What companies want to know

One of the most common things that we get asked when we visit a potential client for the first time is - What KPIs should we be measuring? Initially this surprised me as you would think that they should know better than anyone else how their business operates and what needed to be looked at.

Now I understand that fast growing companies have often ignored their reporting requirements and have been successful almost by instinct. There comes a critical point, however, where accurate performance measurements need to be available and reported on, normally once the business has reached some sort of natural plateau in sales.

Another common reason to report on how well the business is doing is that it can be a requirement from a company that is proposing a take-over or buy-out. They will need a guarantee that reports will be delivered regularly, especially at a high level, showing how the key areas of the business are performing against targets and dare I say it, promises.