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How Can Project Management Software Help Your Business?

Posted on by Lillian Watts

Project management software is an indispensable tool that every company needs to streamline its project management processes.

The right project management software can be a key success factor, particularly for small businesses where time is of the essence and resources are often limited. Project managers may take on less complex projects but face the additional challenges of fewer resources.

However, this software allows businesses to manage projects, collaborate with team members, and track progress in real-time.

In today’s digital age where remote work is also becoming the norm, the right project management software can be critical to a company’s success, regardless of size, niche, or industry.

But how can project management software add value to your small business? 

Let’s dive into this post and answer your questions.

1. Improved Project Overview

Project management software gives companies a comprehensive overview of their projects, including progress, budget, and resource allocation. With this review, organizations can identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to ensure projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the highest quality standards. Businesses can quickly identify potential problems and take the necessary corrective action. In addition, this overview enables better resource planning and ensures that the right resources are allocated to the right projects at the right time.

2. Increased Customer Satisfaction

This allows team members to collaborate on projects in real time, no matter where they are. By using project management software, companies can ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal, which can ultimately lead to better results and greater customer satisfaction. However, a reliable Internet connection is essential to unlock the full potential of project management software. Since this information is updated in real-time, it is crucial for the firm to ensure good connectivity. Without it, your team may experience slow response times, connection drops, and other technical issues that can prevent them from working effectively. Cox, a popular Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the market right now, includes a fast, reliable internet service to keep your team running smoothly and without interruption.

3. Enhanced Level of Collaboration

One of the main benefits of project management software is improved communication between team members. With the ability to access project information in real-time, team members can easily communicate with each other, share files, and provide immediate feedback. This enhanced collaboration results in better decision-making, faster response times, and a more efficient workflow. Improved collaboration leads to better communication as well, which ultimately offers better results. Project management software facilitates group communication with features such as instant messaging, file sharing, and task assignment, creating an optimized communication channel that reduces misunderstandings and miscalculations.

4. Increased Efficiency

Project management software allows businesses to automate routine tasks such as planning, budgeting, and task management. This automation allows team members to focus on more important tasks, which ultimately improves efficiency. In addition, the project management software provides real-time updates and alerts so team members can keep track of deadlines and identify potential issues before they become more of a problem.

Moreover, project management software streamlines project processes and saves time and energy. This saved time can be used to focus on developing strategies for overall organizational improvement, which can lead to increased productivity and workflow efficiency. Automation can also help organizations reduce the risk of human error and speed up repetitive tasks. 

5. Improved Budget Management

Project management software is especially useful for small businesses on a budget. This software provides real-time updates on project spending, making it easy to effectively manage and track budgets. Small businesses can use project management software to create and track project budgets, set spending limits, and control costs. The software can also create reports and alerts that help small business owners quickly identify budget overruns or potential problems. 

6. Improved Communication Skills with Clients

Project management software also facilitates communication with clients by providing a centralized platform for sharing project information, updates, and feedback. This transparency builds trust and improves the overall customer experience, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and retention. This is because clients are more likely to be satisfied if they have a clear understanding of the progress of the project and how their feedback is taken into account in the project. This increased satisfaction can lead to repeat business and better customer recommendations.

7. Access to Valuable Analytics

Finally, project management software provides organizations with valuable analytics that can be used to spot trends, track progress, and make data-driven decisions. This analysis allows companies to continuously improve their project management processes and achieve better results. Data-driven analytics help organizations make better decisions, streamline processes, and improve project outcomes. 

By analyzing design data, organizations can identify areas for improvement, implement best practices, and adjust their approach as needed. This type of analysis is necessary to identify patterns and areas of potential risk or opportunity.

Summing it up 

As such, project management software enables companies to improve project transparency, improve customer satisfaction, foster greater collaboration, improve efficiency, manage budgets, improve customer engagement, and gain access to valuable analytics. 

By using project management software, small businesses can save time, increase productivity, and achieve better results on projects. With the right project management software and a reliable internet connection, small businesses can overcome adversity and thrive in a competitive marketplace.

12 Ways Hearth & Fireplace Services Can Attract & Retain Talent

Posted on by John Fay

For 2023, the phrase, “a good man is hard to find” takes on new meaning, especially for business owners in the hearth services industry seeking growth by adding service technicians. The stark reality is that the available pool of potential service technician hires has been shrinking for some time.

Why is that?

