Episode #23: The CEO Scorecard: What You Should REALLY Be Tracking in Your Business

In this podcast episode, we elucidate the paramount significance of tracking five essential metrics that are critical for effective business management. These metrics provide clarity, enabling individuals to discern what is functioning optimally within their enterprises and where resources may be dissipating. By cultivating a systematic approach to data analysis, one can transition from a reactive to a proactive business strategy, fostering intentional growth rather than chaotic responses to circumstances. We delve into the intricacies of revenue breakdown, lead generation, offer performance, traffic sources, and average order value, emphasizing the necessity of understanding these components for informed decision-making. Ultimately, we advocate for the utilization of our CEO Dashboard, a streamlined tool designed to facilitate the tracking of these pivotal metrics, thereby empowering business leaders to execute their visions with precision and confidence.

The discourse presented in this installment of the Design Your Dream Life podcast delves into the intricacies of managing a business with a particular focus on the importance of tracking specific metrics that provide clarity and direction. The host, Kara, articulates the common challenges faced by entrepreneurs who often find themselves in a state of uncertainty, akin to 'throwing spaghetti at the wall' in hopes that something will adhere. This metaphor poignantly captures the essence of a lack of structured oversight in business operations. The episode meticulously outlines five critical metrics that should be monitored monthly, serving as a compass for business leaders aiming to transcend mere survival and achieve intentional growth.

Kara elucidates that the first metric is the revenue breakdown, emphasizing the necessity of analyzing not just the total income but the sources thereof. It is imperative for entrepreneurs to discern which products or services are generating revenue and through which channels, such as social media or email referrals, thus enabling them to make informed, strategic decisions rather than relying on emotional impulses. The second metric discussed is the influx of new leads, deemed the lifeblood of any enterprise; without a consistent stream of potential customers, future sales become jeopardized. This segment encourages listeners to reflect on how they attract new clientele and the conversion effectiveness of various marketing strategies, thereby promoting a more analytical approach to audience engagement.

In addition, Kara discusses the performance of individual offers, traffic sources, and the average order value, underscoring the significance of these measurements in understanding consumer behavior and optimizing sales strategies. The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to adopt a more data-driven mindset, accentuating that true leadership in business stems from a combination of intuition and empirical evidence. By implementing the recommended metrics, entrepreneurs can not only enhance their decision-making processes but also foster a more resilient and successful business model.

Ultimately, the episode serves as an insightful guide for business owners who aspire to lead with clarity and purpose, reinforcing the notion that success is not merely a product of effort but a consequence of informed strategy and consistent evaluation.

Takeaways:

• This episode emphasizes the importance of tracking five key business metrics monthly for clarity and intentional growth.

• Understanding revenue breakdowns allows business owners to make strategic decisions based on data rather than emotional impulses.

• The podcast highlights the significance of lead generation for business sustainability and future sales potential.

• I emphasize the necessity of measuring offer performance to identify high and low performing products effectively.

• The discussion includes the critical role of average order value in determining sales strategies and customer spending behavior.

• It is crucial to understand traffic sources to optimize marketing efforts and improve overall business performance.

Links referenced in this episode:

• designyourdreamlifetoday.com

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey there, I'm Kara and welcome to Design your Dream Life podcast where we dive in and explore how you can use practical personal development to up level your life.

Whether you are looking to have better or deeper relationships, fix your problems with money, learn to love yourself unconditionally, leave a dead end or high stress career, or just want more happiness in your life, my friend, you are in the right place.

Are you ready? Hello my friends and welcome to another episode of the Design youn Dream Life podcast.

My name is Kara, I am your host and I am so happy you are here for today's episode. You know that feeling when you're throwing spaghetti at the wall and you're just hoping that something will tick?

Well, that's what running a business can feel like. When you are not tracking the right things. You're showing up, you're creating, you're posting, you're selling.

But somewhere in the back of your mind you're wondering, is any of this actually working? If you've ever found yourself stuck in the I hope this works mode, you're not alone and you're not doing anything wrong.

You are just missing clarity, my friend. And today we are going to change that. Because you're big business should not feel like a mystery.

It should feel like something that you are in control of. And in this episode, I am walking you through the five key numbers you should be tracking every month.

These numbers will show you what's working, where your energy is leaking, and how to grow intentionally, not reactively. This is the exact scorecard I use with my high level seven figure private clients. It's our baseline, our foundation and spoiler alert.

It becomes their favorite meeting of the month. So let's jump in, shall we? Let's start with a misconception. I hear all the time, Kara. I check my profit and loss each month.

I know what came in and I know what came out. I'm good, right? And my answer is yes and no. Your profit and loss is helpful, but honestly, it's not enough.

It tells you what happened last month, but it doesn't tell you why it happened. And it doesn't show you how to change the outcome for next time.

That's like checking the scoreboard after the game, hoping that you will win the next one. So if you want to grow, if you want to scale, and if you want to lead your business instead of chasing your business, you need more hindsight.

