Your business numbers. You either hate them or love them, with very few people being somewhere in the middle.

I know they can become overwhelming. That’s why I prefer to use a scorecard. It allows me to stay on top of the most important numbers in my business. The more advanced stuff I can leave to the professionals.

What is a scorecard?

A scorecard can be a piece of paper, an excel sheet, or a simple note on your calendar with anywhere between five and fifteen numbers on it.

You can use it to track important numbers in your business. I use it to track the following:

• My bank balance.
• My projected bank balance at the end of the month.
• A monthly pay role, in other words what I’m paying myself, my contractors, and my associates.
• Expenses.
• Invoices.
• Fees from PayPal, Stripe, etc.

In total, I have about nine business numbers on my scorecard. I make a point of updating them once a week.

I know you might not be comfortable or have the time to do it every single week. I’ve also struggled to update my numbers on a regular basis.

What I’ve seen is whenever I neglect my scorecard, my business falters. I start to make fewer sales.

When I can’t see my numbers, I can’t see my business holistically. I can’t see where the business is going.

If I can’t see the direction in which my business is going, I become blind to what’s going on. If sales are dropping, I won’t know they are. I won’t be able to make plans accordingly.

Looking back on times I neglected my scorecard, I stopped chasing leads, increasing my marketing efforts, or booking more calls.

Timeline

The scorecard allows you to forecast your business months in advance.

My scorecard allows me to view how things are likely to play out over a three-month period.

Let’s say my scorecard reflects June, July, and August. I’ve already projected sales for those three months.

By the beginning of June, I’ll already have an idea of my financial situation for the month. I can already start scheduling clients and work for July and August.

Biting the bullet

I know many people aren’t exactly enthusiastic about numbers. Neither am I. And that’s considering I’ve done accounts payable for a multi-million dollar company.

But I still do it because I need those numbers in front of me. To quote my partner, “If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business.”

If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know where you’re going. You can’t see the red flags. In addition, you can’t celebrate your wins either, because you’ve absolutely no idea what’s going on.

I know it’s hard. I know you don’t want to do it. But I can promise you if you just take the time to work on a couple of numbers a week, you’ll see the difference in your business.

I recently closed three clients. Two of them were easy sales. It obviously felt great and exhilarating.

When I put it on my scorecard, I actually discovered those clients would be bringing in thousands of dollars for the rest of the year.

Your business numbers don’t have to be a headache

The scorecard is not a balance sheet or fancy financial statement. Don’t put every single number in your business up there. Instead, make sure you only have the most important business numbers on it.

I’ve helped several clients build their lists, organize summits, and convert leads. If you need help with your business, book a free call with me today.