From Data to Dollars: How KPIs Turbocharge Your Kitchen & Bath Design Sales

By now you’ve heard me mention the importance of sales systems approximately a gazillion times (okay, not that many, but I talk about it a lot), and how they can transform your kitchen and bath design business into a well-oiled profit machine. You’ve also learned how to get your leads into the system, ensuring you’ve got a steady stream of potential clients to work with. But what comes next? How do you navigate the labyrinth of data that’s accumulated? How do you determine what’s working and what isn’t? That’s where we dive into the exciting world of KPIs, or key performance indicators, in this episode.

Now, hold on a second. I know what some of you are thinking. Metrics? KPIs? That sounds about as thrilling as watching paint dry or reading the dictionary. But trust me, as a business owner, these metrics are the key to unlocking your success and understanding how your sales system is performing. Instead of spending your precious time digging through data or scrambling to find information, these KPIs provide you with a simplified, one-glance overview of your business health.

KPIs: The Business Owner’s Dashboard for Guiding and Streamlining Success

Think of them as the check engine light on your car dashboard. You don’t need to pop the hood and inspect the engine every time before you start your car. Instead, the check engine light informs you when attention is needed. That’s precisely what KPIs do for your business. They tell you when and where you need to focus your efforts. KPIs are about as exciting as it gets when you’re a business owner, and if you don’t believe me yet… Here’s why.

Picture this. You’ve got your business to run. You’re busy managing teams, clients, projects, and a never-ending to-do list. You don’t have time to micro-manage every aspect of your business. That’s where KPIs come to the rescue. They act as your guiding light, highlighting what’s important and what needs your attention.

There is no shortage of possible data points available from your systems, but we’re going to make it simple and avoid boring you with an exhaustive list of metrics. Instead, we’re focusing on your top three sales system KPIs. These are the metrics that can transform your business, and they’re not as complex as you might fear. The beauty of KPIs is that they provide a clear view of how your business is performing, and they do it in a way that doesn’t consume all your time.

Here are the top three KPIs that every kitchen and bath design business owner needs their eyes on:

The first KPI is the number of new leads per week. You might have some repeat clients, but not everyone embarks on a new kitchen or bathroom project each year. If you’ve got strategic partners like builders or interior designers bringing you new leads, that’s fantastic. However, it’s essential to keep a pulse on how many new leads are entering your system each week. Over time, you’ll establish your baseline for the target number of new leads per week. This metric sets the stage for your business’s future health.

The second KPI is all about how quickly leads are engaged. This means tracking the last interaction a lead had with your business. You want this last interaction to have occurred within a specific timeframe, usually no more than two weeks. You see, for each business, this engagement rate can vary. Still, it’s a critical KPI to ensure that leads stay warm and engaged. If a lead hasn’t been engaged within a week, it’s a signal that they might be cooling off. So, you’ll want to ensure regular touchpoints with leads. This metric is all about maintaining the value of existing leads, ensuring they don’t go untouched or grow cold.

The third KPI you want to watch closely is potential revenue in the pipeline. Each deal or project comes with associated potential revenue. This KPI allows you to monitor how much revenue you can expect from deals in progress. It helps you see if you’re on track to meet your revenue goals. And… it can also indicate whether you’re about to run into a capacity problem. A sudden surge in potential deals can be a pleasant challenge, but it might also mean you’ll need to expand your team’s capacity to meet the demand.

Having these top three sales system KPIs at your fingertips enables you to monitor your sales health quickly, much like checking your car’s dashboard before you hit the road. You can see if the engine is running smoothly without having to pop the hood and check every little detail. With KPIs, you’re ensuring your sales system is in good shape, saving you time, making more money, and increasing your potential earnings on every project.

In the next episode of ELEVATED podcast, we expand your metrics horizon and discuss additional data available from your sales system that can be helpful in diagnosing issues and addressing potential challenges before they have a chance to take you off track.