When you run a business, you know there are millions of business reporting numbers you could focus on. But the tricky part is knowing which ones to focus on. You’re too busy running your company to constantly keep track of all of them, so you’ve got to narrow your focus. Which numbers are truly valuable to your company?
In this blog post, we’ll take the guesswork out of essential business reporting. There are 12 numbers that every contractor absolutely needs to know about their business. We’ll cover those metrics and why they matter to your success.
Let’s dive in!
12 Numbers You Should Know for Your Business Reporting
1. Revenue
Revenue is your business’s top line. Although revenue and income are sometimes used to mean the same thing, they are different. Income is your company’s total profit. Revenue is the profit you get from your services and products.
Your revenue indicates how effectively your business makes sales so that you can see your overarching financial well-being.
2. Gross Profit
Gross profit is how much revenue you make after accounting for how much it costs you to provide services. Your gross profit is essential for calculating your business’s gross margin (more on that in the next section).
This number also lets you see how much money you have to spend and reinvest in your company. Gross profit also makes it easy to see your variable costs like materials and labor.
3. Gross Margin
A gross margin or gross profit percentage compares your gross profit to your revenue. To manually get this number, you have two different options.
Your gross profit / Your sales revenue x 100
OR
Your net sales – Cost of goods sold (labor expenses, material costs, etc.)
4. Leads
Leads are your business’s potential customers. These are the people that your company has interacted with and have shown some interest in your services.
You need to know your number of leads to keep a constant stream of customers moving through your pipeline. If you discover you’re low on leads, you can put more money into your solar marketing strategy or create a roofing referral program. Insight into your prospects can help you be more proactive in getting new customers.
5. Close Rate
Close rate is the ratio of leads that turn into paying customers. The average close rate across all industries is 19%.
To keep your business efficient, you’ve got to know if you’re closing enough for the number of leads you’re bringing in. You need to see how effective your sales team is so you know where to improve.
Your close rate is also indicative of your marketing efforts, so you can see where your money is best spent.
6. Jobs Sold
You’d be shocked at how many contractors don’t know how many jobs they’ve sold in the last week, month, or year. You should always have a pulse on the number of jobs your business sells.
To get to $4 million in yearly revenue, you’ve got to know how many jobs that will take. And you can’t know that unless you already know how many jobs you’ve sold and how much they brought in. Keeping track of your jobs sold will also help you identify slow seasons so that you can plan ahead.
7. Won vs. Lost by Sales Rep
Each of your sales reps should help your business get more clients. It’s their job. And if they aren’t hitting the mark, you need to know so you can work together to change that. But how will you know that without keeping up with won and lost deals?
Knowing total won and lost deals is important, but filtering that information by each salesperson helps you identify your top performers. Our 2023 Peak Performance roofing report found that 61% of roofing sales reps bring in fewer than 10 leads a week. If one of your salespeople goes above and beyond that number, they deserve recognition.
8. Average Dollar Amount per Job
Are you constantly taking on jobs that aren’t paying the bills? Looking at the average price of jobs will help you narrow down how much you’re generally making. If that average isn’t enough to cover all your costs, it’s time to find more projects or take on more cost-effective jobs.
You can take your average price per job even further to find which types of jobs are the most profitable for your business. With that in mind, you can focus your offerings on the kinds of jobs that are the most worthwhile.
9. Jobs Installed
How many jobs are you installing in a week or month? A year?
The number of jobs you install reflects your company’s productivity. After all, a roofing crew that can install five roofs a week will bring in more business than a crew that only installs two roofs in that same time frame.
You’ll easily spot issues in your production workflow by getting more granular with your jobs installed by day.
It’s not necessarily a problem if your crew doesn’t install an entire roof in one day. Depending on the complexity of the rooftop, weather conditions, and more, that might not be feasible. But if that same crew fails to install a single roof over three days, you know there’s an issue to address.
10. Unpaid Percentage of Invoices
Your accounts receivable can make the difference between being able to pay your crew and not. 74% of roofers using JobNimbus say that less than 20% of their customers have outstanding invoices. That’s an excellent standard, but it isn’t the case for all contractors.
A high percentage of unpaid invoices would mean it’s time for your company to find a different way to collect invoices. Whether having your office staff call about invoice reminders or your sales reps sending a follow-up email, knowing your percentage of unpaid invoices keeps you from leaving money on the table.
11. Total Unpaid Dollar Amount
Beyond the percentage of unpaid invoices, you also want to know the dollar amount of those outstanding balances. Only having one unpaid job might sound pretty good until you see the invoice is for $31,000.
Understanding your company’s total dollar amount of unpaid invoices will give you the best look into the low-hanging fruit your business is missing out on. Seeing all that money sitting there is a strong motivation for getting your team to follow up on outstanding invoices.
12. Growth Rate
Your business reporting should include growth rate. Growth rate shows how much your business has grown over a specific time, either negatively or positively. Positive, sustainable growth allows your business to open multiple locations, earn a steady stream of income, and serve more customers.
You know how some people are afraid to check their bank accounts because they don’t want to see a low number? You shouldn’t feel that way about your company’s growth rate. Identifying a negative growth rate sooner rather than later can help save your company from going out of business.
Overall, knowing your growth rate can help you predict your business’s future and plan for success.
Boost Your Business Reporting, Boost Your Bottom Line
Knowing the critical numbers of your business lights the way to your success. Keep an eye on these 12 business reporting numbers, and you’ll get transparency and data to make informed decisions.
If you’re ready to get these vital numbers at your fingertips, Insights is for you! Our new reporting feature, JobNimbus Insights, is now available to give you the numbers you need without crunching them yourself.
See the magic yourself with our 14-day free JobNimbus trial today!
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