At Madden Elevator, I analyzed our KPI data every single week during our leadership meetings. I knew who was responsible for which metric and who to ask the hard questions to when those metrics began falling behind.

Seeing all of our data in one, organized place made the difference when it came to predictions, budgeting, and larger business decisions. I would always ask my team:

“Well, what does the data say?”
“Is this the right place to put our energy?”
“Are we actually on track to reach our end of the year goal?”

I couldn’t answer any of these questions confidently when I was a start-up. And it didn’t take me long to realize this was a massive gap in the way we ran our business. I had to systemize our data, which meant finally developing the dreaded Key Performance Indicators. (I know it feels like nails on a chalkboard, but stay with me here for an awesome opportunity at the end).

But Sean, Why Can’t I Just Keep Wing-it?

Numbers don’t lie, but those gut feelings about the health of your business do. As the business owner, we can’t possibly be working inside every level of our organization everyday (if you are, reach out because we need to talk).

We can’t see everything that’s happening—the progress, the areas that need attention, if everyone is on the same page, if something is slowly falling off track.

These are all leading indicators of whether a company is succinct, if it’s aligned, and if it can continue to grow into the Forbes List billionaire business you know it can be.

But I know, taking that time to sit down and put pen to paper to develop these bad boys can feel uncomfortable if you’ve never done it before. And that’s why I’m giving you my KPI blueprint in this blog.

The 5 KPI Categories You Need to Track in Your Elevator Business

1. Marketing

• Lead source performance
• Cost per lead (CPL)
  
  

2. Sales

• Proposal-to-close ratio
• Average sales cycle length
  
  

3. Operations

• Maintenance completion rate
• WIP aging
  
  

4. Financial

• Cash flow health
• Billable vs. non-billable callbacks
  
  

5. HR (People & Culture)

• Turnover rate
• Training compliance 
  
  

These are just a couple in each category that can be a part of your KPI scorecard. Tailor them to your company goals and as difficult as it can be, try not to overthink it (much easier said than done).

Start with 3-5 and then refine as you go along. The data will tell you where to put your focus.

Implementing Your Shiny New KPI Scorecard

Alright, the gears are turning. You’re thinking through the leading indicators in your elevator business and a few lagging ones. Your leading indicators will help you predict performance and not just measure it after the fact.

This is all in the name of business strategy. As you work through choosing your indicators, consider:

• What do those big company goals look like?
• What has your team continuously struggled with?
• What matters most in your success?
• And how the heck do you get there?

Make your target or goal achievable and realistic for your team. I’ve never seen an elevator company close 1,000,000 jobs in a calendar year, but I also never imagined I’d retire early and yap about business-y things on my own website—and people would actually listen? How incredible!

My team never hears the end of my visionary escapades, and yours shouldn’t either. Bring them in on the fun of building their own KPIs so they can feel ownership and freedom rather than pressure.

And my biggest advice: Under no circumstances, do not automate the data input. It’s tempting, I know. There’s always so much going on, but when you allow automation to take the humanoid aspect out of collecting data for your KPIs, you also take the ownership out of it.

When managers have to vet the numbers themselves, they begin to understand them and care about what they mean for the future of the business.

Lastly, you put your blood, sweat, and tears into these KPIs, the least you could do is review them weekly. Not monthly, not quarterly—weekly. Even if you don’t have weekly leadership meetings (we will pretend that you do for the sake of success), atleast review the numbers and what they are telling you.

Once you start seeing the data in real-time and patterns begin developing, you can almost see things unfold in the business before they happen. KPI scorecards aren’t a crystal ball, but can be pretty darn close.

Ready to Build Your KPI Scorecard?

If this blog got your wheels turning but you’re still unsure how to develop the right KPIs (or how to roll them out without overwhelming your team) good news:

We’ve got the exact workshop replay you need.

The Build Your KPIs Workshop was created specifically for elevator business owners who:

• Want to track the right numbers without drowning in information overload

• Need a scorecard system that leads to team accountability

• Are tired of chaotic Monday mornings and are ready for structure

• Know they need KPIs, but don’t want to build them from scratch
  
  

When you purchase the replay, you’ll not only get access to the full 75-minute workshop—you’ll also unlock our 15 KPI Metrics Scorecard as a bonus, so you’re not starting from a blank page.

You'll receive the same KPI metrics I successfully implemented and used to scale my own business, Madden Elevator Company.

👉 Get all the details here and get the tools to lead like the Visionary CEO you were meant to be.