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An essential part of turning around a business is to create focus around the right metrics. Metrics representing lead indicators supporting the big goal. Metrics all can understand. Allowing each team to see if they are winning or losing daily.

Quarterly priorities for each team

Business turnarounds need focus. A focus you stimulate by operating in shorter stints with a few vital priorities. Teams on all levels in your organization need to contribute to the turn around.

Great metrics in this category are:

• Number of priorities per team
• Length of each execution stint
• Completion hit rate per initiative

Sales progress towards targets

Business turnarounds also need full focus on customers and sales activities. To maximize top-line, often with shrinking sales resources. This initiative putting pressure on both sales efficiency and effectiveness.

Metrics in this category focus on progress towards plans:

• Closure towards plans/target current quarter.
• Short term funnel.
• Quality of funnel.
• Low hanging fruits.
• Customer retention

Customer buying experience improvements

Turn-around situations represent an opportunity to improve the buying experience for your customers. Expect products, services, support, supply or business models to need fixing. a situation where you are more dependent than ever on your sales teams.

How customers perceive the buying experience is critical for vendor selections. CEB have found the weight of buying experience in purchasing decisions to be>50%. A half every sales professional can improve daily. Customer will keep their faith in your company. As long as you are fighting and put your customers’ interests first.

Possible metrics in this category:

• customer request to improve the buying experience you say yes to, in relation to the ones you reject.
• # of small initiatives implemented to improve customers’ buying experience.
• # of customer meetings resulting in a follow-up meeting.
• # of improvement ideas in pilot stage with a customer.

Efficiency in customer value adding flows

A vital turnaround activity is about addressing flows adding value to customers. Avoiding units focus on delivering on metrics tied to their organizational unit only. Define your 10 most important value adding flows and break out a few key metrics per flow.

Possible efficiency measures are

• Throughput in operational bottlenecks.
• Reduction of cycle times.
• Reduction of errors.
• Reduction of hand-over points.

Questions for you and your team

1. What are your major turnaround objectives – clarify the primary drivers first.
2. How are the objectives broken down for different groups – include all affected groups.
3. Do we have sharp enough metrics – allowing employees to follow the scoreboard weekly.
4. Do we differentiate metrics between functions – leverage complementing contributions from different teams.
5. How short are the measurable stints we operate with – turnarounds need short stints.
6. How automated are our metrics measurements – to secure measuring effortless take.
7. How do we reduce hassle for customers – keep turnarounds details internal.

Additional reading suggestions

• Making change stick: change management metrics [BLOGPOST] – by Cara Corporation
• The five Cs of a successful turnaround [BLOGPOST] – Skip Prichard
• The false promise of a single metric [ARTICLE] – by Harvard Business Review
• 4 principles that build a metrics driven company [BLOGPOST] – by TheDataPoint