Quick answer
A KPI dashboard is a one-screen view of the numbers that tell you how the business is running. Pick eight to ten KPIs, with sales first. Give each one an owner and a target, put them on one page, and look at them with your team every week. Then decide what changes.
Step 1: Pick your numbers, sales first
Choose eight to ten numbers, and start with sales. Sales is king: when the sales numbers are healthy, most other problems can be fixed.
A dashboard isn’t a report. A report explains what happened, in detail, after the fact. A dashboard fits on one screen and tells you at a glance whether something needs attention now.
Starter sets by type of business
Online store
These move fast enough to check every day. Still review them together once a week.
- Site trafficHow many people visit the store.
- Conversion rateOrders divided by visits. The share of visitors who buy.
- Running 30-day salesTotal sales over the last 30 days, updated daily. It smooths out good and bad days.
- Average order valueSales divided by orders.
- Repeat purchase rateThe share of orders from customers who bought before.
- Orders shipped on timeWhether you’re keeping the delivery promise.
Membership or studio
Leads and close rate fill the room. Attendance tells you where revenue is heading.
- New leadsPeople who asked, booked a trial, or signed up for a guest pass.
- Close rateNew members divided by leads.
- Average attendanceVisits divided by classes. The number to grow month over month.
- New membersFirst-time sign-ups this month.
- CancellationsMembers who left this month.
- Cash on handWhat’s in the bank today.
Product brand
Selling a product through stores. Every new store that carries it adds about the same value each year, so new accounts are the number to grow.
- New accountsNew stores carrying the product this month.
- Average value per accountWhat a store is worth to you in a year, on average. Multiply it by new accounts to see what each month of selling-in adds.
- Sales by SKUSales for each product. It shows what to push, reorder and drop.
- Reorder rateStores that ordered again. A first order gets you in; reorders mean it’s selling.
- Active accountsStores that ordered in the last 90 days.
- Inventory on handWeeks of stock left at the current sales pace, by SKU.
Service business
Sales first, then whether you’re delivering and getting paid.
- PipelineThe value of open deals likely to close soon.
- Close rateDeals won divided by deals decided.
- Revenue this monthSales so far this month, against the month’s target.
- On-time deliveryJobs delivered by the date you promised.
- Overdue receivablesMoney you’ve earned but haven’t collected.
- Cash on handWhat’s in the bank today.
Watch a leading number
Most numbers on a dashboard report what already happened. Revenue is the obvious one. A leading number moves first and tells you where sales are heading.
At a fitness studio Lockhold worked with, average attendance became the number to grow. Once there was enough data, revenue per person settled into a steady average, even with guest passes and promo codes in the mix. So every extra person in a class meant predictable revenue, and attendance moved before revenue did. Here’s how that studio grew 11% month over month.
The KPI menu
Pick from these. Don’t take all of them. There are no industry benchmarks here on purpose: compare each number with your own target and with last month.
Revenue this monthWeekly
- What it tells you
- Whether you’re on pace for the month.
- How to calculate it
- Sales so far this month. Pick invoiced or collected, and stick with it.
New customersWeekly
- What it tells you
- Whether the base is growing, not just sales to the same people.
- How to calculate it
- First-time buyers in the period.
PipelineWeekly
- What it tells you
- What’s likely to close in the coming weeks.
- How to calculate it
- Total value of open deals you expect to close soon.
Close rateMonthly
- What it tells you
- How well leads turn into customers.
- How to calculate it
- Deals won ÷ deals decided (won + lost).
Conversion rateDaily
- What it tells you
- How many visitors buy.
- How to calculate it
- Orders ÷ visits.
New accountsWeekly
- What it tells you
- Whether more stores are carrying your product.
- How to calculate it
- Stores that placed a first order in the period.
Average value per accountQuarterly
- What it tells you
- What each store is worth to you in a year.
- How to calculate it
- Last 12 months of sales to stores ÷ stores that ordered in that time.
Sales by SKUWeekly
- What it tells you
- Which products sell and which don’t.
- How to calculate it
- Sales (or units) for each product in the period.
Reorder rateMonthly
- What it tells you
- Whether the product sells through once it’s on the shelf.
- How to calculate it
- Stores that ordered again ÷ stores that ordered at all.
Qualified leadsWeekly
- What it tells you
- Whether marketing is producing conversations worth having.
- How to calculate it
- New leads that meet your definition of a fit.
Cost per new customerMonthly
- What it tells you
- Whether you pay a sensible amount to win a customer.
- How to calculate it
- Marketing spend ÷ new customers.
Average attendanceWeekly
- What it tells you
- How full the room is, and where revenue is heading.
- How to calculate it
- Total visits ÷ number of classes.
