Powills: Data is the key to great business

I was recently talking with a friend who took over as president of a company. The call started off with me asking him if the situation was good or bad. He said both – noting the company had a lot of work to do in order for it to become great. As he talked about his mission to greatness, I heard him mention “data” several times. He was amazed that the bottom line did not grow at an equal pace to the top line. This puzzling result forced him to conduct a data deep dive and start identifying the quick wins for the company. The quick wins, he noted, would be essential to the brand’s success over the next few months as he worked to rally the troops to buy into his vision. Rallying the troops would not be easy, as change was inevitable and the excuse of, “well, that’s not how the last boss did it,” would not be tolerated. His wins could come in many shapes and sizes – from making sure the right people were in the right roles, to making sure he didn’t overstaff certain areas of the business, to refining the operations, decreasing food cost and labor, and simplifying the menu. All of these little wins could lead to giant ROI for his franchisees, then his staff, and then him. His data dictated his game plan. He spoke about his focus on being the best brand in its category. That even with uphill battles, the company’s momentum was strong enough to offset the challenges. This, he noted, was what was most attractive to him about the company. When reading leadership books or listening to TED Talks, each leader seems to point to different reasons for what makes a great company. Yet each philosophy consistently revolved around one thing, data. Data is the ultimate truth in business. Data is your proof of concept. It is what is real. To executives, it should also provide reason of concerns, changes and celebrations. When you look at your business, how much do you lean on data to determine its greatness? As I listened to him talk about his business, I thought about my own. I find that calls with peers who are going through similar challenges, yet have a similar view on solutions, are essential to my sanity. Before this call, I told a coworker that I wondered sometimes if I lived in a world of one, where my vision was so big that it was sometimes challenging for others to understand it.  My friend said the exact same thing on our call – that he wondered if he was insane for wondering about the little details. Big wins are located in the small data. Once the foundation is created, a business can succeed by winning at the small changes. However, before change is made, understand your business’s why. Why are you making the change? And does the data support your decision? In business, data is not always black and white though. At a communications agency, our data comes in many different shapes and sizes.  From quantity of media placements, to consistency of media interviews, to fan counts, to business deals executed, to sales at the local level. Internally, we use a microscope to determine if we are delivering the right results back to our clients. Externally, we have to read the emotional data from a client’s actions and voice to ensure we are following through with their wants, too. When preparing to plan out the rest of the year, certainly rely on emotional passion to help motivate the crowd, but live on the true numbers to know if the goals and changes are actually netting real results.