WEBVTT 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.900 Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing 00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:14.380 the tools and knowledge to help small business 00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:17.699 owners succeed. For additional resources, visit 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:22.980 www .businessabundance .online. Hello and welcome 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:26.699 to the Business Abundance Podcast. I'm here with 00:00:26.699 --> 00:00:32.280 Rowan and Ian. He's back to talk about data -driven 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:36.000 decision -making. What's your favourite thing 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.310 about it, Ian? Data. I just love how people get 00:00:39.310 --> 00:00:42.670 hung up on it. I love data, but some people focus 00:00:42.670 --> 00:00:46.030 on the wrong data. What would you consider to 00:00:46.030 --> 00:00:49.090 be the wrong data? Any data that doesn't move 00:00:49.090 --> 00:00:51.369 forward in your business. There's a great book 00:00:51.369 --> 00:00:54.450 called, I think it's The Tiger That Isn't, and 00:00:54.450 --> 00:00:56.409 it's talking about how statistics and data can 00:00:56.409 --> 00:00:59.490 be used to prove anything maliciously. And in 00:00:59.490 --> 00:01:03.909 my experience, especially in the early days of 00:01:03.909 --> 00:01:07.349 computers, a lot of advertising companies used 00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:10.989 data to confuse and befuddle potential clients 00:01:10.989 --> 00:01:16.069 into signing up for less than excellent advertising 00:01:16.069 --> 00:01:18.930 campaigns. But now people are a lot more educated 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:21.950 and data is a valuable, valuable tool and it's 00:01:21.950 --> 00:01:24.329 everywhere. I think data is quite important to 00:01:24.329 --> 00:01:27.090 decision making because we often make decisions 00:01:27.090 --> 00:01:29.109 based on how we feel or the last thing we saw 00:01:29.109 --> 00:01:31.150 or the thing that annoys us or we like the most. 00:01:31.469 --> 00:01:34.290 But sometimes when you go back and you look at 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:37.769 a vast quantity of Accurate data collected in 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:40.709 a suitable way. It tells you something different 00:01:40.709 --> 00:01:45.849 or it confirms it. So, um, I guess the, the numbers 00:01:45.849 --> 00:01:49.189 don't lie. Unless you manipulate them, like I 00:01:49.189 --> 00:01:51.689 was just saying. Which can be done, but generally, 00:01:52.090 --> 00:01:53.189 well, the numbers aren't lying there. Someone 00:01:53.189 --> 00:01:55.650 else did the numbers very, very much so. And 00:01:55.650 --> 00:01:57.989 for someone like me, who's more in the creative 00:01:57.989 --> 00:02:02.069 realm than in the data driven realm, data is 00:02:02.069 --> 00:02:06.240 reluctantly valuable, if that makes sense. I 00:02:06.240 --> 00:02:10.780 work on gut and psychology of sales and in the 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:13.740 moment, and then many, many, many times in my 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:16.840 career, I look back and go, well, that was wrong 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:21.120 in regards to data -driven process. If I had 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.259 the data and I understood the data at the time, 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:27.259 or even if I was collecting data, which as part 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:30.560 of marketing and A -B split testing is what you 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:32.960 do in an advertising campaign anyway, that is 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.039 data. Uh, I just choose not to call it that if 00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:38.500 that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. No, that makes 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:42.379 sense. Yeah. I, I like it just because it, it 00:02:42.379 --> 00:02:45.879 removes the personal bias or gut feelings that 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:49.400 you use. Um, I've worked with a number of people 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:52.699 that don't have budgets, but don't know where 00:02:52.699 --> 00:02:56.219 their money's going. Um, and then they don't 00:02:56.219 --> 00:02:58.259 really know what to do with it. So there's that 00:02:58.259 --> 00:03:00.759 sort of data, or if we're looking at their website. 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:04.800 and they think a lot of people are viewing it, 00:03:04.819 --> 00:03:07.139 but they're only getting a tiny, tiny amount 00:03:07.139 --> 00:03:09.719 of traffic. There's also that because they'll 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:11.599 say, oh, well, I'm getting heaps of phone calls. 00:03:12.219 --> 00:03:15.379 So my website must be really successful. But 00:03:15.379 --> 00:03:17.580 then you actually look at a tool like Google 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:20.599 Analytics and you say there's only three people 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:23.680 a day visiting, which might be good. Might be 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.120 a very highly converting website. Exactly. But. 00:03:27.210 --> 00:03:30.030 Yeah, it just gets rid of that, that gut feeling. 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:33.229 Netflix actually did that. They, when they, you 00:03:33.229 --> 00:03:35.629 know, House of Cards? I've heard of it. Yes. 00:03:35.870 --> 00:03:38.930 So they didn't even release a pilot program. 00:03:39.129 --> 00:03:41.750 They just used all the data from Netflix and 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:45.110 saw that people liked David Fincher produced 00:03:45.110 --> 00:03:48.710 movies. And they also recognized Kevin Spacey 00:03:48.710 --> 00:03:52.830 was moving towards the political dramas. And 00:03:52.830 --> 00:03:56.830 they liked the audience like these. So they released. 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:00.780 house of cards with a hundred million dollar 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:04.460 investment without a pilot program. And, um, 00:04:04.460 --> 00:04:08.159 that was a massive, massive success. That's, 00:04:08.180 --> 00:04:10.340 uh, that's data working for you, isn't it? Really? 