How Can You Manage What You Don’t Measure?

You can’t! 

When I was a kid my dad kept a ledger is his glove compartment detailing his gas mileage. After I got my license and drove HIS car I had to keep this ledger, from which he would double check his gas mileage.  A good habit, I suspect, but certainly not one that mattered to me. Needless to say, my records were short of stellar, and thereby useless for real measurement.  I image he was pretty happy when I got my own car.

Do you measure your marketing return on investment?  Depending on its intent, this may be difficult.  Though, in most direct marketing and some broader-scale marketing efforts, the return is measurable if only the discipline is determined and mastered.  Doesn’t it make sense to know if the dollars are worth the investment – at least break even?  And an answer like, “Yeah, we get some hits, or sure, we’ve gotten a lot of calls on that ad!” doesn’t cut it! How many hits and to what revenue result?  How many calls, with what conversion percentage and with what ultimate yield?  Knowing this information equips you for making smart future decisions. 

How about us sales people?  Do you know your conversion ratios?  How many people/prospects do you need to see to gain a customer?  If you don’t this, how do you know what activity is necessary to hit your goals?  Certainly it’s not always this simple, but having this information will increase your sales activity IQ in all cases. 

Does this apply to outside business? Yes!  How about exercise?  I can still hear Tony Horton, on P90X saying “You gotta write it down! How can you know what to do, if you don’t know what you did?” There’s more wisdom from P90X than meets the eye!  It’s so true! Writing down activity sets intelligent parameters for better future decisions – like getting stronger, faster, etc.

Have you ever heard that hindsight is 20/20?  Well, so is foresight, if you have good, measurable hindsight!