The easy availability of modern accounting software means that many aspects of businesses can be monitored at the touch of a button. But monitoring sales, costs and working capital will only enable you to control cashflow. To give profits and cashflow a positive boost you need to focus on the real ‘drivers’ of your business and find out exactly what makes it tick.

If you can pinpoint the things you do in your business which are the keys to driving it forward you can often achieve a tremendous leverage and competitive advantage, enabling you to produce remarkable results with minimal amounts of extra resources.

For instance, a specialist travel agency found that low staff turnover was a driver. A quick analysis showed that an experienced sales person was three times more productive than a new recruit and that with longevity staff morale was improved and maintained. By concentrating on retaining staff the agency was able to boost sales and profitability and thereby strengthen its position in the marketplace.

For a retail business the key driver might be sales per square foot. For a manufacturer it could be machine downtime. A business providing a service might have a rapid response time to clients’ requests. Returns or defect ratios, outbound sales calls, staff absence or speed of stock turn may be key.

Whatever your business there will be critical factors you can identify, track and focus your efforts on. Once you have pinpointed them, these drivers can provide the clearest possible indications as to where money, manpower and other resources can be used to greatest effect.