After ‘outing’ my daughter last week for failing to press her air conditioning button in her car for four years, it’s my turn to admit to a mistake, twice!
Since working from home with Covid I decided that I needed to improve my home office so that it was fit for purpose.
I enjoy the position looking out over the front of the house and seeing the world go about its business, but I have a problem that when it is sunny, the brightness streams into the room and, as well as becoming very hot, it makes it nigh on impossible to see my laptop screen.
The window being a non-custom size (when is anything ever a standard size?) I decided to order some made to measure wooden blinds.
I measured the width, measured it again and then placed my order. 157cm wide.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but as I write this article now and look through the window in question, I KNOW that it is bigger than 157cm without even needing a measuring tape.
I was pleased when the blinds arrived a week last Friday as it meant that I would be able to fit them on the Saturday.
On the Saturday morning I unpacked them excitedly, brought them upstairs, held them against the window and then shook my head in disbelief. They didn’t cover even the glass let alone the frames.
There was some faint hope that it would be the manufacturer’s fault, but I knew it was mine really.
I checked the measurements and they had delivered precisely what I ordered. Doh!
I measured the windows again and realised it was 167cm that I needed.
Just before placing the order I asked Emma to come and double check with me.
“Please can you make sure that I get it right this time?”
177cm was the correct measurement.
Wow Nicholas, good work!
I often ask solicitors for their numbers when I have a More Clients Now call with them.
They might say to me that they want to increase turnover by another £10,000 a month or £50,000 a month – I can create a plan for either level.
First, I ask them for their current numbers:
- How many enquiries do you currently have each month for your services?
- How many of those enquiries become clients?
- From these numbers, what is your conversion percentage?
- What is your average bill for each client?
- What is your monthly billing?
They may have a guess at them, but, just like my first and second measurements, they are usually way out. Most of the time the only number they do know is the billing one. The trouble with that one is that it is the least important number as it occurs at the end of a matter when you cannot influence it.
I need to know these numbers because then I can improve every aspect of them, even the billing one.
Once you improve every aspect of your marketing you can charge more because not only are you seen as an expert but you have many more enquiries coming in than you can handle.
When I work with solicitors and they start to measure their numbers, they are often surprised by them and then become excited when I show them how I expect those numbers to improve with just a little bit of work.
I always say about business “What gets measured gets better.”
It might not apply to windows, but it definitely applies to law firms and their profits.
Are you measuring your numbers month on month?