The KPI’s You SHOULD Be Tracking in Your Business & Podcast

Hey Friend!

In today’s quick tip Tuesday episode, Jess asks, “What numbers and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) should I be tracking in my podcast, business, and course sales?”

I loved this question and I give you my EXACT system for tracking these numbers on a monthly basis along with what to do with this data.

I hope this helps you step into the CEO of Growth role in your business so you can create MORE impact and income for the glory of God. So that you can make changes based on data instead of emotion and you can keep moving the needle forward in your purpose.

Enjoy! I pray this blesses you.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
Hey, Stef! This is Jess from Fuel Her Awesome podcast. I have a question for you. I am not sure how to track my success or look for areas that I need to grow or change.

So can you let me know what are the key numbers and performance indicators that I should be tracking in my online business and podcast?

I don’t even know where to start here. So any, and all advice is welcome and very much appreciated. Thank you so much.

(01:32):
Hey, Jess! Thanks for asking this awesome question. I am so here for making sure that we are focusing on the stuff that actually matters that moves the needle forward.

And we are not pouring a bunch of time, stress, or unnecessary focus into the things that don’t make us, what? Two things: impact and income.

(01:56):
And that is exactly the same thing that we’re gonna be looking at in terms of key performance indicators.

You guys, we have heard if you’re in the corporate world, KPIs, that simply stands for these metrics that are gonna show you how you are performing as a company, as a podcast, in your sales, whatever your niche is.

(02:18):
So that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. So the first thing I wanna say here is that you should absolutely have a KPI success dashboard.

It’s super important that you guys are tracking the different metrics in your business, and you’re not just flying by the seat of your pants, hoping that it’s growing, hoping that things are working.

(02:37):
And also how will you know, if things aren’t working or why they’re not working, if you have no data points to go back and reference.

And I will also say that this can become something that feels like a vanity metric to some, or can become kind of this thing where you feel addicted to it, or stressed out by it.

(02:57):
It should be none of those things. KPIs success dashboard is simply updated once a month. It’s the only time you look at it, you analyze it at the end of each month and then a bit more in-depth every quarter, just to find out the trends.

What is working, what is not working? How am I growing? How am I creating an impact on people? And then maybe what needs some focus? What needs some attention? I don’t check my downloads every day or every week.

(03:23):
I literally only check them on the very last day of the month or the first day of the subsequent month. And I go in and I put in my stuff and I’m really focused on just growing in general.

I have literally no idea what the outcome will be at every year. What will the revenue land out? I have goals.

(03:41):
I have projections, but I don’t know what God’s gonna do. So I’m just here for it. The only thing I can control is how I show up in my business every single day.

And I can look at data points and make changes and tweaks wherever I see that they’re needed. And this is what allows you to do that.

Being intentional with your numbers, it really puts you into a larger space. It puts you into a leadership role.

(04:04):
It puts you into a growth position. I always say, you guys are the CEOs of growth in your business. No one else can ever be that for you. You are always a CEO of growth forever. So you’ve gotta learn to love the numbers and to really dig in.

(04:21):
So all that being said, number one, yes, you need to be tracking numbers. Two. I use a KPI success dashboard. Super fun bonus, for those of you coming into Podcast to Profit, this is gonna be available to you as a downloadable bonus inside of Podcast to Profit.

(04:39):
You will have access to my KPI success dashboard template, and you can make it your own. You can use it and you can kind of see exactly how I do this.

So, you can begin doing in your own business. So, my P2P people, I hope you’re super pumped for this bonus.

(04:56):
And if you’re not in Podcast to Profit, yet we do have three more spots left. I have specifically, I feel super clear that there are three more of you that are meant to join this round.

And I’m so excited for that tug to be on your heart for you to come to say yes if you’re ready to scale your show, monetize, grow, learn organic launch, live launch.

(05:17):
You get my sales templates, my every Excel file, every Asana workflow that I use in my own business, you get it, accountability, group power coaching with me, with my team. It’s legit.

You wanna scale your show and really go from part-time to full-time to really like big impact, making money from your show, podcasttoprofitmastermind.com. Three of you.

I know this is in your heart. So I’m gonna wait for you to leap and say yes with me, because you have a couple more days, three more days, and then we’re locking down apps.

So podcasttoprofitmastermind.com. Let’s do it.

(05:54):
Let’s talk about KPI. So what am I actually tracking? In my KPI success dashboard at the top, I have my year-to-date goals.

