Once your business is up and running, the next step is to put you and the business on statistics so you can keep an eye on how things are running. Just like a baseball or basketball player, if you do not know what you have done, statistically that is, you cannot work on improving your performance. If that b-ball player has a free throw percentage of only 10%, he needs to work on free throws a lot more than he needs to work on his 3 pointers which are at 40%.

As a business owner, you need to track whatever it is that you do. A dentist will need stats on production, collection, new patients, patients leaving the practice, supplies, salaries, bonuses, and many other numbers. For example, if new patients are only at 5 per month, and the doctor can easily complete treatment for 30 patients each month, then there is a need/desire to have more new patients. And, since new patients mean more procedures done, it equates to higher production and higher collections, which we all like!

The restaurateur who is not tracking her statistics on food sold will end up with leftover hamburger at the end of the week and be tempted to mix it in with the new product coming in on Monday to avoid waste. This is not only unhealthy, it's just plain unethical. So why not have a special day like Thursday -which is usually slower in the restaurant business - and have half price burger night? One of our local restaurants does something like this, and my guess is that it depends on what day their beef is delivered and their slowest day of the week. It's a great way to do a promo and get people in too!

Back to stats - in any business, when the staff and owner track the stats each month, it becomes a useful tool to determine if bonuses have been earned or not. If certain production quotas are not met, no bonus, that's just the way it is. In my own practice, we all knew there would be no quarterly bonuses unless we had upstats for that quarter. There was no discussion, no griping about it - the staff understood that this was a business and their compensation was tied to company statistics. Some of you might say I'm a hardball boss, but it was fair and the staff members knew it. They knew their bonus was tied to the practice viability - a healthy practice could afford to pay the bonus.

So with whatever business you have, figure out the numbers you need to track and then Mind Your Business! (Remember that phrase - it really does apply) If you need some help with coming up with good stats,contact me and I would be glad to help out. I really enjoy figuring out a new business and if it is something totally out there, even more fun!

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