00:04:10.460 --> 00:04:12.939 Yes. Yeah. It actually attracted millions of 00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:15.479 new subscribers for them. So that was exciting 00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:18.860 for them. Would you say they've based a lot of 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:22.100 their, their newer show acquisitions on that, 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:25.800 that method? They're obviously the very low quality. 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:28.720 things that come out, but they are very successful 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:30.899 to their target audiences. It's looking at that 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:32.879 a slightly different way. It's, it's interesting 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.699 because the pilot programs just data gathering 00:04:35.699 --> 00:04:39.220 anyway. So before they'll be going, oh, we think 00:04:39.220 --> 00:04:41.600 an audience likes this. This would be nice. I've 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:44.480 got this great idea. And then now let's go see 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.860 if people actually like this idea. Let's get 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:49.180 the data. And then if we can get the data that 00:04:49.180 --> 00:04:51.399 says, yes, this is great. We'll get the funding 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:53.939 for it. But in this case, Netflix through its 00:04:53.939 --> 00:04:57.519 system had the data. accessible for someone to 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.319 look at and go, boom, these things are all good. 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:02.899 Let's put those together. And that's enough data 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:04.800 to make the people who are going to make the 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:08.259 investment happy. So yeah, that's the same thing. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.519 That's a different process really. It's a good 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:13.439 experiment for a business that can gamble, technically 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:16.319 gamble a hundred million dollars and trust your 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:19.300 processes, I suppose. Yes. Well gamblers probably 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:21.620 don't serve us. It's an educated guess. It's 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:23.300 an educated investment, which is a business. 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:26.550 Absolutely. It's not just trow it all on. You've 00:05:26.550 --> 00:05:28.449 got a 25 % chance success, let's throw it all 00:05:28.449 --> 00:05:34.569 on Blackin. It's also, you look at data gathering 00:05:34.569 --> 00:05:38.389 20 years ago, you'd have to have a focus group. 00:05:38.449 --> 00:05:40.069 You'd have to sit down and have preview screenings. 00:05:40.089 --> 00:05:42.029 You'd have to have a studio audience in that 00:05:42.029 --> 00:05:44.370 situation. You end up spending the same amount 00:05:44.370 --> 00:05:48.490 of money anyway, if not more and a bit more of 00:05:48.490 --> 00:05:51.060 a gamble because One producer over here has got, 00:05:51.540 --> 00:05:53.180 or a writer has got an idea that they think the 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:54.540 whole world is going to resonate with and it 00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:56.399 turns out the whole world actually thinks you're 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:02.959 a moron. Whereas here's a ream of actual observable, 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:07.480 not anecdotal, observable data that says this 00:06:07.480 --> 00:06:10.899 is a good idea. And that's kind of the few modeling 00:06:10.899 --> 00:06:14.899 days and process -driven marketing days that 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:17.569 I've... I've worked with you guys with, and you 00:06:17.569 --> 00:06:20.810 sit down and it just makes sense without turning 00:06:20.810 --> 00:06:24.589 this into an ad. It's just let you sit down and 00:06:24.589 --> 00:06:26.790 it's not my realm of sitting there and going, 00:06:26.870 --> 00:06:28.709 well, if you do this, this, and this, this will 00:06:28.709 --> 00:06:32.589 be the outcome. And 99 times out of a hundred, 00:06:33.069 --> 00:06:37.569 if they apply what you've suggested, what you 00:06:37.569 --> 00:06:40.129 said is going to happen, happens. Yeah. Well, 00:06:40.129 --> 00:06:42.170 looking at it from a small business point of 00:06:42.170 --> 00:06:45.250 view, data -driven decisions. Well, you're not 00:06:45.250 --> 00:06:47.269 Netflix. You don't necessarily have all that 00:06:47.269 --> 00:06:49.089 information available. There's a lot of information. 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:52.170 Um, you've got census data and you've got other 00:06:52.170 --> 00:06:54.410 things that you can do and you can, you can measure 00:06:54.410 --> 00:06:56.790 your current business and see what's happening. 00:06:57.689 --> 00:07:00.790 We, um, find that people have a lot more success 00:07:00.790 --> 00:07:02.509 when they look into something and they can see 00:07:02.509 --> 00:07:04.449 that stuff's already happening and they fit in 00:07:04.449 --> 00:07:06.490 with that. Like you pretty much guaranteed to 00:07:06.490 --> 00:07:07.870 get work in that case. You don't actually have 00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:10.110 to be that good because there's such demand or 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:12.579 you're in the right place. Whereas you can have 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:15.199 a great idea. And if you don't have the numbers 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.379 behind it, it's just very hard to get up and 00:07:17.379 --> 00:07:21.240 running. Um, and that's one way to look at it. 