So this is really good because as you accumulate and as you pop in your metrics every month, your goal for the year can start to become accumulated and you can see it at a glance.

(06:13):
So in my annual goal, at the top of the page, I have an annual download goal. I have a revenue goal. I have a student goal and I have a super fan number goal.

All of these goals are in here for an annual projection. Now, how do you have an annual projection?

(06:31):
Well, you gotta back into those numbers and it’s pretty crazy. And I’m not gonna go into that today, but really you just wanna take a look at estimated sales, based on where you are, growth rates, based on what your podcast has been doing with a little sprinkle of a stretch goal.

(06:46):
So those numbers are there. Now, underneath that, I have my KPI metrics listed out, along with a column for every month, right?

So I have January, February, March, all the way through December. And then on the left side of the page, I have my KPI metrics.

(07:01):
So what am I actually tracking on a monthly basis? Well, the first thing is our podcast, because if the podcast is the thing, that we really need to be intentional about.

So I am tracking my podcast downloads on a monthly basis. This is your total cumulative podcast downloads.

(07:20):
And then I’m also tracking my total podcast episode number. Why am I taking those two things? Because those two pieces of information are one component of calculating your super fan number.

If you don’t know what your super fan number is, well, join me in Podcast to Profit because your super fan number literally tells you exactly how many sales you can anticipate making every single month.

(07:43):
You don’t have to wonder or be weird about how you’re growing your business. You’re gonna know exactly where you should be every single month.

We spend an entire training on understanding buyer psychology and superfan number and super fan conversion in Podcast to Profit.

(07:57):
If you are not joining me in P2P or you wanna get a jumpstart, you can go listen to episode 199 of the show. So then below that, I have a podcast downloads total.

That really is a necessary metric for me because I’m going after a million downloads this year.

(08:15):
The next section of KPIs is looking at revenue. So your podcast is making you impact. And then your offers are making you income.

If you don’t have income from your show yet again, selfless plug for P2P because you need it in your life.

(08:32):
You need Podcast to Profit in your life. I am telling you because we have to figure out what your one offer is. One offer, not 27 offers, not a tiny offer, not a high ticket offer the offer.

And there’s a lot of strategies that go into making that decision. But underneath this column, we really have, what is our revenue doing on a monthly basis?

(08:53):
This is top-line revenue for me and those are listed out. And then the next thing I go and I actually track are my Facebook group members, the Facebook group active members.

Then, the next thing we are tracking is email subscribers, new subscribers for the month, total email subscribers and the open rate of my email.

And then the next thing that I am tracking is my super fan number.

(09:19):
Now what’s super cool about this is my spreadsheet actually links all of the data that it needs to automatically calculate the super fan number.

So Podcast to Profit students, you guys are gonna be super here for this spreadsheet.

(09:40):
Let me see if there’s anything else here. So that’s it for KPIs. Those are the things I’m tracking.

I have a few other things I’m tracking, but I’m not gonna mention them to you because I think that they are not necessary.

And I think that you have to start with these main metrics here and really get a handle on those before you expand the things that you are tracking.

(10:00):
Now at the bottom of the page, I have an income goal per month, based on my annual projection of what I’m selling, when I’m selling, when I’m doing urgency offers things of that nature, which all of those things I teach you in P2P by the way.

(10:14):
And then I have right underneath a profit and loss on the goal. So if my income goal was, I’m just gonna make it really simple here.

Let’s just pretend my income goal was 10 grand and my profit or loss on the goal was, let’s say I made 12 grand. I would see a plus $2,000 here.

(10:30):
And why am I tracking that? Simply because I wanna know how close I am on goal to my monthly revenue projections so that I can hit my annual goals.

If your eyes are spinning and you wanna cry, it’s okay, go back.

(10:47):
And re-listen to this episode on half speed, just build the spreadsheet as I’m talking to you, or better yet join Podcast to Profit, where I walk you through every single step of everything that I teach.

And you can have my KPI spreadsheet as a bonus and just plug in the numbers, super chill.

(11:03):
So those are the things I am tracking on a monthly basis. Now, what am I actually doing with this information? I am analyzing it.

If my podcast downloads are down, I need to know why. I need to go in and I need to dig into the market research and figure out what is not landing.

(11:18):
Do I need to redo some conversations with people? Do I need to redo some specific topics that I’ve been not speaking about, but the audience wants to hear?