One major factor is the student loan crisis. The student loan debt that recent 4-year college students are saddled with—up to $57,500—is out of balance with starting salaries. The best and brightest of these graduates are pursuing white-collar, salaried positions to afford their crushing loan payments.

Another major catalyst of this issue is that attending trade school in anticipation of a career in a traditional blue-collar setting unfortunately comes with a certain social stigma. Although it requires substantially less time and money, it seems that most high school grads—and their parents—still believe that a 4-year college degree is the only surefire way to enjoy a high-salary lifestyle.

The blowback from Covid-19’s labor upheaval has further diminished the available labor pool for field services positions and jobs in the trades overall. Existing blue-collar workers found that they could replace their working income with several rounds of Federal stimulus checks and increased unemployment and childcare benefits. Many of these workers, already on the back end of their careers, used these emergency provisions as a means to transition into the next phase of their lives. The result? An unprecedented flight of workers from a segment of the workforce that was already struggling to find skilled, qualified, and willing workers. 

By the end of 2020, they noticed their white-collar counterparts had returned to salaried jobs and were teleworking comfortably from home. It’s no surprise that, according to the US Census Bureau, between 6.5% and 8.5% of existing blue-collar workers in the construction, transportation, and manufacturing sectors moved to white-collar jobs.

Is this all doom and gloom? No, it just means that as a hearth services business owner, you’ll need to work to find the right people.

Here are a few suggestions that you may or may not already be using in your business:

1. Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits Packages

Top technicians will likely have multiple job offers to choose from, so it’s important to offer competitive compensation and benefits packages to attract and retain top talent. This can include things like health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off. Sometimes it’s hard to justify paying above market value for an employee, but consider this—all it takes is one shoddy fireplace or stove installation to tarnish an otherwise sterling reputation.

2. Provide Ongoing Training and Professional Development Opportunities

Top-quality applicants want to continue to grow and develop their skills, so it’s important to provide ongoing training and opportunities for growth to keep them engaged and motivated. This can include things like in-house training, certifications, and opportunities to attend industry conferences.

3. Create a Positive and Supportive Work Culture

Many hearth services companies are family owned with a rich cultural heritage. Top-quality technicians  want to work for a company that values its employees, has a positive work culture, and people who simply “get it.” This can include things like open communication, recognition and rewards for a job well done, and opportunities for growth and advancement.

4. Utilize Employee Referral Programs

Employee referrals are a great way to find top-notch technicians as they are usually recommended by current employees who have a good understanding of the business and the kind of person that would fit in.

5. Partner With Educational Institutions

Partnering with local trade schools and vocational programs can help to attract and recruit recent graduates with the skills and knowledge needed for the job. A solid relationship with a reputable institution could lead to an abundance of worthy candidates sending you their resumés.

6. Foster a Positive Work-Life Balance

Encouraging a positive work-life balance will help attract and retain top-quality people. This can include things like flexible scheduling, remote working (when possible), and extended paternity/maternity leave.

As a business owner in the hearth services industry, chances are you’ve been running your business using the same workflow processes for the past decade or so. QuickBooks, multiple spreadsheets, even—gasp—actual paper in filing cabinets. For 2023, the most powerful tool you have at your disposal is technology. Specifically, integrated business management software built with the unique needs of the hearth services industry in mind.

Integrated business management software is used by companies, large and small, to help run their business more efficiently and productively across the board. A robust enterprise software platform puts you in the best position to hire and retain top field service people.

Here are some ways that business management technology can propel hearth services businesses past their competition:

1. Recruiting and Applicant Tracking

Business management software streamlines the recruiting process by allowing business owners to post job openings online, track applicant information, and schedule interviews. This will make your hiring process more efficient and effective.

a. Leverage Online Platforms

Utilize online services like LinkedIn and Indeed to post job openings and attract qualified candidates. These social media platforms can also help to build a talent pool for future openings.

2. Employee Scheduling

Business management software simplifies scheduling by allowing business owners to create and manage employee schedules, assign tasks and shifts, and track time off requests. This can help to ensure that there are enough technicians available to meet customer demand and keep your hearth business running smoothly.

3. Time Tracking

Business management software helps employers track employee time and attendance, which improves accountability, reduces the risk of time theft, and makes it easier to manage large projects.

4. Performance Tracking

Business management software helps owners track employee performance, set goals, and provide feedback. Ensure that technicians are meeting expectations and help identify areas where they may need additional training or support.

