Recently we have been doing a lot of work with companies on trying to get the right metrics for their business. Done well, implementing the right set of metrics or KPIs can be a real game changer in transforming business growth. But it’s not easy to get this right. 

So here are a few tips based on our experience:

In one of our publications, Three Steps to More Referrals, we discuss the fact that most clients who receive great service are happy to recommend you – yet industry figures suggest that only 20% actually do.

Why is this? Well, the simple answer is that in most cases companies just don’t ask. We always ask for referrals. They make good business sense.

Time is the great enemy in growth companies; too much to do, lots of meetings, hard to make the right impact. What you were doing last year may not be what you should do this year. 

You know the time-crunch symptoms. Everything is a rush. Last minute impatience creates stress. Procrastination and indecisiveness make 'to do' lists longer. You feel handcuffed to email technology. 

Many CEO's have to operate in a split personality mode, like Dr Jekyll and My Hyde when it comes to business growth. Most of the time they are in an operational or ‘in the business’ mindset and only occasionally do they actually take time out to focus ‘on the business’.

Many CEOs did a stellar job in leading their companies through the last recession. They made tough decisions. They dieted and trimmed the fat out of the cost line. As a result, they are fitter, healthier and have cash reserves.

However their companies now face a different set of challenges. New markets are emerging and product choices need to be made. Their value proposition needs to be reviewed and the sales and marketing machine needs an overhaul.

We’ve all been there. The CEO stands up, presents his vision of the future.  He outlines the great and detailed plan the senior team has been working on for weeks. There are usually drinks. Everyone is on a high.

In a previous post (Getting to Product/Market Fit - how can startups get there faster) and in the book The Business Battlecard (www.selectstrategies.com) I wrote, about the science of product/market fit and  different approaches to get their faster. The scientific and tools based approach to product/market fit is promoted so widely now by people like Steve Blank, Eric Ries, Sean Ellis, Tristan Kromer, Morgan Brown and others that sometimes we forget the human element. I got a sharp reminder recently.

You love to win deals. Right! They pay the wages. You beat that competitor you dislike. But how profitable are these deals? Does your CFO know?

Is your pricing sometimes 'finger in the air'? How do you handle discounts? Do you reduce scope when discounts are given? Is your pricing like a leaky bucket?

Startups can be dark places. Founders can be both confused and manic in equal measure. The heroes journey is tempered with lack of cash and lots of uncertainty. Yet the joy and freedom of choosing to follow your dream is so rewarding. Incubators, universities and investors ask whether there is a better way to get to product/market fit? They ask how startups can learn to build their companies more efficiently?

Have you ever wondered how startups go about selecting a name for their businesses? Often it seems they choose a name that reflects what the product does. Seems to make sense – yes? Yet when you are an early stage startup trying to find product/market fit that can be tricky. What if you pivot to a new industry or application of your product?