Discover how to create a powerful yet simple business scorecard using Google Sheets. Set up weekly KPIs, monthly goals, and gain a weekly pulse on your business performance.
I’m sure you track countless metrics in your business. We do, too. We love data. But sometimes, you just need to get the feeling of having your finger on the pulse of your business. Today, we want to show you our tool for doing just that. This is the business scorecard.
The business scorecard is a concept that we initially learned about from EOS. At its heart, the idea is this - “Select 3-5 high-level metrics and write them down each week. Set goals for each month this calendar year.”
By recording your most important metrics on a weekly basis, you are able to feel on top of where your business is. Yes, we already have countless dashboards and automated tools for reporting all sorts of great metrics. The scorecard is the equivalent of a moleskin notebook. It brings you down to earth, quiets your mind, and centers your focus on what’s most important.
Today, we are going to show you how to build your own business scorecard.
Download here from Google Drive.
Your scorecard is going to be built using Google Sheets. We’ve chosen to use Sheets because it is a nice balance of powerful yet user-friendly. Remember, this report is your moleskin notebook. It’s not the most powerful, it’s not automated, and there is no AI involved. It’s you writing down your metrics on a weekly basis (we do use some basic spreadsheet functions to auto-sum your weeks into months/years.)
Let’s start with an overview of how the sheet works. Column A contains your dates. Each sheet is a year. Months are broken down into weeks. The numbers are the Sundays of each week, indicating the end of that week. Each month, you have a goal and an actual.
The first thing we need to do is establish Column B as the first KPI that you’re going to track.
Note: For this example, we’re going to pretend you own a golf course. For Column B, we are going to select “Rounds of golf played.” Each week, we are going to write down how many rounds of golf were played the previous week. Doing so will give us a pulse on how we are performing on a weekly basis.
Now that we have a KPI to track let’s set some goals. We’re going to set monthly goals, which will then lead to quarterly goals and then an annual goal. Back to our golf example, we might set a goal of 100 rounds played this month. Then, 125 rounds will be played next month.
Tip: You could either manually enter a numeric goal for each month or do a growth % formula. For example =(previous month goal * 1.05.) aka 5% growth compared to last month.
With your first few monthly goals in place, you can now set your quarterly goals. Keep going for the remainder of this calendar year. Row 126 is your annual goal. This will give you clarity on where you’re looking to be at the end of this calendar year.
With your first KPI goals set for the year, it’s time to repeat the same process for your next KPI. The template has room for five KPIs. If you’d like to track more, just add a column to the right.
Now that your own template is built, you just need to enter your results each week.We set a calendar reminder to fill this every Tuesday. When next year comes around, duplicate the sheet, clear the weekly data, enter your new calendar dates, and do it all over again. Watch your business grow on a weekly basis.
We hope you find this simple tool useful in your business. It’s brought great clarity into our operation, so we’re excited to share it with the world. If you have any specific questions, send a DM to @launchkitdesign on Instagram.
- Kevin Kamis
Each year, we take a fresh look at the various marketing efforts a small business can make. We've built this framework to get started optimizing your business's online presence.