I've looked inside hundreds of companies, and I see one pattern above all else.

90% of the metrics they track are about their sales funnel.

Don't get me wrong - without sales, your company dies.

But it's only one piece of the puzzle.

In fact, there are NINE key areas every business needs to measure.

(Most founders only track one or two, then wonder why they're not growing)

You can’t grow your business if you don’t even have the information you need to make good decisions.

I learned this the hard way - not doing this almost tanked my first company. Since then, I've operated multiple 7- and 8-figure companies, and looked under the hood of hundreds more as a coach.

Here’s what I pay attention to.

1. Traffic & Attention

• Your ability to reach the market isn't just about vanity metrics. You need to track:

• Total website traffic (by source)

• Social media audience growth (engagement rate matters more than follower count)

• Email list growth (and more importantly, engagement rates)

2. Demand Generation

This is where most companies start dropping the ball. Track:

• Marketing qualified leads (and their conversion rates by source)

• Lead magnet performance (downloads → email opens → clicks)

• SDR outreach metrics (not just activity, but effectiveness)

• Demo/trial creation rates

3. Sales

Yes, this matters. But probably not the metrics you're tracking. Focus on:

• Demo show rate (this is often the biggest hidden leak)

• Win rate by lead source (you'll be shocked at the variance)

• Sales call review metrics (most founders never do this)

By the way, these are the systems I used to turn my sales team into absolute savages.

4. Activation

• This is the bridge between sales and success that most companies ignore. Measure:

• Time to first value (one of the most important metrics in your entire biz)

• Activation rate by cohort (this tells you if your onboarding is getting better or worse)

• CS touches needed in first 30 days (lower is better)

5. Customer Success

• The canary in the coal mine for your business. Track:

• Customer AND revenue churn (they tell different stories)

• Feature/service utilization (by customer segment)

• Customer health score (here's how I calculate this - starts at 2:06)

Oh - and send this to your Customer Success team.

6. Customer Support

Your early warning system. Monitor:

• Time to first reply (this predicts churn better than almost anything)

• Ticket triage breakdowns (what are people actually struggling with?)

• Self-serve resolution rate (this should increase over time)

7. Social Proof

Your marketing fuel. Measure:

• New testimonials (set a monthly goal)

• Review velocity (not just total reviews)

• Case study production rate

8. Team Health

The foundation everything else is built on. Track:

• Employee engagement scores (by department)

• OKR attainment rates

• Performance review trends

This is how I hire top talent.

9. Money

The scoreboard that keeps you alive:

• Revenue (obvious but necessary)

• Gross margin (by product/service line)

• Revenue per headcount

• CAC payback period

Here's the thing most founders miss:

These metrics are interconnected → a problem in one area will eventually show up in all the others.

For ex…Low team health → Poor customer support → Higher churn → Lower social proof → Harder sales → More expensive traffic

It's a death spiral I've seen too many times.

The good news? This problem is solvable. And it's something I'm weirdly good at helping people figure out.

If you want to talk about solving it in YOUR business so you can finally run it by the numbers - let's set up a call.