5. Employee Self-Service

Business management software empowers employees by giving them access to schedules, pay stubs, required forms, and other relevant employment information. This serves to reduce the administrative burden on small business owners and increase employee satisfaction.

6. Inventory Management

Business management software can also help to manage inventory, track stock levels, and reorder critical components on time, so field service technicians always have the necessary equipment and hardware to complete their day’s work.

In Conclusion

Because you’re competing for top service technicians from an ever-shrinking pool of qualified candidates, you’ll have to work smarter to attract and retain them. Integrated business management software is a strategic competitive advantage for your business, and gives you a leg up on the market.

6 Ways Business Management Software Can Automate Your Onboarding Process

Posted on by Akhila Ranganathan

Onboarding new hires is an essential part of any organization and a very important task for HR. There are various aspects of this process which include handling many documents, sending periodic reminders, answering questions from new employees, etc. All of these concurrent tasks can overwhelm HR. And unfortunately, sometimes human error can happen. That can lead to problems in the onboarding process which can lead to a poor employee experience. Since the retention rate of a company is very much dependent on this initial employee experience, many companies are now shifting to automating the onboarding process.

What Does Automated Onboarding Mean?

Simply put, automated onboarding is when you have a structured onboarding process that guides your new employees at every turn with minimal manual assistance necessary. Most companies do this by using employee onboarding software. There are other apps and software that can work along with this software to make the work of HR easier and the process smoother for everyone involved.

How Does Automated Onboarding Compare To Manual Onboarding?

To start, automation of the onboarding process leads to improvement in the hiring process and lowers employee turnover. When going about onboarding manually, you will find more inefficiencies in the work being done. Second, manual handling of data can lead to human error, higher costs, and missed deadlines. On the other hand, an automated onboarding process leads to centralized data hubs, minimal human error, reduction of costs, and productivity increases. 

1. Faster Document Processing

Documentation of the new employee is a very crucial job and with automated onboarding, you can do so even before the new hires come for their first day on the job. Since their documentation is done by the time they join, the first day can be spent on knowing their colleagues, learning about the company, and introducing themselves. 

With the paperwork out of the way, your new employees can start focusing on their work from the first day. Many tools can help you with that, and if you are using employee onboarding software, the task will be taken care of by it. Important documents like contract manuals, company policies, and others will be sent automatically to the inbox of the new employees that can check out before their joining date. If they have any questions, they can contact HR and all issues can be cleared up before their joining. 

2. Automated Data Entry

All new employee data is collected automatically and entered into your organization’s work process smoothly when your onboarding is automated. It includes everything from payroll info, contact numbers, home addresses, and more. Automating the onboarding process makes it easier for your other organizational software like ERP, accounting software, etc. to avoid any kind of human error. It also makes the job of HR easier to create reports based on your employees’ demographics, job history, headcount, and more.

3. Improved Employee Engagement

New hires often find it hard to communicate with HR or get responses from them. That is because when done manually, onboarding new employees can swamp HR with paperwork, repetitive admin work, and more. It becomes hard for them to effectively communicate with the new employees leading to lower employee engagement, which can lead to higher retention rates in the long term. But with automation-focused business management software, most of the work is done automatically freeing HR to focus more on interacting with the new hires on a human level. 

From there, HR will be able to better answer any questions the new employees have, guide them better during the orientation programs, and even have time to create FAQ libraries for them. All these improve new employee engagement and lead to higher employee retention.

4. Welcoming Candidates Becomes A Breeze

Retaining new talents is very important for organizations in this competitive job market. This is why companies love to welcome their new hires with a personalized welcome package. With automated employee onboarding, this becomes an easy job for HR. All they have to do is set up online forms to collect personal details of their new hires (t-shirt sizes, mailing addresses preferred pronouns) and then create the perfect welcome package for each of them. And all these can be done before they set foot in their office.  They’ll feel more attached to the company and have greater job satisfaction over the course of their employment.

5. Improve Interactions Between People

During the new employee onboarding, the new employees lay importance on 1:1 interaction with their managers. These interactions help them to know their role in the organization, build better relationships and guide them through their expected goals. With automation-capable software solutions, HR is free from redundant tasks and can handle these kinds of interactions better. Plus the automated system will create scheduled office tours, alert the employees about their orientation and training, schedule when to take their headshots, and other tasks that new hires have to go through.

