Lesson 1 of 7
One number to steer by
The one number that tells you it's working
The idea
Someone training for a marathon watches one number: their race time. Steps, likes and new running shoes only matter if they help that number.
Step 1
Goal
More paying customers
Step 2
What you count
Paying customers at the end of each month
Step 3
Target
30 by next October
Early signals and results
Early signals
- Move first: enquiries, sign-ups, booked calls
- Useful only if they really lead to sales
The result
- Customers or sales
- Slower, but it's the truth
Sort it
1 of 6
Early signal or result?
“Free sign-ups this week”
Why just one
With five numbers, every month looks like a win, because something always went up. One number makes you choose. Followers and visits are easy to grow and hard to pay rent with.
One main number
Close to money: customers, bookings or sales
One or two early signals
So you see trouble coming
One guard
Something that mustn't get worse, like cancellations
Today, with AI
Numbers arrive by themselves once Google is connected, and AI can read a whole dashboard in seconds. The risk now is too many charts, not too few.
One number also keeps your AI team pointed the same way.
What AI does well
Tracking the pace, warning you when you fall behind, and explaining the month in plain words.
Where it goes wrong
It finds a story in noise. One week means little; compare 28 days with the 28 before.
What stays yours
Which number, and whether the target still makes sense after 90 days.
Check yourself
Do it in the studio
Run the numbers
The pace your target asks for
The example is Theo's: no paying customers yet, 30 of them in twelve months. Put in your own number.
Needed each month
+3
new, before you count the ones lost
The target is
From 0
a first target, from nothing yet
Check it at 90 days: by then about 8 should be on the board.
- 01
Open Results → Goal.
free - 02
Pick the number closest to money, and where it is today. With Google Analytics connected, Fill it from Google Analytics offers its last 30 days.
free - 03
Say where it should be and by when, and what one customer brings. Why now? is optional.
free - 04
Press Save the target. It shows on Results → Goal and on Today.
free - 05
Track an early signal next to it with Add another target.
free
Done when Results → Goal shows today's number, the target and its date, and the pace needed each month.
Go deeper
University courses on the same topic, if you want to go further.
Harvard Business School Online
Digital Marketing Strategy and AI, Module 2: Crafting a Digital Marketing PlanSetting goals and choosing the numbers to watch
MIT Sloan
Marketing and Product Analytics (15.819)Using numbers and simple experiments to decide