From the start.
DECIDE WHAT TO RECORD
Sales, with date, customer, item, price and cost Enquiries, with date, source and outcome Costs, categorised consistently Jobs, with quoted and actual where applicable
ESTABLISH IDENTIFIERS
A customer reference used everywhere Consistent product and category names
AGREE FORMATS
Date format Category lists How names are written
SET UP THE FILES
A data location, backed up A monthly template A notes record of definitions
CHOOSE YOUR METRICS
Five to eight, covering income, profitability, cash, demand and retention
SET THE ROUTINE
A date each month Someone responsible
RECORD BASELINES
Where each figure starts
WHAT TO AVOID
Recording everything and using none of it Deferring until the business is bigger
WHY NOT DEFER
Records cannot be created retrospectively. Starting now costs almost nothing.