6. Automatic Benefit Enrollment

Today’s working generation lays very big importance on the benefits and perks a company offers when they are looking for a job. This is why organizations entice talented individuals with perks like commuter benefits, membership perks, and premier health plans among others. However, many times when there is no automation, the employees fail to get information or fail to enroll in such company benefits right away, if ever. But with automation through employee onboarding software, they get automated emails regarding all these on their first day. The emails provide detailed information on how to avail of them and what exactly they’re entitled to. Sometimes companies have different software to provide these perks and benefits, but the automated onboarding process easily works with such software, and everything is under a single platform.

By automating the onboarding process your organization will be much more streamlined .from first day to retirement Not only can your new employees become productive from their first day, but even your existing employees can also do their job better.

How Flexible Work Schedules Will Benefit Your Marketing Team

Posted on by Eleanor Hecks

Are you considering a more flexible work schedule for your marketing team, but unsure whether the benefits outweigh the work of making scheduling changes? While there are always drawbacks with any major change, giving your staff a flexible work schedule and allowing them to choose where they complete their tasks can benefit your team in multiple ways. 

How Does a Flexible Work Schedule Benefit Your Business?

Although there are many benefits to employees, businesses also score with a hybrid or fully remote model. Researchers at Stanford and Harvard estimated companies save around $11,000 per year on space alone when going to a hybrid schedule. They don’t need as much office space when all employees aren’t in the office at the same time. 

Finding the happy medium between flexible work and productivity isn’t always easy. No one wants to feel as though their employer is looking over their shoulder with a tracking app or something that captures screenshots. The proof is typically in the level of work they provide and the finished product. 

Tap Into Technology

Advances in technology allow companies to tap into powerful apps meant to help organize schedules and get remote teams on the same page. Run multiple functions from a single program, such as accounting, customer relationship management, scheduling and task completion. 

Artificial intelligence expands each year, making it easier to farm out repetitive tasks or reach out to customers and employees automatically. Cloud-based systems put the power of the entire database at everyone’s fingertips. Remote work has become almost like being in a physical office. 

What are some of the top benefits to your marketing team and your business when you switch to a more flexible schedule or remote and hybrid work options?

1. Attract Top Job Candidates

The marketing industry is sometimes highly competitive. If you want to attract the most qualified workers, you need to offer the things they want in a job. For example, if someone only wants to work from home, then a remote option is desirable. 

Even a hybrid situation where they go into the office a couple of days and stay home the other days might be better than their current work environment. You can compete with some of the larger corporations by offering work schedule options.

Some people have children, want to go to school or have other interests. Letting them choose to work 10 hours a day and take the fifth day off might be another way to offer a more flexible work environment. Alternatively, you could allow people to choose their off days. Some might decide to work through the weekend when they have childcare and take a few weekdays off. 

2. Increase Employee Engagement

The CEO of an estate planning services company chose to move to a four-day workweek. Perpetual Guardian saw 20% growth in employee engagement when they made the changes. 

It might seem surprising that employees working at different times or locations would be more engaged rather than less engaged. However, they often have better focus when working during their alert hours and without the stress and worry a nine to five job can bring.

They’ll also be more inclined to join in on virtual meetings and stay updated on employee news through the company communication channels. Flexible employees don’t want to be left out. They just want the ability to move things around so it better suits their lives. 

3. Improve Productivity

Offering flexible work schedules can also improve productivity. It’s no secret that some folks are early birds and others are night owls. Those who stay up late have a hard time adjusting to early morning tasks. Their brains don’t kick into gear. By the same token, early risers may not like starting their day as late as nine in the morning.

When you let workers choose start and stop times, you also give them the ability to work when they have the greatest focus and mental clarity. 

Add remote options into the mix and you remove distractions common at a typical office. Instead of stopping in the middle of tasks multiple times a day as co-workers stop to ask questions or chat, employees will be in the quiet space of their home office with few interruptions. 

Some workers may even decide to work a split day, where they start in the early morning, break while the family has their busy time and return to work in the evening when all is quiet again. Parents with kids in school may find it easier to start a bit later and wrap up while everyone is out for the day. Flexibility lets your workers choose how they function best, and because of that, productivity will naturally rise. 

4. Balance Work/Life

You’ve likely heard the buzz in recent years about the importance of a work/life balance. People don’t want to be so career driven that they miss out on time with family and friends. By the same token, they don’t want to be so focused on their personal lives that their work suffers.

Offering some flexibility takes off the pressure of trying to juggle it all and reduces stress. Happier workers are going to be more creative and less likely to burn out. 

