The Business Of Marketing: The 4 KPI's of Your Marketing Machine - Part I

Know the four key performance indicators every business manager should track in his or her marketing department

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Let's start this month's article with some tough questions:

  1. Is your marketing working?
  2. Do you have a marketing plan developed, in detail, to get you to your goals?

There's a reason I started with these questions. I want to make sure you realize just how much of an impact your marketing has on your company's success.

Without marketing, nothing else in your business runs, or happens.

There is no exception to this rule.

Of course, you need all three parts of your construction business (marketing, sales, and production) functioning to have a fully functioning business, but it all starts with your marketing.

Without marketing, no one will contact your company to sell your service to.

Without sales, your production team will spend a lot of time sweeping up the shop and washing the trucks. Not working on jobs that bring in revenue.

So, we know that marketing plays a crucial role in your company's success. Now we need to develop a plan that will get us to our revenue goals, and a way to track the results to ensure they are meeting our expectations.

In this two-part article, I'll first discuss what the KPI's are that you need to track in your marketing department. In Part II, we'll go more in detail on how to use the information to make better marketing decisions.

Understanding What KPI's Are

KPI is an abbreviation for "Key Performance Indicator".

A KPI is an important benchmark in the various departments of your business, which quickly tells you if things in that department are "working". It tells you if you're "on course" to hit your goals or if adjustments need to be made in that department.

For example, your average cost per lead is a KPI in your marketing department.

Marketing KPI #1 – Allowable Cost Per Lead

Explanation - Your Allowable Cost Per Lead (CPL, for short) tells you what you can afford to spend, on average, for each lead you generate and maintain the marketing costs you've set in your plan.

Why It's Important – Keeping your CPL is essential. The less it cost you to generate a lead, the more leads you can purchase with your marketing budget.

Example Of Its Power – Let's say you have a $100,000 annual marketing budget. Let's also assume your CPL, on average, is $100. This tells you that you'll purchase 1,000 leads. If you could lower your CPL to $80, you would generate an extra 250 leads. All things being the same, that small improvement alone would grow your revenue by 25%.

Marketing KPI #2 – Number Of Leads Generated

Explanation – This is the count of new leads your marketing department has generated. The key here is "new" leads. Many times, reporting is skewed because they include multiple visits/appointments with the same prospect in the lead counts. Be certain to only count new leads in this KPI.

Why It's Important – This is the first step in determining how many sales and the amount of revenue your company will generate. If you want to generate $1 million in revenue, and only generate 10 leads, it's likely going to be tough.

Example Of Its Power – Let's suppose you generate 1,000 leads per year. You have a thriving company, a sales team, installers, office staff, and overhead that are supported by this. Now, image that we cut the number of leads in half. Now the sales team is starving. You're not selling as much work so you'll be forced to lay off good workers and office staff. On top of that, you'll still have the same overhead to pay for. Your leads are the lifeblood of your business.

Marketing KPI #3 – Marketing Percentage

Explanation – Your Marketing Percentage tells you what percentage of your revenue is being used to market your business. For example, if you invest $10,000 to market, and bring in $100,000 in revenue from that advertising, your marketing percentage would be $10,000 / $100,000, or 10%.

Why It's Important – This is a critical KPI to track in that it can have the biggest impact on your company's profitability. Believe it or not! In most cases, job costs (labor, commissions, materials, misc. job expenses) remain fairly similar. Your fixed costs will remain fairly similar as well. However, every percentage point your marketing becomes more efficient will go directly to your bottom line.

Example Of Its Power – Let's suppose 10% of your revenue is dedicated to your marketing efforts. If you could generate the same results (in leads/revenue), and do it at 8% instead, that 2% savings will go directly onto your net profit margin.

Marketing KPI #4 – Average Dollars Per Lead

Explanation – Just as it states, your Average Dollars Per Lead (or ADL for short) tells you the average amount of revenue you bring in for every lead your marketing department generates. For example, if you generate 100 leads, and bring in $100,000 in revenue from those leads, your ADL would be $100,000 / 100 leads, or $1,000.

Why It's Important – This stat tells you so many things about your company. It can quickly tell you the amount of revenue to expect based on the number of leads your company generates. It also helps you truly realize the value in every precious lead your marketing department generates.

Example Of Its Power – Your phone calls go to your cell phone because you don't want to pay for a receptionist. Every time you don't answer the phone (using the example above) guess what that costs you? That's right, $1,000. Pays for a receptionist (or answering service) pretty quick.

Wrapping Up & What's Next

There you have it. The four KPI's that you need to track in your marketing department.

So, has this article made you step back and look at how you market? In the next article I'll help you build a viable marketing plan that you can tell - before investing a single penny - if it will work or not, if it will be profitable for the company, and if it will get you to your marketing goals.

Till next time!

Damion Rutherford is an 11 Year Vet In The Construction Marketing Industry. He's personally generated over 150,000 leads and millions in revenue for home improvement contractors across the country. Learn his insider secrets to construction marketing at www.Contractor-Marketing-Tips.com.

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