295: The Five Dimensions of ROI

Hi there. You’re listening to the Leading Lady Podcast. I’m your host, Allison Loftus, and I’m a certified professional coach specializing in leadership and work-life balance. I work with clients to shift their limiting beliefs, insecurities, and self-doubt. This podcast will be filled with tools and strategies to help high-achieving women like you feel connected, empowered, and in the lead of your life, both personally and professionally. Let’s transform your life starting now. Lead yourself. The rest will follow.

Hi there, leading ladies, and welcome back! I know it has been a minute since I’ve dropped a new episode, and I just want to thank you all for being loyal listeners. Let’s just jump right in, because I think a hot topic that people really consider when they’re looking at their annual expenses and where they’re spending their time and their money. We often hear the question, is it worth it? And so today, I’m going to be challenging you to rethink your ROI and how to evaluate where you network in business.

If we only evaluate networking and community through immediate dollar return, we’re often asking the wrong question. Today, I want to share five dimensions of ROI—return on investment—that help you assess where you spend your time, energy, and money in business and whether a space is actually aligned for you. ROI is multidimensional. Networking ecosystems are not products. ROI is layered. It can be delayed. It can be compounded. The five dimensions of ROI don’t replace financial ROI. They contextualize it. Okay, so let’s get started.

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Financial ROI

The first dimension is financial ROI. It can be direct financial gain or indirect financial gain. It’s what people expect and where they often stop.

I recently had someone tell me that when she joined the Leading Lady Network, she did not get that dollar amount back. And even now, that kind of left me speechless because I was looking at all of the benefits that she did get. And I wondered, you know, if she had gone out and purchased the coaching and the lunches and the strategic sessions and all of the things, she probably would have spent more than her actual investment is. But what she was only counting is how many people actually hired her and paid her dollar for dollar direct revenue versus indirect revenue.

So let’s talk about that. Direct revenue is you join something and you’re immediately hired because you were part of that network, and you’re getting an exact dollar amount back from going to that very specific thing. An example might be if I paid $200 to participate in a networking event and I was selling a product there and I sold $200 worth of product or more, I would say, wow, that had a direct financial ROI to that. I paid my money. Pay to play. I showed up, I did the thing, and I sold that dollar amount or more back. And so that had a direct financial return to me.

An indirect return would be if, let’s say I went to that same event, I paid $200 to participate, someone took my business card, we went about our lives. A week later, they hand that business card to someone else. Someone else calls me up and they buy $200 worth of product from me and they say, I got your card from this event that you were at. Somebody picked up your card and gave it to me. That is an indirect ROI that made it financially worth it to me because someone was able to find me, find my product, and do business with me.

Immediate return isn’t always realistic, though, because we don’t often know if people are in a space where they’re ready to buy something in that moment. We can’t track if that business card was given to someone and she forgot who gave it to her, but she stumbled across it at the bottom of her purse and then she calls you up. You know, it’s kind of hard to track that unless you’re literally putting an AirTag on your materials and finding out where their origin was. When did it first get out there into the world? It might be hard to track that.

And there’s a danger of entering spaces with unspoken financial expectations. If I paid to play or paid to participate in something and I thought that I was going to be able to sell product or sell services in that space, and then you get there and you realize that it’s not really a place where people are walking around and shopping, but it’s more they’re just getting to know you, they’re learning about you. No one is really shopping there. You’re just getting that visibility, that exposure from there. If I didn’t know that or that wasn’t explained to me beforehand, I might feel a little bit disappointed to show up thinking that I was going to sell product or get some business and it wasn’t what I thought, and therefore it wasn’t fruitful for me.

So how do you track where revenue actually comes from? Going back to that idea that unless you have an AirTag on a piece of marketing material, you really don’t know the journey or the life that that has before it gets into the hands of the person who is really ready to hire you. But how are you tracking it? Do you have a system that says, okay, I’ve participated in this, I distributed this much marketing material, or I had this many people interested or talked to me? Do you have a system of tracking where your revenue actually comes from?