For example, John’s brother is getting married on Saturday and he wants to go to the rehearsal Friday. He can shift his work and finish a day early without missing any pay. The extra day off gives him the time to enjoy his family event and not stress about finishing projects that day.

Talk to your workers about what type of flexibility would be most beneficial to them at this point in their lives. A flexible schedule for one staff member might look completely different than the ideal schedule for another. 

5. Retain Top Employees

What is the magic ingredient that allows you to retain top employees while every business around you loses them en masse? More workers want remote options. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of remote jobs hovered around 4%. The virus caused an uptick in the number of people working from home and increased the timing of how fast remote jobs grew.

Currently, the number of remote positions is around 25%, but experts think it will continue to grow in industries where work doesn’t have to be done in person. Factories and food services, for example, aren’t likely to go remote. 

Chat with your current employees about their expectations for going remote. If someone is thinking about leaving because they’re tired of coming into the office, you can easily offer more flexibility and hopefully keep a valued worker instead of losing them to the competition. 

6. Develop Talent

When your workers can put in 40 hours or even work 30-hour weeks rather than the typical 40 hours, you open up the opportunity for them to take courses and expand their education. You may attract top graduates who want to go on for their master’s or doctoral degrees. 

Put learning as a high priority. If anyone on your team wants to learn new skills or go back to school, find a way to work with their schedule. You’ll reduce stress, and the entire team will benefit from bringing new skills into the company. 

7. Show You Value Them

In a recent poll about why people leave their positions, around 57% of workers said it was because they didn’t feel valued at their current jobs or felt disrespected. Approximately 45% pointed to lack of flexibility. The combination of trying to juggle work with their lives and feeling unappreciated was the perfect storm that led many to resign from their positions.

When you offer a flexible work schedule, you show your employees that you care about them as individuals. It matters to you that they have to figure out when to drop the kids off at daycare or pick the dog up from the groomer. You understand their schedules sometimes change on a dime and it’s okay if they need to shift their hours a bit here and there. 

8. Decrease Absenteeism

Every employee has days when they don’t feel their best. Perhaps they feel a cold coming on or just stayed up too late the night before. Whatever the reason, when people have flex time,they can take a few hours or a full day off and not worry about losing their jobs.

Offering a flexible work schedule may decrease absenteeism because employees know they can just complete the work the next day or even that evening when they’re feeling better. You can also reduce office illness when you don’t force people to come in even when they’re under the weather. There’s no sense in spreading all those germs around and every employee growing ill and unable to do their daily tasks. 

Will a Flexible Work Schedule Benefit Your Company?

Not every marketing team benefits from a flexible work schedule. Many find the freedom to work from home and swap around days and times benefits everyone on the team. Unfortunately, a few employees not pulling their weight can ruin the perk for everyone. Set some firm policies for how your flexibility works and let your team members chime in if something isn’t playing out the way they’d like.

A flexible work schedule is something every company should try. You never know just how much it might increase your team’s productivity and employee morale.

How Hearth and Fireplace Service Companies Can Keep Up With The Latest Tech Trends

Posted on by John Fay

In today’s competitive Hearth and Fireplace Services market, the ability to provide exceptional customer service is essential for customer retention and remaining competitive on price while still making a profit. Technicians are on the front lines of customer interaction and it is crucial that you maintain optimal field-to-office communication. In an age where business management technology is rapidly evolving, using Hearth Services management software will keep you up to date with the latest technology trends pushing your industry forward.

Companies can use hearth service management software to unify and streamline business operations, improve communication, and provide a succinct and clear view of day-to-day finances. Convenient access to scheduling & dispatch, inventory control, and service metrics for advanced insight into industry trends are just some of the many ways that business management software for the hearth industry can lead to better outcomes for your business.

Trends are increasingly short-lived and are constantly changing in a world starving for product differentiation. Hearth service management software helps your business to adapt to the shifting demands of the consumer.

How Can Hearth Service Management Software Optimize Your Growing Business?

Improve Operational Efficiency

Hearth service management software unifies your business operations into one system for easy access for all of your employees. This eliminates disconnects from the field to the office, most notably reducing errors and delays in manual data entry and information exchange by integrating in-office and onsite data into a single connected platform. Reducing human error prevents a negative feedback loop in which small inaccuracies can snowball into larger issues. 

