Why it pays to be fanatical about measurement?

This powerful little quote from Edward Deming sums up one of the most important distinctions between high achievers and the also-rans in life.

Far too many of us dream big dreams and work hard every
day, without taking time to see if we are making any
progress! Think about that! Logically, if you are
building a business, saving for retirement, trying to lose
weight or achieve any other goal in life, you NEED to know
if what you're doing is working!

Of course you do! And yet, many professionals and business
owners forget this key step. They "try" an advertising
campaign or "try" a new sales person. They "try" changing
their hours or raising (or lowering) their prices, but
without adequate records and good testing, they don't
really KNOW what works and what doesn't. As a result, too
often they keep on working hard, but are spinning their
wheels, wasting time and going nowhere.

It is well known that entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com is simply fanatical about making sure everything is measured and improved on a continual basis. The key to making progress is to get very, very good at
measuring what works (so you can do more of it) and
measuring what does not work (so you can stop it!).
Successful people track daily performance. They use charts
and graphs to visualize their results. They compare
results from one year to the next, and measure their
productivity with that of their colleagues (and
competitors).

One of the biggest advantages of small business is its flexibility and responsive to customer needs and new market demands. But focussing this flexibility is the real secret of successful small business and this focus is a result of continuous measurement and action to do more of what works and less of what does not.

Here's something that can help. If you have not reserved your seat for the next Big Idea event near you, do so today and find out how measuring your marketing efforts will help you grow exponentially.