For me, I’m just a plain girl. I use pen and paper. Sometimes I will get really technical and pull out Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, and I will track in a spreadsheet document where business comes from. I do try and ask people how they heard about me, or if they were referred to me, or did they find me on Google or Facebook. The more information you can get from people as to how they found you or why they decided to work with you, the better that’s going to be in helping you track where that revenue actually comes from.

For me, I also think that there’s great value in asking if someone referred you. I can very easily tell you who my top referral partners are, either organically or just because they love to talk about working with me. But I have a general idea of who refers the most people to me. And it’s not a contest. It’s just the simple fact of I ask, how did you hear about me? And fortunately for me, I do have some pretty consistent names that come up that say, oh, Susie Q told me that I should call you. And obviously I’m going to make sure Susie Q knows how much I appreciate that.

Another question for you would be to ask yourself, am I expecting this space to solve financial pressure? If you’re entering a space because you think that that space is going to open a floodgate of business to you, make sure that you really go into that with an understanding and not an assumption.

Another question is, is my business ready to convert opportunities into revenue? This is a big one. I could probably do a whole podcast episode on having your business ready to convert opportunities to revenue. Because one of the top things that I coach people on is follow-ups. And if you’re in spaces and you’re meeting lots of people and you’re gaining lots of visibility, but you don’t know how to follow up those conversations, you don’t know how to transition that conversation to conversion, you might be leaving some money on the table because you have not mastered the art of conversion.

And in my talk that I do around our sales funnel, I talk about the stage of engagement. Engagement happens between awareness and conversion. That stage of engagement is really where I see a lot of business owners fall off because they don’t know how to appropriately engage with a potential client, to build that trust, to then move them to conversion. So, like I said, I could probably do a whole other podcast just on conversion. But if you’re not confident or don’t have a system to convert potential clients, you might be missing it there.

Again, I had a woman who said, I joined your network and I didn’t gain a single dollar from attending any of those things. You know, my initial thought was, well, I know it’s not because you’re not meeting people. I know it’s not because your business isn’t getting exposure. So you might want to take a look at how you’re converting them and if you’re confidently and clearly articulating what your services and products are so that it makes sense for people to work with you.

A lack of financial ROI isn’t always failure of a space. It can be a signal about timing, clarity, and readiness.

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Relationship Capital ROI

Okay, so dimension number two: relationship capital ROI. I believe that this is the most undervalued form of return. Trust is a currency. The difference between contacts and relationships. You can meet a lot of people, but if you’re not building relationships with them, if you’re immediately meeting someone and saying, hey, let’s get in bed, let’s do business together, you’re missing the point of the relationship.

Building strong networks outperform large ones. So I’ve always said that Leading Lady aims to go deep, not wide. We are relationship focused. We often meet in smaller networks. We have intimate conversations. We really get to the meat of topics because we are building trust with one another.

So who do you trust more because of the spaces that you’re in? Think about the networks that you’re in. How often are you seeing those people outside of your meetings? Are you connecting with them? Are you meeting them as people? Are you building relationships and who trusts you? Are you opening yourself up to show that you’re a trustworthy person, to show that you’re somebody that they can count on, that you’re dependable, that you’re reliable, and that they see you not just as a business but as a person?

So when we ask ourselves, are relationships being built or are we just exchanging contacts? And I think that that is a key differentiator with Leading Lady. Again, to the intention of going deep, not wide. I often joke that Leading Lady was the introvert’s networking dream because nothing about it is surface level. When we come together, we are truly getting to know who the woman is behind the business. And I think that that opens up a level of vulnerability which often leads to trust, which absolutely leads to deeper and more meaningful relationships.

Relationships are often the bridge between effort and income, not the income itself.

