If you’ve known me for 30 seconds, you know that I measure everything... almost everything. I refuse to measure calories. I’m so maniacal about metrics, that refusing to measure calories is sort of my act of rebellion – I’m a real dissident, aren’t I? Regardless of how much I believe in and practice data analysis, there is one mistake I often see in which metrics actually hurt your sales progress.
Unless you have enough samples to test validity, don’t allow metrics to be the only way to measure progress. For example, if you’re looking at sales performance for someone who has been with your company for three months, you’re looking at the wrong data. Without enough samples, you might fire a superstar or promote an idiot – it all depends on your ability to guess the right metrics. When you don’t have enough data to back up your Key Performance Indicators (KPI), then your metrics could do harm.
