to hold someone ac- countable for reaching KPI’s or not reaching them. Secondly, it is important for the operator. If a machine is under- performing, we’re likely to have a back- log, right? KPI’s can help us to pinpoint exactly where a particular problem lies within our whole operation.
The same idea applies if you have man- agement in your business. You want to get them focusing on what they are great at. For example, if someone wants to do something within the marketing machine, they have to speak to the marketing man- ager. Likewise, if someone has to do some- thing with production, then they will want to speak to the production manager.
Now, you have to realise that as a small business owner, you’re most like- ly trying to manage each of these ma- chines by yourself. As your business grows this will get harder and the workload will continue to increase, and next thing you know you’re stuck in a rut, stressed out but stuck in the same performance. I hope that this machine view has helped you to take a step back and look at your business, the people within it and how managing them ef- fectively through the use of KPI’s and targets, is your key to success and fu- ture growth.