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Credibility and Visibility ROI

Dimension three: your credibility and your visibility ROI. Visibility does not equal being promoted. Credibility comes from the association, the consistency, and the contribution to your network. So if you’re showing up and you’re being consistent and you’re offering value, not just passing out your business card, but actually offering value of how you are a resource in that network, that’s where the credibility is built.

And some spaces quietly elevate your reputation, believe it or not. I recently had a woman say that she posted for the very first time in the main Leading Ladies Facebook group about her business, and she had several of her current clients reach out to her and say, I didn’t know that you were part of Leading Ladies. I love Leading Ladies. I’m so glad that I’m working with you. They already knew her, but then her credibility—that she was attached to Leading Ladies.

And I think this can be true for other organizations, not just mine. This is just the example I have, but it gave her credibility that she was working within a network that truly valued community and had a positive energy to it. And, you know, we really were about collaboration, not competition. And her customers loved that. And additionally, she got more business because of it. It gave her the confidence to say, actually, yes, I am working and growing on my business. I am a Leading Lady and I’ve taken advantage of this network and I love this network and I contribute to this network positively. And people see that.

I’m not going to minimize that. Leading Lady has really built a reputation around integrity and just this vibe, this energy that we really are out there amplifying women in business. And other people like to see that. And so are the spaces that you’re in? Do they elevate your reputation?

So how has your confidence or your position shifted because of the networks that you’re in? Are you seen as a resource or as a consumer in that network? And do people speak your name in rooms that you’re not in?

I recently was at a conference in Madison, Indiana, and I was so impressed with how many women were mentioned in that room that were not there. You know, when another woman said that she was interested in publishing a book, several women spoke up and said, oh my gosh, you need to connect with Laura DiFranco of Brave Healer Publishing. Another woman said that she was looking for website support. Of course, Chrissy Rae’s name gets thrown around the table like, oh my gosh, I’ve worked with her. She helped me with this. She’s an SEO genius.

And I loved that women were being amplified even though they weren’t physically present in that space. And that was just such affirmation to me of how strong our Leading Lady network is, and the fact that the women truly gain nothing by amplifying those women there. Honest to God, sharing their positive experiences that they’ve had with those women in their network. And they’re happy to share those positive experiences because they want the new women that they’ve met to have those positive experiences as well.

The right room doesn’t make you louder. It makes you clearer. Again, those women weren’t even in the room, but their services and their products and the experience of working with them was crystal clear. And I think they even got some phone calls following that event.

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Access and Proximity ROI

Dimension four: access and proximity ROI. So what do you learn just by being close? What do you learn just by being part of that network?

Proximity can be an acceleration. When you are with people who are doing well, who are movers and shakers in their industries, it’s very motivating. And because you’re in that space and in that energy, you’re going to feel motivated to excel in your business as well.

Observational learning versus formal teaching. Again, when we are in spaces where people are movers and shakers and they’re problem solvers and they’re doing it, we are learning from them. We’re learning from one another. And when we share those experiences, when we share what’s working for us, when we share lessons learned, we are informally teaching others around us.

And when we’re seeing other people do things, we’re seeing other people problem solve. We’re seeing other people overcome hurdles. We’re observationally learning.

What decisions have you made differently because of the spaces that you’re in? Do you ask for support or do you wait to be invited? I know these are such poignant questions. Are you intentional with the access available to you? Are you using your resources? Are you reaching out to the people in your network for mentorship, for guidance, to help them elevate? What’s your contribution there and are you using the resources available to you?

Proximity without initiative rarely creates return. If you’re just sitting there waiting for something to happen to you, waiting for someone to reach out to you in that network without you taking that initiative, that first step to speak up, to share, to support, to ask for support, you’re not going to get much out of that. And this is where that you-get-what-you-give kind of falls into place.

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Personal and Strategic Growth ROI

The fifth and final dimension: personal and strategic growth ROI. The quiet transformation that compounds identity shifts before income shifts.

If you are gaining confidence, if you are gaining clarity within yourself, that needs to happen before your business can grow. Your business cannot grow if your confidence is not growing, if you’re not learning new skills, if you’re not stretching yourself outside of your comfort zone.