Have I gotten away from my person’s number one problem? If my revenue is down, why?

(11:32):
Did I not follow along with what my goal was? Why was my projection off? Did I not sell to my fullest capacity?

Did I not have a pitch that was a well-crafted pitch, which I teach you in Podcast to Profit, by the way. What about revenue didn’t land?

(11:48):
I’ve got to know this, you guys. If I am the CEO of growth, it is my job to know that my podcast is growing, and if not, why? And that my revenue is hitting the projection. If not, why?

(12:00):
The next thing I’m looking at is Facebook group members. This is completely outsourced for me. So I’m looking at this from a management perspective. Are we growing?

What is happening here? So that I can make sure that the team is super intentional with what they are doing over in the group.

(12:13):
And the group is our chosen place of community. If you don’t have a Facebook group, it’s super fine. You just need to pick a different community space and then super fan numbers. This should always be growing.

(12:26):
If my super fan number is not growing, then that’s a problem, right? Because that means people are falling off faster than they are coming in the pipeline.

Superfans should always hold or always grow. So if not, why this is just data to help you be a better leader in your business.

(12:45):
And then last but not least, I’m looking at that bottom income goal versus the profit and loss on the goal to really see what’s going on from a cash flow and revenue perspective in my business to be smart.

We have lots of taxes that we all pay as online business owners and entrepreneurs. We need to be able to plan for that.

(13:06):
I have an employee, I have contractors. I have a lot of expenses in the business. And the bigger that you get, the more expenses that you will accumulate.

Yes, it is true. But the great news is, is you have no limit on the amount of income that God has in store for you.

(13:21):
If you are obedient and you are using His provision and favor well, I truly think that incredible things can happen when godly people are doing impactful things for the kingdom and God will make good on that.

And so we’ve got to know if I’m making a ton of extra profit and revenue, okay, that’s amazing. But what am I gonna do with that money?

(13:39):
And how am I gonna use this in a wise way for the business? Or if I’m at a deficit, why and where am I gonna make up that revenue so that I can hit the annual goal or at least get close to it.

These are all super important things to note. That is it, Jess. Hopefully, that was helpful. And to everyone else listening, these are the things I am tracking. How do you know if you are doing well?

(14:00):
That answer is, am I growing? Period. End of story. I don’t care if you’re growing by 1%, you’re doing great. Put your head down, get to work. If things are negative, if things are trending downward, my grace for myself is two months.

(14:16):
If my podcast is trending down for two months, I’m gonna work really hard to understand why, but I’m not gonna worry.

If my podcast is trending down for more than two months, we have a major issue. It’s time to get an unstuck session with me. It’s time to figure out you need to dig into the analytics.

(14:31):
You’ve gotta do new market research, freshen things up, figure out the way that you’re podcasting flat is the way that you’re podcasting. Are you doing your episodes too long?

There’s something wrong. There’s something going on that your audience doesn’t like, if you’re not making your sales for two months in a row, why? What’s happening with your sales pitch?

(14:50):
Do you have a good sales page? Does your website need to refresh? There is always a reason, guys, that you are not growing. And we’ve got to discover that reason as a CEO of growth.

(14:59):
It’s our job, which if you’re struggling with those pieces, Podcast to Profit, that we go through every single piece of this whole puzzle to help you become the CEO of growth in your business. So that’s it. So anyways, love ya. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for the question, Jess.

(15:14):
Hey friend, if you have a question for me, head on over to stefaniegass.com/contact, leave me the question.

Or if you have a testimony about how this show has helped you, blessed you, stretched you, convicted you as something I would love to hear from you.

You can just leave that testimony over there as well which we’d love to air it on the show.

(15:33):
And then last but not least, the Podcast of Profit Spring/Summer session kicks off on April 14th. Therefore, there are three days left to get your application in.

There are three spots left. So, if it is on your heart, podcasttoprofitmastermind.com, we would love to have you, shepherd you, coach you, guide you, and walk beside you through this growth process.

So that you will have the mentorship and accountability that you need to get through the biggest 90-day sprint of your podcasting career.

(16:04):
But the sprint that’s gonna get you into first, second, third place wearing those gold medals, super excited and proud to screen from this stage that you did it, that your show is ranking.

That you have a monetization plan that you marry to be making money and that you have all the foundational pieces in place so that you can scale and grow big.

God bless you, friend. I’ll see you soon. Bye.