Episode #28: The 5 KPI’s to Track for Shop Growth

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Your shop may be busy…
But is it actually growing?

In this episode, Mike Fritz breaks down the 5 KPI’s every machine shop should track if they want more control over sales, production, profitability, and long-term growth.

Most shops judge success by whether there’s money in the bank, parts are shipping, and customers seem happy. But that only tells part of the story. Without tracking the right numbers, a shop can miss warning signs like low margins, weak RFQ flow, poor follow-up, or dangerous customer concentration.

Mike walks through the five growth KPIs that reveal what is really happening inside your shop:

You’ll learn how to track:

• RFQ volume from new, current, and dormant customers
• Win rate and why you are winning or losing work
• PO volume and customer concentration risk
• Shipping volume and how it connects sales to the floor
• Margin and how to improve profit without always raising prices

This episode also covers why dormant customers need intentional outreach, why OEMs change vendors, how to use KPIs to drive decisions, and why growth should be measured before it becomes a crisis.

If you want your shop to stop living and dying by the next PO from your biggest customer, this episode will help you start tracking the numbers that actually drive growth.

Subscribe to our 2026 weekly format:
Sales & Marketing — 1st & 3rd Tuesdays
Operations & Engineering — 2nd & 4th Tuesdays
Bonus joint episodes on 5th Tuesdays

If this episode helps, please leave a review. It helps more shop owners find the show and grow their business.