Got Any Canaries?
We all know that Quickbooks has sold so many copies because it does accounting differently. No double entries. Simple reports. Those are features. The benefit of Quickbooks is that you can do cash flow for your business - fast. Load up Quickbooks with regular data, push the button and out comes a cash flow projection. Any owner of a small business - a middle market owner, as well - will tell you that, come Friday night, when things are winding down for the weekend, she or he wants to know one number: How much money is in the bank, and how much money will be in the bank next Friday evening? Simple number that could be labelled "Survival" - or "Canary".
So, what are your canaries? Inventory used to be a bigger problem than it is today. We all cut inventory and saved some money. Cash flow will never go away as a canary. What about payables, receivables, booked sales, pipeline, sales calls completed, sales calls leading to closes? There are lots of possibilities for your business.
Strategically, there are some interesting ones. Size of innovation team. Productivity of innovation team. Productivity in whatever form. Innovation plan. How about strategic plan? How about strategic plan actually implemented? Employee turnover. Number of employees. Outsourcing plan. Outsourcing productivity. Insourcing plan (there's a new word, I guess).
Is there any one predictor that you can use for your canary? You probably know what it is. That's good. Does your team know what it is? Why not?
Reference
Heath, Dan and Chip Heath. Business Advice From Van Halen. Fast Company. 1 March 2010. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/143/made-to-stick-the-telltale-brown-mampm.html