So if you don’t meet a KPI, there are a few questions you can ask and have the answers to that show you’ve tried to unpick the problem further. So in terms of missing the KPI, so which KPI have we missed? Why do we think we’ve missed it, and how much have we missed it by? Specifics, these are the details. Getting into that, that can be really useful.
Do we think this is down to internal or external factors? So do we think, for example, it’s an internal execution issue? It’s a reasonable or actual KPI to set for ourselves. We just didn’t achieve it because of X, Y, and Z internal issues. I’ve not met KPIs in the past because, frankly, some of the material we were producing wasn’t good enough and didn’t hit the mark with our audience. Again, understanding that helps you understand what the fix might be.
External factors can be competitors. It can literally be, okay, when we set this KPI, we were the only competitor with this functionality or with this level of service in the market. Since then, three other competitors have come in and absolutely blown us out of the water. That can be a really interesting thing to unpick.
Also, have we not met the KPI short term? So is this a KPI we haven’t met let’s say this quarter, or is it part of a longer-term trend? Again, because that really allows you to start to unpick like what is actually the problem here. In quarter, often in my experience, not always, it depends, but often in quarter, sometimes it’s more of an immediate thing, like an internal execution issue. Longer-term trends are sometimes more indicative of a longer-term shift in the external market. Again, understanding allows you to correct the issue and actually allows you to create a better forecast in the future as well.
Finally, have we just not met one KPI? That can be a really interesting question because this speaks to the whole like: Is it an isolated incident? Is it a long-term trend? What do we actually need to fix here? So again, are we just not hitting let’s say a conversion rate? But actually we’ve got the right amount of leads. We’ve got the right amount of deals in the pipeline. It’s just the conversion rate is an issue. Or we’ve got fewer leads in pipe and also we’re not converting them. Again, that might speak to a wider market or an external issue. But you can’t presume. You’ve kind of got to do the work to go digging.
External stakeholders, like I said, do accept that things go wrong. But what they actually want to know is what you’re going to do about it, and you don’t know what to do about it unless you actually understand the problem. You can’t come up with a solution without the diagnosis. It’s like a doctor just prescribing I’m just going to prescribe antibiotics before I even see them and they get in the room.
So hopefully you feel a little bit more equipped to handle the dreaded “when will we see ROI” question.
A final kind of thought from me is that sometimes that question can feel a little bit unreasonable and like you don’t have all the answers to it. Give as much information as you can get. Let’s say you’re missing pieces of information. Be, again, really upfront with that because it may be they can actually help you find it.
I’ve had situations in the past where I’ve gone to finance and I’ve had to project a kind of forecast to give the rationale behind an investment in a certain channel, and I’ve gone like, “I’ve got the working out to this far, but I’m missing these pieces of information.” My CFO in that scenario was like, “Okay, cool, I can help you with this. Let’s go away and do this together.” I think it earned me a lot of respect to be perfectly honest, and it made my job a lot easier because they helped out.
So thank you so much for having me. I’ve been Bethan Vincent. If you want to find out more about Open Velocity, what we do, you can find us at openvelocity.com.
If you want to connect with me, I’m on pretty much every platform. It’s a little bit embarrassing at this point. But you can find me @bethanvincent on the platform of your choice. Thank you so much.
