Small business owners are overwhelmed by metrics. The best KPIs are the ones that lead to clear action, not just extra reporting. If you track too many, you lose focus. If you track too few, you miss the warning signs. These KPIs are the best starting point for most service and product businesses.

1) Cash runway. How many months of cash you have at current burn. This tells you how much time you have to make decisions. Track it weekly using your cash balance and monthly net burn.

2) Gross margin. Revenue minus direct costs, expressed as a percentage. This shows whether your pricing and delivery are healthy. Falling margin means you are working harder for less.

3) On-time delivery rate. The percentage of projects or orders delivered by the promised date. This is the clearest indicator of operational health and customer satisfaction.

4) Customer retention rate. How many customers stay month to month or year to year. Retention is cheaper than acquisition and tells you if customers are getting real value.

5) Net revenue retention (NRR). Retention plus expansion minus churn. NRR shows whether existing customers are growing your revenue base or shrinking it.

6) Lead-to-customer conversion rate. The percentage of leads that become paying customers. Low conversion means the offer, targeting, or sales process needs work.

7) Sales cycle length. The average time from first contact to close. Shorter cycles improve cash flow and reduce sales cost.

8) Revenue per employee. Total revenue divided by team size. This is a simple proxy for productivity and helps you decide when to hire.

9) Customer support response time. How long it takes to respond to customer requests. Slower response times are an early indicator of churn risk.

10) Accounts receivable days (DSO). The average number of days it takes to collect an invoice. Rising DSO means cash flow will tighten even if revenue is growing.

How to use these KPIs: Put them on one page, update them weekly or monthly depending on the metric, and review them in a short leadership meeting. The goal is not to report; it is to make decisions. If on-time delivery drops, adjust capacity. If DSO rises, run a collections sprint. If conversion drops, tighten the offer.

Start with five of these KPIs if you are new to tracking. Add the rest only after the first five are updated consistently for a full quarter. Consistency is the real advantage.

KPIs are only useful if they lead to action. Keep the list small, assign an owner for each metric, and decide what you will do if it turns red. That is how KPIs become a growth tool instead of a reporting burden.