Benchmarking As A Tool

If you’re not benchmarking, you’re falling behind – and here’s why. Benchmarking is the act of comparing your business elements against a standard: whether you’re evaluating your quality compared to a competitor’s, looking at your performance data or comparing your strategy. There are many different types of benchmarking, but they all have one thing in common – they allow you to identify your business’s strengths, position in the marketplace and performance against key markets. And they also allow you to identify where your business is falling behind – allowing you to make the necessary changes to succeed.

HOW CAN I BENCHMARK MY BUSINESS?

There are many different types and ways of benchmarking – so it’s important to start with specific, quantitative questions which will help you to better meet the goals of your business – conducting market research, in advance of benchmarking, is also important.

Whatever type of benchmarking you are doing, it’s generally best to then compare against your top competitors – make a list of who they are, what they are doing, tactics they are using that are working and tactics that are less successful. You can then analyse statistics about your industry, interpret your data and make sure everyone who needs to know about it is told – and also that clear goals are set to help you improve. You’ll most likely find it helpful to then draw up a plan to help you achieve the goals you identified during benchmarking.

Of course, this process is going to differ slightly depending on what kind of benchmarking you are conducting – but following this general framework can help you to assess your business and its performance. We’ve created a handy infographic explaining the different types and uses of benchmarking, for your reference – you can circulate this amongst your business to give them a clear overview of what benchmarking is, keep it as a factsheet or send it to your team members – enjoy!