As an independent insurance agent, you take on many roles within the agency. One of them is growing your business and keeping a close eye on what’s working and what isn’t. It can be tough to figure out what exactly to focus your attention on as multiple factors will affect growth—some you can control and some you can’t.

But there are three key metrics you should monitor throughout the year to help ensure you’re growing through both retention and adding new business. Here they are:

1. Client loyalty

It costs five times as much to convert a prospect as it does to retain an existing customer, according to research done by Alan Webber at Forrester®, so customer retention is vital. To measure loyalty, you need a system in place. The Net Promoter Score (NPS)® is a one-question survey that directly measures client loyalty. Send the NPS survey out to all clients a couple times per year to monitor trends so you can improve retention. Another bonus? More than half of clients who respond to an NPS survey will also provide a written testimonial you can display on your website to help attract new customers.

2. Reviews

Positive reviews on Google or Facebook provide prospects with trustworthy online recommendations for your agency. But even if you have many five-star reviews, prospects will only see them if your agency is at the top of their Google search results. That’s why you should collect reviews in a way that both Google and your prospects trust. Google search rankings change often, and you need to know if your ranking drops so you can take steps to improve.

3. Referrals

You depend on word-of-mouth referrals to help your agency grow. If you notice your referrals drop, identify what happened and make the necessary changes. Similarly, if you see a spike in referrals, find out why so you can continue doing what you’re doing right. And if referrals have remained stagnant, it’s time to switch things up.

The trick to improving it all: better communication

When asked what insurance customers value most, 42% of them mention communication. You can stand out as an agency that truly cares with emails, cards and texts meant just for your clients. Having this foundation will naturally drive retention and growth.