Leadership maturity affects your ROI. Are you growing as a leader? Are you working as an optimal leader in yourself? Are you taking the lead of your own life? Back to that initiative, that motivation, intrinsic motivation within yourself to be better. Or are you waiting for better to just happen to you?

Growth that doesn’t show up on spreadsheets but changes everything is the growth that is happening within you. When I work with my clients on their strategic planning, one of the key spokes of the strategic wheel is personal and professional growth. How are you growing? How are you stretching yourself? How are you stepping outside of your comfort zone? What new skills are you taking on? What hobbies do you have that spark creativity, that pull you away from your work so that you can come back refreshed?

How has your discernment improved? Discernment is part of growth. So how has your discernment improved? How is your decision-making? Are you looking at things logically and strategically versus emotionally? How are you making decisions? What is your decision-making process? Again, having that emotional intelligence and not reacting emotionally, but being calm in your decision-making. Logical. Thoughtful. Intentional.

How have your boundaries, your confidence, and your clarity evolved because of the networks that you are part of? Who you become in a room often matters more than what you gain from it. Let me say that again. Who you become in a room often matters more than what you gain from it. Why? Because who you become is going to determine what you gain. Full stop.

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Responsibility and Choosing the Right Room

So let’s talk about the responsibility piece. ROI is co-created. You are responsible for your ROI. You have a part in it. It’s not happening to you. You are an active participant in your ROI.

So participation is required versus just presence. Contribution is required versus just consumption. And engagement matters. If you show up passively and hope a space changes your business, you’re outsourcing responsibility. You are playing victim in your own business. And I see this time and time and time again when people show up and they’re like, oh, I went to that meeting and I didn’t get a single call. No one called me to hire me. And I’m like, whoa, slow down, Sally.

Like, there’s a lot that needs to happen after you show up. There’s a lot that needs to happen after you show up and before someone hires you. And that’s where you’re responsible.

So I’m going to invite you to think back and rate yourself in each dimension. And let’s see, which dimension are you over relying on? Which dimension are you ignoring? Which dimension is a misalignment or a mis-expectation?

And you can do this for any network that you’re part of. Anything that you’re thinking, is this worth it? Am I getting what I need out of it?

So I have some closing thoughts for you here. Choosing the right room. How do you choose the right room?

Number one, I want you to normalize leaving spaces that no longer fit. And that’s okay. We outgrow spaces. We can love where we’ve been and still recognize that it no longer fits.

Normalize staying in spaces for reasons beyond money. If you’re getting ROI in the other four dimensions and it’s filling your cup and you’re growing as a person, you’re developing as a leader, you’re gaining credibility, you’re gaining knowledge and strategic planning, it might still be a good fit for you. Don’t leave a group just because one part of it, the financial part, isn’t a slam dunk.

The right networking space isn’t the one that pays you back fastest. Okay? It’s not the one that pays you back fastest. It’s the one that supports who you’re becoming and where your business is going.

And I want to end with this. Clarity creates confidence and confident decisions always, always, always have a better ROI.

If this episode resonates with you, or if you have questions or want to gain clarity on the networking spaces you’re in, or if you’re still left wondering, is this worth it? Please reach out. I do read and respond to every email, and I would love to talk this through with you. ROI is hard and it’s a necessary thing that we have to audit, not just for finances, but to really make sure that we’re spending our time and our money wisely. So I hope that this landed well with you. Again, if you have questions, please feel free to reach out. I always respond. Until next time, take the lead.

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of The Leading Lady Podcast. You can find all of the links and information mentioned in this episode at our website. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to follow the show so you don’t miss any future episodes. And while you’re there, it would mean the world to me if you would take a few seconds and leave me an honest review. This will allow me to be able to help other high-achieving women find inspiration, connection, and develop strategies to live and lead with purpose and intention. See you here next week.