The first-time fix rate—the percentage of jobs completed on the first visit—is essential to customer retention and keeping your business competitive. According to Aberdeen Group research, an 88% rate is necessary to stay at the top of your industry, while having a lower than 80% success rate renders your services below average. Hearth management software keeps scheduling, dispatching, and work orders in the same place for your employees in the field, ensuring they are always prepared to meet your clients’ needs the first time, not the second or third.

Enhance Data Security

Protecting company and customer data from cyber threats is a growing concern for small businesses in all industries. With the increased use of technology in business operations, it’s important to have strong security measures in place to protect sensitive information from potential cyber attacks. This includes not just the data stored on company servers, but also the data on the customer side, as well as data on mobile devices used in the process of installing or servicing the equipment.

Enhance Information Access

Consolidating your business processes into a single platform eases the stress of managing your hearth services business. In order to maintain smooth field-to-office communication and ensure a pain-free customer experience, management must keep important information readily available to everyone, especially employees in the field. Hearth service management software keeps financial documents, inventory control, and customer services organized and connected in order to increase efficiency. 

Research from the Harvard Business Institute reveals that an average of 95% of a company’s employees do not understand or are not aware of the overarching strategy that executives base their most crucial decisions on. Hearth Services management software helps bridge the gap between management and staff by providing an all-in-one system that enables transparency, communication, and efficiency across the board.

Customer Engagement

Keeping up with the demand for different types of fireplaces, patios, and hearths can be a concern for small business owners. As consumer preferences change, it’s important to stay informed about the latest trends and advancements impacting your industry. For example, with the increasing popularity of electric and gas fireplaces, a small business may need to invest in new equipment and training for employees to meet this demand. Using timely data sourced from your proprietary service metrics enables you to stay competitive with popular industry trends and current consumer preferences. 

Hearth Services management software provides a powerful customer relations tool to keep your sales team on top of both contacts and contracts. Customer relationship management enables direct and comprehensive communication with custom reporting and photo upload features, as well as allowing customers to leave feedback on any work that was completed—or worse, not completed. 

Inventory Management

Maintaining an organized and accurate inventory management system is essential since hearth service companies rely heavily on managing complex—and oftentimes flammable— inventory. The inability to quickly adapt to the rapidly evolving external environment or organizational lag increasingly plagues all types of businesses. According to Inc.com, a leading business magazine, 70% of all organizational change efforts fail. 

Inventory management systems help your business avoid these pitfalls by automating order management processes, easing the manual elements of the sales and delivery processes, and properly putting together accurate financial plans. Utilizing the right inventory management system both reduces the ability for human error to cause major problems and overall cost.

Plan For The Future With Technology

The advent of smart home technology signaled a design shift to a more spacious, abstract home interior design. Consumers want their fireplace to match the rest of their home. Electric fireplaces are rising in popularity due to convenience and modernization. This competition requires gas fireplaces to constantly evolve to prevent extinction.

Top-rated direct vent gas/propane fire pits feature more efficient heat output while adapting to contemporary smart homes with an app to control the blaze. Comfort-level tech monitors the room temperature similar to a thermostat. One of the newest innovations in direct vent gas fireplace inserts is a ceramic liner that creates a barrier, sending heat from the fire back into the room rather than up the chimney. Vent-free appliances now have oxygen depletion sensors and carbon monoxide monitors to make your preferred appliance more eco-friendly.

Some homeowners prefer not to have gas or wood appliances in the house at all. With more homeowners looking to create comfortable outdoor living spaces, it’s important for small businesses to stay informed about the latest products and trends in outdoor fireplaces and hearths.

Keeping up with the latest advancements in fireplace and hearth technology can be a significant concern for any business in the industry, especially small and growing businesses. With the increasing focus on eco-friendly options and smart home integration, it’s important to stay informed about the latest products and advancements in technology that customers desire. This can be a significant investment, as new equipment and training for employees may be required. Keep in mind, a robust hearth software solution allows you to draw accurate data from your own internal service metrics and helps you to stay on top of new trends hitting the market.

The Value of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) For Small and Growing Businesses

Posted on by Matt Bernot

What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

Key performance indicators are a formal way of categorizing, measuring, and analyzing the enormous amount of data that gets generated and flows non-stop through your business, every day, in every department, at all levels. Financial information, customer behavior, employee satisfaction, and asset tracking are some examples of the types of data points that are available for you to monitor.

The purpose of KPI reporting is to track the health of a company. This helps prevent companies from developing blind spots that could hinder company growth. Similar to how the human body consists of dozens of smaller systems working in harmony toward a shared goal, KPI reporting measures individual systems such as customer acquisition cost, net profit margin, cost of goods sold (COGS), etc. to communicate which systems and processes are working well and others that require polishing.

