Read your numbers in 90 seconds a month
A useful report fits on one page and reads in a minute and a half. Here are the three numbers that deserve your attention — and the ones that steal it.
If your monthly report needs a meeting to be understood, it isn't a report. It's homework. And homework eventually stops getting done.
An owner doesn't need forty metrics. You need to know three things: how much went in, how much it produced, and what happens next month.
The three numbers that matter
- Invested: everything that went out to sell — advertising, tools, fees.
- Produced: the sales or margin those dollars generated, tracked all the way through.
- The ratio of the two: that's what tells you whether your money is working or sleeping.
The numbers that steal your attention
Impressions, reach, followers, "engagement rate": these numbers climb easily and don't pay the rent. They have their place for managing the details — not for deciding. If a report puts them front and centre, ask yourself what it's avoiding showing.
The question to ask your provider
"Show me, on one page, what my money earned this month." If the answer takes more than one page or more than 90 seconds, the problem isn't your grasp of numbers. It's the clarity of whoever is presenting them.
That's the standard we hold ourselves to at MAAN: a one-page report, three dominant numbers, readable between two coffees. You should demand it from anyone.
We can set this up for you.
Every piece of advice on this page is part of what we build for our clients. A 30-minute conversation is enough to see what applies to your business.