What are your numbers telling you about your business?

I love to cycle.  One of the most important aspects of cycling for me is numbers.  I have a series of numbers I want to know all the time when I'm on the road.  Mountain biking is slightly different.  It has it's own numbers, but on the road I want to know my heart-rate, speed and cadence.  If I know those three numbers, I can determine what kind of ride I'm going to have.

My maximum heart-rate is 190 beats per minute.  I can ride all day in the 133-143 range (60-75% max).  I can stay strong most of the day in the 143-152 range (75-80% max), but if I stay above 164% of max for more than 20-30 minutes at time I will start to become inefficient.  In that case, I need to change cadence, slow down and reduce heart-rate to recover energy and efficiency.  It's all in the numbers.

The same is true in our businesses.  What numbers would be important to know?

• How many listings do you have that are active, pending, etc.,?  We're a buyer's broker, so it's unusual for us to have listings, but I do take listings for REO companies and friends.  Those are good numbers to know if you're a listing brokerage.
• What about number of listings per agent?  Who is out there generating business for the company?
• What about sales per agent?  If there is a large variance between agents, that might signal a need for more training or a conference with low performers.  Why are the numbers low?  What are they doing to generate business?
• What are your expenses?  Office rent?  Copier rent?  Web related expenses?  Fuel?  Phones?  Marketing?  Etc.?
• What about your days on the market?  Are your listings languishing on the market?  Is it time to get a price reduction?  Do the sellers need to make some repairs that are keeping buyers away?
• What is productive and what is not? 

There so many numbers to know to keep your business on track.  If you don't know the numbers it's hard to make a dedicated plan for future growth.  If you don't know where you are, how will you get to where you want to go?  Know the numbers.

On my bike computer, when I see a higher heart-rate and a lower speed, I know something is happening.  In this case, the wind picked up and slowed me down.  It raised my heart-rate, but I compensated by changing gears and increasing my cadence.  Slowly, my heart-rate came back in the 70-80% max zone.  That's a sweet spot.  So even with the wind, I could adjust to have a good ride.  When you know your numbers you can make quick adjustments to keep business on track.  What are your numbers telling you about your business?