KPI reporting exists to aid businesses, so a crucial question becomes: which KPIs should I track? A broad array of KPIs could be beneficial to a variety of businesses in all industries, so it’s essential to know which ones will be the most beneficial for your business to track. But here are two pieces of good news: businesses of any size don’t have to track every KPI in existence, and the appropriate group of KPIs is determined by the unique nature of the business at hand. If a company were to attempt to track all KPIs, there would be a high chance that the business would be overwhelmed by the volume of information to track, interpret, and remedy. Fortunately, there are different elements to consider and questions to reflect on to ensure the most appropriate KPIs are chosen—the ones that are most closely tied to the success of your business.

How to Choose the Best KPIs for Your Small Business

Goal setting, especially for small and growing businesses, typically predicates success. With fewer than 10 percent of small business owners achieving their yearly goals, it’s essential to take the steps necessary to stand out among the crowd of other businesses that compete with yours in your industry and market. Here are three company pillars to review when choosing small business KPIs:

1. Business Goals

Understanding the current “health” of your company is crucial. The “health” of a business consists of several factors—financial health, process and technology health, and the emotional/physical health of your employees. All of these factors play a key role in the overall success of your business on a long-term time horizon. After evaluating each facet of your company’s health, establishing a vision for sustainable growth can transform into plans of action that lead to attainable goals.

To avoid the disappointment of not achieving a goal, there are four elements to consider when goal planning.

  1. 1. Goals must be measurable. Without objective measurement, companies can become lost in the subjective features of a goal. Subjective interpretation of data might make you feel good, but ultimately will not result in realistic goals.
  1. 2. Goals must be actionable. Brainstorming and idea boards may be helpful tools, but without a call of movement, no momentum will be harnessed by your business in order to move forward.
  1. 3. A time frame should be assigned to every goal. Due dates are not sheer stress inducers; they are also accountability holders. If you don’t assign set time frames for every goal, it becomes easy to push off important tasks and hinder overall growth.
  1. 4. Consider breaking down larger, more challenging goals into small yet manageable milestones that comprise the overall goal. For example, a hearth and fireplace services company may desire to triple their sales this winter relative to last year. . This statement would be the overall goal, but there are many smaller steps that must be taken to achieve the overarching goal. Some examples of smaller milestones would be to:
    • Research and formulate a comprehensive, SEO-oriented strategy
    • Generate a timeline for hiring new (perhaps seasonal) employees
    • Perform research on local competitors 
    • Develop internal documentation focusing on service metrics and ways to improve them

The number of tasks needed to accomplish a 300% YoY sales increase would be longer than this, but these are just some examples of smaller goals that companies can use as proactive steps to achieve bigger, longer term goals. Almost always, it’s the assemblage of several smaller goals being completed that helps a company achieve large goals.

2. Business Stage

It is essential for a company to recognize which unique business stage it is at because it will determine which small business KPIs would be best suited. A new and growing company may want to focus primarily on KPIs related to gross vs. net revenue, whereas a more seasoned small business may want to concentrate on future growth elements such as new customer acquisition cost or branding efforts.

3. Business Model

When evaluating key performance indicators for adoption into your own company, the type of business (and industry) you’re in can determine the most relevant KPIs to monitor. 

Brick-and-mortar service businesses (plumbing, hearth services, HVAC, etc.) will want to know how long the average service call lasts. Labor costs are typically high in service-oriented businesses. Critical KPIs for this business type might be Gross Revenue Per Employee, or Direct Cost of Services Performed, or Inventory Turnover Rate.

Online businesses, including traditional eCommerce sites, will be very interested in website analytics KPIs like these: 

  • How many unique users visit the site every day / week / month?
  • Bounce rate. How many seconds does the average visitor stay on the site?
  • Conversion rate. What percentage of unique visitors buy something?
  • Percentage of visitor shopping carts that are abandoned before checkout?

Whatever business type or industry you’re in, there are KPIs that are directly proportional to the measurement of success.

Small Business KPIs For Every Company To Consider

The dynamic nature of each small business is unique, thus there is no “perfect” list of KPIs a company should track. There are, however, commonly used KPIs among smaller businesses that have proven to be effective. Below are eight widely adopted small business KPIs in today’s business climate.

