Bookkeeping, Reporting & Productivity: Track It to Grow It

If you do not track it, you cannot grow it…and if you cannot grow it, then you cannot control it. This is why it is so important to maintain accurate books, trackable reports, and keep in touch with productivity as it relates to your company’s goals.

You must train yourself to track everything so carefully that you can tell exactly where you need to correct things and why. Even if the issue is so miniscule that only a magnifying glass could catch it – this will help show you immediately when you or your team are headed off target. That way, you can correct your trajectory before sliding any farther off course.

Tracking in relation to goals can also allow you to coach and mentor your team, hold them accountable, and put their goals into perspective to help them achieve their success. And your team’s success should always be your number one priority as their leader or administrative support!

Whatever your line of work, there is always a way to keep a fine pulse on the financial statements, productivity reports, and goals. You may want to consider which reports you need to review Daily, Weekly, Quarterly, and Annually so that you can prepare them appropriately.

For instance, I keep a close eye on the:

average transactional revenue for our real estate firm,
the return on investment for various lead sources or other expenses,
the conversion rate of leads per agent per lead source,
the geographical percentage of production per nearby city (and per agent),
the year to date profit & loss comparison of this year to the previous year, and so forth.

I keep a dashboard chart that I update every week for certain productivity numbers, and then a checklist at the end of every month, quarter, and year with several other reports that I need to see. This keeps everything in its place and in its time so that its not so overwhelming.

You can also help your team consider their goals and create small action steps to complete those goals – with deadlines. When considering their goals in relation to their current productivity levels, you can incorporate their action steps accordingly once you assess how much each team member may need to increase their current levels in order to meet their goals. Deadlines also provide a measurable time frame for completion that can provide an extra ounce of motivation to complete the task.

You have probably heard the true and famous phrase:

“You must inspect what you expect. Which tells us that if you are expecting a certain outcome, you need to check to make sure the outcome actually happened.”

With proper expectations set for you and your staff on the minimum numbers needed for each report, it is easier to use metrics to quantify objectives at the end of each week, month, year. Creating a clear policies and procedures manual that communicates basic guidelines for reporting and productivity levels is also great way to clearly communicate to your staff what is expected.

Checklists are my favorite tool to use in goal setting and achieving, and a great tool to keep track of what information you need to collect for the reports that will help your business grow to the next level!

Some of the technology platforms that we use, like QuickBooks & BrokerSumo, have the automatic abilities to run certain reports. Within your line of work, it may be worth your while to research if there is a technology platform that could help you run certain reports so that your time can better be spent on forwarding the business.

Utilizing various Bookkeeping Reports & Tracking Productivity to meet your goals will help launch your business to the next level. And for more help on communicating policies and procedures in an Operations Manual to your staff, check out this blog post!

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