The Three Metrics I Really Care About As A Consultant

Don't bother with complex measurement systems or tracking anything - they're usually more trouble than they're worth. However, these three metrics are worth paying attention to.

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Complex Measurement Systems Are A Waste Of Time For Solo Consultants

You can spend hours setting up complex systems to track a wide range of data.

• Traffic to your website.

• # people who request a demo

• Followers on social platforms.

• Subscribers

• Open rates.

• Hours billed.

• etc…

I recently spoke with one consultant who set up the best-looking dashboard I had ever seen, showing over a dozen metrics for different parts of his business.

But he still couldn’t tell me which metric would drive growth in his business.

The dashboard was pretty, but useless.

I think metrics can be a dangerous trap - so let’s keep things simple. Here are the three things I look at.

Metric 1: YoY-Profit

In QuickBooks, I look at the profit for the past year and compare it with the previous period before (i.e. July 2024 to June 2025 vs. July 2023 to June 2024). This tends to even out the huge swings in revenue which can occur month to month.

See: How Much I Earned In My First Five Years As A Consultant

The accounts of UK companies are public record, and you’re welcome to see how we’re doing.

I also have a side-by-side comparison in QuickBooks showing the breakdown of precisely what’s changed over the past year, so I can see exactly where the additional revenues and expenditures are coming.

This gives a pretty clear indicator of what’s changed YoY at any given time.

This serves as both an early warning system to identify when something is significantly costing more and as a means to pinpoint potential opportunities for improvement.

Comparing the previous 365 days to the same period in the past is an excellent way to track material changes to your business.

Metric 2: YoY-EoI (# Expressions of Interest from Ideal Client Profiles vs. Previous Year)

I believe this is the ultimate metric to determine if you’re doing a good job or not.

It’s the increase or decrease in the number of expressions of interest from our ideal client profiles compared with the same period the previous year.

This is essentially the sum of all your marketing efforts.

If you’re doing well, this number will increase; if you’re not doing well, it will decrease.

If this is going up, I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing. If it’s going down, I’m going to begin tweaking one of the variables. If it stays the same, I’m open to experimentation, but I’m pretty happy with how FeverBee is doing.

We can also see a deeper breakdown of what drives growth here:

EoI is driven by the no. of people who believe you can solve their problems and past clients.

Notice above that an expression of interest is the combination of business from repeat clients and the number of people who believe you can solve their problems. The latter of which is the result of your awareness efforts, positioning, and social proof.

This metric gives you a huge amount of information (but you usually have to track it manually).

Metric 3: Client Satisfaction / Feedback Reports

At the end of a consulting project, I solicit feedback on how well we did.

The most important question is the client satisfaction result.

This is a combination of quantitative ratings and qualitative ratings (many of these have ‘on a scale of 1 to 5….’ style questions).

You can get a flavour of these below:

1. Overall Satisfaction.

   1. On a scale of 1 to 10….

2. Project Outcomes

   On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree…

   • The project delivered the outcomes we expected.

   • The project has had a meaningful impact on our team/business.

   • The results of this project will be sustainable or long-lasting.

3. Consultant’s Performance

   On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = Poor and 5 = Excellent…

   • Communication and responsiveness

   • Subject matter expertise

   • Professionalism and conduct

   • Adaptability to our needs

   • Clarity of recommendations

4. Project experience

   On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree…

   1. The project scope and objectives were clearly defined.

   2. We were kept informed throughout the project.

   3. The project was delivered on time.

   4. The level of collaboration met our expectations.

5. Future needs / relationship

   1. Would you consider working with us again?

   2. Would you be open to providing a testimonial?

Then we also gather feedback qualitative feedback on what we can improve:

1. What worked particularly well for you

2. What could we have done better?

3. Any comments/suggestions etc…

You can a template client feedback survey here.

One of the best aspects of having numerous client feedback surveys is that you can share the anonymised results with prospective clients.

Clients who may not be willing to provide a testimonial often complete an excellent survey that you can use as an alternative.

Good luck!

Richard Millington

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