1. Revenue Growth

This financial KPI informs leadership how a company’s income and sales are increasing. Revenue growth is associated with a set time frame (usually monthly), and the rate (a percentage) can be found with the following formula:

Monthly Growth Rate = (Total Revenue For Current Month – Total Revenue From Previous Month) / Previous Month’s Revenue

Revenue growth will increase, decrease, or plateau. This small business KPI is important because it ultimately reveals whether a company is on the right track for economic growth or if there is a need to course-correct.

2. Customer Acquisition / Retention Cost

Customer acquisition notifies a company how much it costs to acquire a customer. To calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC), the following formula is used:

= (Sales Expense + Marketing Expense) / # of New Customers

On a quarterly review, let’s say your marketing and sales outlay totaled $10,000 and netted 25 new clients, the CAC would be $400. The other side of that coin is customer retention, which reveals how fast a customer decides to stop doing business with your company, aka “churn rate.” Acquisition and retention create a ratio together and can help determine if there is a problem with the sales funnel or a customer support system. 

2a. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Though not a part of the original eight recommendations, a KPI that relates closely to customer retention and acquisition is the lifetime value of a customer. Understanding the CLV of any given customer allows your business to maximize every customer relationship. The following formula, which draws from other important small business KPIs, is used to calculate customer lifetime value:

= Average Order Size x Average Number of Purchases Per Year x Customer Retention Rate

3. Net Profit Margin

Net profit margin refers to how profitable your business is from the revenue it generates. One of the reasons why it is a common small business KPI is because it reflects how well a company is using its revenue. The following formula is used to find the net profit margin:

= Net Profit / Gross Revenue

4. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

The cost to deliver a single product or service (that is not connected to payroll) is known as the cost of goods sold (COGS). This small business KPI is critical to track because it allows you to monitor cash flow and bottom-line profitability.

5. Return On Investment (ROI)

To ensure that a company’s financial investments are generating both internal and external growth, the return on investment KPI compares a company’s revenue to the investment costs. Investments take on several forms such as individual marketing campaigns, business management software migration projects, employee education programs, etc. Where a small business tends to focus on customers and internal processes, a bigger enterprise is likely to focus on the entire supply chain.

6. Employee Productivity Investment / Turnover

Hiring and training employees is expensive! Including the employee productivity investment/turnover on a KPI report helps educate companies on how to improve employee satisfaction. If an employee stays at a company for a long time and works efficiently, there is a higher return on investment. It’s important not just to focus on hiring employees, but hiring employees who stick and stay. Improving the retention rate of valuable, skilled employees will improve the overall value of your business. The more you can automate your internal hiring processes, the less you’ll spend on employee acquisition.

7. Web Traffic and Conversion Rates

Incorporating an online presence comes with the responsibility of monitoring the influx or decline of web traffic. This small business KPI finds a company’s conversion rates by comparing the total number of sales to its web traffic.

This part of the KPI report can be impacted by trying new marketing campaigns or changing the design of a website. Does a simpler layout improve the ability to understand the product and find answers? Is a campaign working or does it result in flatline growth?

8. Social Media Engagement and Reach

Let’s face it. Social media is becoming more commercialized with a growing number of businesses—large and small—using social media platforms to increase brand awareness and influence new customers that may not be reached through traditional marketing channels. 

The social media engagement and reach KPI measures how effective a company’s social presence is on different platforms. The importance of staying connected to your customers cannot be overstated.  By tuning into this data, companies may find which social platforms are worth the time and monetary investment, as well as what kind of content their audience responds best to.

Though not an all-inclusive list of relevant KPIs, these small business KPIs and others have proved to be indispensable.

Using KPIs In Your Daily Decision Making

Once you’ve identified those performance metrics that best relate to the success of your business, you’ll want to stay on top of the information in real time. Generating, reviewing, and sharing an increasing number of individual reports can become cumbersome over time. 

Instead, consider business management software that allows you to customize a KPI dashboard. A KPI dashboard processes the raw data and presents a visual, at-a-glance layout of meaningful charts, graphs, facts, and figures that allow you to make more data-driven decisions and fewer gut-driven reactions in response to incomplete information.

Small Business KPIs Are Crucial To Success

An effective KPI report for small businesses will be action-driven, measured with accuracy, timely, and help you achieve your company goals. With the help of an all-in-one business software platform, KPI reporting for small businesses becomes an invaluable tool for any business to drill down and bring into focus the most meaningful success metrics, easy to interpret and communicate to others for the good of a company’s long-term health and prosperity.