Visualize this: You've been asked to speak at the biggest industry event of the year as the keynote speaker. You've been invited because of how successful you have become and how fast you did it.

The conference is packed with thousands of influential people in your industry. Extra tickets have been sold exclusively for your speech. This is natural, given all the hype recently around your business success.

As they introduce you (using a lot of very flattering adjectives) you walk up to the podium and see everyone clapping and cheering for you.

You start your speech and say something to the effect of "actually our growth was pretty simple. X months ago we decided we were going to focus on a single key metric and a specific goal - then we did everything we could to achieve that number".

You show a slide and it looks like a hockey stick (starting small and then rapidly growing).

You then spend the next 30 minutes telling them about what worked, what didn't work, and what you learned along the way.

Everyone stands up and applauds as you finish your speech - looking at their neighbors saying things like "wow", "amazing!". You even hear some people chanting the name of your company as you leave the stage.

Pretty awesome stuff - congratulations!

In this section we're going to figure out what needs to be on that slide. The rest of this guide is going to fill in the rest of your speech.

WHAT ONE METRIC IS ON THAT SLIDE?

What's the most important metric in your business that will lead to maximum value in your business?

It's probably one of these:

• Customer signups (or it can be trials, it doesn't really matter)
  
• Supplier signups (if you have a two-sided marketplace where you have suppliers and buyers)
  
• Mailing list subscribers
  
• Downloads (if your product / service is a mobile application)
  

It's almost certainly not one of these:

• Purchases
  
• Transactions
  
• Web visits
  
• Total revenue
  

Your "core metric" is probably in the first list because these are what some people call "leading indicators" and are the most critical to getting your business primed for growth.

For example, let's say that your core metric is total new signups. If you become amazing at getting people to sign up - in fact you get so good at it that you can automate it and *know* that you'll get thousands of signups daily (think of the chart you're going to show everyone on stage) - THEN you can figure out how to convert those signups into paid users, or how to get them to upgrade, purchase, or whatever your business does. Essentially, you'll have become an expert in the key metric that gives you something to optimize afterwards.

The metrics in the second list are either too complex (a lot of factors affect revenue) or not meaningful enough (getting people to visit your website isn't nearly as critical as getting a high percentage to convert - you can always buy visitors).

Although every business is different, leading indicators are often very similar.

So, what's your core metric?

If you're not sure if its the right thing to measure, add a comment below and we'll help you figure it out.

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