You need driver data.

You need numbers that show you how people are moving through your business, where the momentum is and what to Double down on that is what a CEO scoreboard can give you. So let's talk about what actually to track. So here are the five core metrics I review with clients. Every single month we review more.

But these, I believe are the five core. Number one is your revenue breakdown. So we're not just looking at how much money came in. We break it down. What offers drove the most income?

Where did most of the sales come from? Email, Instagram referrals? What's generating cash consistently versus only maybe a big launch or an affiliate promo.

When you look at revenue this way, you can start making strategic decisions instead of emotional ones. Number two is this is your lifeblood. Honestly, it is the lifeblood to your business because if your pipeline has no leads, you have no future sales.

So ask yourself, how many new people entered my world this month? Where did they come from? Opt in social collabs. Are they converting?

You want to track your audience growth with intention, not just your follower account. And number three, offer performance. So which offers are actually converting and which ones are underperforming?

So we need to look at conversion rates, we need to look at sales per traffic source, we need to look at our refunds or drop offs because sometimes your favorite offer isn't your best performing one and that's data worth listening to. Number four, your traffic breakdown. Where are people finding you? How are they discovering you? Is it Instagram that's driving most of your traffic?

Or maybe it's Pinterest quietly sending over buyers to your store. Or maybe majority of it is ads and you need to look at more organic strategies or have a combination of both.

But you need to know because this helps you understand where to keep showing up and what you can release.

So if I have a client that is saying like, oh my gosh, like we're spending all of this time on Instagram and I go on track that, oh my gosh, they've only made a thousand dollars over the last three months, but yet we looked over and Pinterest sent in all of this stuff and it's way less lift and it brought us twice the amount of money. It's like, okay, well where can we shift our focus, right? You don't want to just work harder, you want to work smarter based on what is working.

And then the fifth thing is average order value. This one is powerful, my friend. It tells you how much each customer is spending on average.

So if your average order value is $50, and let's say you want a $10,000 a month, you need 200 buyers but if your average order value jumps to 100 now, you only need 100 buyers to hit that same goal. And maybe that's what we're experimenting with, with order bumps and bundling things together and having some one time offer upsells.

That's the power of all of those things, right? Because now we're using that exact same traffic, but we're extracting a lot more money. This also comes into play if you're running ads.

You really should know what your average order value is. Because if your average order value is $50 and is costing you $60 to acquire a customer, we have an issue, right?

So when you track these five monthly numbers, you stop reacting and start leading. You see patterns, you make smarter decisions and you can scale with more clarity, not just chaos. So let me say this clearly.

Your intuition is powerful. I trust mine completely and I know you do too. But when you pair your instincts with real data, that's when you become unstoppable.

You're not just feeling into your business, you're leading it. With intention, with alignment, with power. This is the part people miss. They think it's either flow or structure, but honestly, it's both.

And when those two work together, that's where momentum and clarity lives. Now if you're listening to this and you're thinking, okay, I know, I know I need to track this, but how do I actually do it? I've got you.

This is exactly why we created the CEO Dashboard. It is a simple, intuitive, done for you scoreboard that helps you track all of these five metrics in one clean view, plus so much more.

And it's simple. You can get instant access to it, you can download it. It's the exact tool I use, like I said earlier with my seven figure private clients.

In fact, it is the first thing that we do when we start working together. Why? Because before we build out offers, or I look at what they currently have, or I look at content, I need to see the full picture.

And this dashboard gives us a snapshot of what we need to do. We need to stop the leaks, we need to see where the money is coming from, we need to double down on what's working.

We need to identify any low hanging fruit and we need to make intentional high ROI decisions.

Their goal is to fill out this by the 15th of each month, covering the previous month, and then we meet the next week, so the third week of each month to go over it. And here's the funny part, almost every single one of them roll their eyes when I introduce this sheet.

But by month two, it becomes their favorite meeting. Because there's something incredibly powerful about knowing your numbers, about about leading with data and energy and not pressure and panic.

And you deserve that too. If you're ready to lead your business like the CEO that you are, this CEO dashboard is ready and waiting for you.

You can check it out now at designyourdreamlifetoday. Com. Just go to the top menu under Products. There'll be a little video and a button that will take you to the page.

The link is also gonna be in the show notes. Here's what I want you to take away from today. You don't need more offers, you don't need more content, you don't need more hustle.

But you do need more clarity. And these five numbers, they will give you a real time pulse on your business. They help you stop guessing and start growing with confidence.

So your action step is simple. Start tracking these five numbers every single month. And if you want the tool to make that super simple and low stress, grab the CEO Dashboard.

If this episode spoke to you, take a screenshot and share it in your stories. Tag me and let me know which of the five numbers are you most excited about or maybe nervous about to track.

And if you're ready to lead with data and ease, go to designyourdreamlifetoday.com and get started. I will see you next week, my friends.