You can't manage what you don't measure. But you also can't measure everything. The curse of the modern business owner is a sea of data and a drought of wisdom. You have access to hundreds of metrics, but only a handful actually drive the health and growth of your business. The 1-Page KPI Dashboard is about identifying those vital few and putting them on a single page that you can review in 10 minutes every week.
This is not a complex financial report. It's a simple, powerful tool to give you a pulse on your entire operation, from marketing to sales to production. Here are the 10 essential KPIs for a 7-figure hardscape CEO.
The 10 Essential KPIs
| Category | KPI | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Total Leads | The raw input at the top of your funnel. |
| Marketing | Cost Per Lead | Tells you the efficiency of your marketing spend. |
| Sales | Lead-to-Estimate Rate (%) | Measures your ability to qualify leads and book appointments. |
| Sales | Estimate-to-Close Rate (%) | Measures your ability to close deals once a proposal is sent. |
| Sales | Average Job Size ($) | Tells you the quality of the leads you're attracting and closing. |
| Production | Revenue Per Crew Per Week ($) | The master metric. Measures the efficiency and output of your production teams. |
| Production | Job Gross Profit (%) | Measures how accurately you're estimating and how efficiently your crews are working. |
| Finance | Cash in Bank ($) | Your runway. The ultimate measure of business health. |
| Finance | Accounts Receivable ($) | Tells you how quickly you're getting paid. |
| Finance | Net Profit (%) | The bottom line. What's left after everyone else gets paid. |
"A CEO's job is to manage the system, not the people. This dashboard is the control panel for your business system."
How to Implement It
You don't need fancy software to start. Create a simple Google Sheet with these 10 KPIs. Spend 30 minutes every Monday morning filling it out for the previous week. At the end of the month, calculate your monthly averages. After a quarter, you will have a crystal-clear picture of your business's performance, seasonality, and biggest opportunities for improvement.
This simple discipline is the first step to getting out of the weeds and taking true control of your business. It allows you to stop managing personalities and start managing performance. It's the foundation of a business that can scale beyond you.
(A link to a downloadable Google Sheet template will be available here soon.)