On-time deliveryWeekly
- What it tells you
- Whether you keep your promises.
- How to calculate it
- Delivered on or before the promised date ÷ all delivered.
Open issuesWeekly
- What it tells you
- What’s stuck, and whether the pile is growing.
- How to calculate it
- Problems still open at update time.
Retention rateMonthly
- What it tells you
- Whether customers stay.
- How to calculate it
- Customers at the start of the period who are still customers at the end ÷ customers at the start.
Cash on handWeekly
- What it tells you
- What you actually have.
- How to calculate it
- Bank balance today.
Overdue receivablesWeekly
- What it tells you
- Money earned but not collected.
- How to calculate it
- Unpaid invoices past their due date.
CapacityMonthly
- What it tells you
- Whether you have the people to deliver what you’ve sold.
- How to calculate it
- Hours committed ÷ hours available.
Step 2: Give each number an owner and a target
Every number gets one owner and one target. Without an owner, nothing happens when it moves. Without a target, it’s trivia.
The owner updates the number and explains it when it moves. One person per number, so it’s never everyone’s job and nobody’s.
How to set a target
Start where you are.
Take the average of the last three months.
Set it a little better.
A target the team believes it can hit gets chased. One that feels impossible gets ignored.
Say which way is good.
More sales is good. More open issues isn’t.
Review it every quarter.
Raise it when you hit it. If a number is new, track it for a month before you set one.
Step 3: Put it on one page
One screen, one tile per number, this week next to the target. Color only what missed, so the eye goes straight to what needs a decision.
- Revenue this monthSales leadWatch→
- New customersSales leadOn track↑
- PipelineSales leadMissed↓
- Close rateSales leadOn track↑
- On-time deliveryOperations leadOn track→
- Open issuesOperations leadWatch↑
- Cash on handOwnerOn track↑
- What’s stuckWhole teamTalk about it Monday→
Keep a short “what’s stuck” list at the bottom. Some of what’s wrong won’t show up as a number yet, and the list keeps it visible until it’s fixed.
Start in a spreadsheet. The habit matters more than the tool. When copying numbers in by hand becomes the bottleneck, connect the data with a reporting tool such as Looker Studio, or automate the data pulls.
The KPI dashboard template
The one-page dashboard from this guide, ready to fill in. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
- Eight KPIs on one page: owner, target, this week, last week. Trend and status fill themselves in.
- A “what’s stuck” list for the things that aren’t a KPI yet.
- A how-to tab, a filled example and a KPI menu to pick from.
- Plus the one-page guide: The KPI dashboard every owner-led business needs, ready to print or share.
Here's your KPI dashboard template.
Plus the one-page guide: download the PDF.
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Step 4: Look at it every Monday
Ten minutes, same day and time every week. On-track numbers get no discussion. Misses get an owner and a decision.
Update it before the meeting,
not during it.
Go down the list.
Each owner says on track or off track.
Talk about the misses.
The owner explains why and what they’ll do. Decide what changes.
Write down the decisions.
Who does what by when, so next week starts with whether it happened.
Once the meeting works, write the meeting down as a short SOP, so it runs the same way when you’re not there.
Why most dashboards get ignored
It’s almost always one of these six. None of them are tool problems.
Too many numbers.
Thirty metrics means none of them stand out.
Vanity numbers.
Page views and followers you can’t act on this week.
No owner.
When a number goes the wrong way and it’s nobody’s job, nothing happens.
No target.
You need to know what good looks like.
Updated by hand, when someone remembers.
Stale numbers kill trust, and then nobody checks.
Never discussed.
A dashboard nobody talks about in a meeting is a dashboard nobody uses.
FAQ
What KPIs should a small business track?
Eight to ten numbers, with sales first: revenue, new customers, pipeline or leads, and close rate. Then add the numbers for delivery and cash, such as on-time delivery and cash on hand. An online store adds traffic and conversion rate; a membership business adds attendance and cancellations; a brand selling through stores adds new accounts and sales by SKU.
What’s the difference between a KPI and a metric?
A KPI is a metric you’ve chosen because it shows whether the business is hitting a goal. Every KPI is a metric, but most metrics aren’t KPIs.
How often should you update a KPI dashboard?
Weekly, before the weekly meeting. Fast-moving numbers, like an online store’s traffic and sales, are worth checking daily. Slow ones, like retention, only need a monthly update.
Can I build a KPI dashboard in Google Sheets?
Yes. A spreadsheet is a good place to start, because the habit matters more than the tool. Move to a reporting tool once updating it by hand becomes the bottleneck.
Want it built and running?
Getting accurate numbers used to take a lot of manual work. Now most of it can be connected and updated automatically.
We link your systems and reports, build the dashboard, and run the first few meetings until your team owns it.
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