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.939 So if you're starting out, um, we had someone 00:07:23.939 --> 00:07:26.319 the other week do a modeling day, which she just 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:27.879 mentioned. So just strategy of how they're going 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:29.319 to run their business. What's the, what's the 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:30.480 business plan? What's the business model, how 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:32.019 it's going to work, how it's going to stack up. 00:07:32.540 --> 00:07:34.240 And, um, they've been working in another business 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:35.519 and fundamentally they're going to do the same 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:37.500 thing. It was a successful business and price 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:38.980 it a certain way, which we don't show everyone 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:41.740 prices, they work. And the first thing we did 00:07:41.740 --> 00:07:43.399 is just sort of put their numbers together as 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:44.899 what their expenses are going to be and their 00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:46.920 wages and whatnot. And that's pretty easy to 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:48.899 forecast, right? Did all that. And then we looked 00:07:48.899 --> 00:07:50.939 at, well, how many hours can they work per year? 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.879 And then it pumped out a number of how much are 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:54.399 they going to make based on how they're pricing. 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:57.079 Because we had all that information to do the 00:07:57.079 --> 00:07:58.439 projections and they were going to lose $100 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:01.800 ,000 a year. Copying existing businesses was 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:04.180 successful. So obviously that wasn't going to 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:06.860 work. So we had to then figure out what changed 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:09.370 to that. those numbers or the data that would 00:08:09.370 --> 00:08:11.850 actually make it happen. And then so we did that 00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:13.769 and then that we had to change what sort of work 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:15.269 they were doing or how they were looking at it 00:08:15.269 --> 00:08:19.350 and a bit of a make a bit of a niche. Um, so 00:08:19.350 --> 00:08:21.089 it's an interesting case there. Well, one is 00:08:21.089 --> 00:08:22.370 you've got to get the right market and the right 00:08:22.370 --> 00:08:23.970 data, but then you've also just got to make your 00:08:23.970 --> 00:08:26.189 model stack up just cause everyone else is doing 00:08:26.189 --> 00:08:28.389 it doesn't mean for you it won't. Um, and they 00:08:28.389 --> 00:08:30.149 were just trying to copy a much larger business. 00:08:30.250 --> 00:08:32.750 So they had scale to cover expenses will be smaller. 00:08:33.090 --> 00:08:35.389 It doesn't didn't have the scale, so it couldn't 00:08:35.389 --> 00:08:37.980 make enough money. So yeah, it's interesting. 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:40.840 A lot of people don't like the numbers and algebra 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:42.620 sucks and whatever. We're never going to use 00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:45.480 that. But it's very important. You don't need 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:47.200 to look at them every day, but you need to know 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.379 that what you're doing stacks up. Well, sometimes 00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:53.720 the numbers put a mirror in front of you as well. 00:08:53.940 --> 00:08:56.519 Yeah. That's why people don't like the numbers. 00:08:56.919 --> 00:08:58.779 I can speak from experience. That's why I don't 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:01.360 like the numbers. I just want to do that. That 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:04.679 feels good. That limbic. I just, this is the 00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:07.100 idea that I've got and I want to do, I want to 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:09.519 follow my idea. And I've lost count of how many 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:10.940 times Rowan's looked at me and said, well, you're 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:14.700 an idiot. Why would you do that? Sorry. I need 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:17.679 to be nicer to you. It's what I need though, 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:20.539 because you know how I communicate. Yeah. So 00:09:20.539 --> 00:09:22.679 with the data, I guess we talked, we said before 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:25.620 the right data. Um, cause people can measure 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:27.919 lots of things and it doesn't necessarily mean 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.899 it's important. Like Facebook followers and how 00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:34.850 many likes did my posts get? Um, Or how many 00:09:34.850 --> 00:09:38.590 people followed by TikTok? Oh no, TikTok is banned 00:09:38.590 --> 00:09:42.629 in the States. It's back. It's back. How many 00:09:42.629 --> 00:09:44.830 reviews have got all these things? So, you know, 00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:46.330 like if you have a million reviews and they're 00:09:46.330 --> 00:09:47.950 all five -star, you're tracking that and that's 00:09:47.950 --> 00:09:50.929 your goal, but you only get referrals from a 00:09:50.929 --> 00:09:53.470 doctor who sends you work to you because you're 00:09:53.470 --> 00:09:56.070 a specialist. The reviews don't matter. You're 00:09:56.070 --> 00:09:58.090 getting the work from doctors that know you and 00:09:58.090 --> 00:09:59.070 refer to you and they're not going to look at 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:01.049 your reviews. You're just going to meet them. 00:10:01.580 --> 00:10:04.259 pass it on. So, and whereas for a lot of businesses 00:10:04.259 --> 00:10:06.700 reviews would be a good thing to look at. Um, 00:10:06.940 --> 00:10:09.120 and then Facebook followers having 10 ,000 might 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:11.139 look really good and that might be successful 00:10:11.139 --> 00:10:13.659 Facebook campaign. Um, or, you know, whoever's 00:10:13.659 --> 00:10:15.580 running it, that might be fantastic, but if they're 00:10:15.580 --> 00:10:18.230 10 ,000 followers that don't matter. from somewhere 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:21.009 else or. Look at my graph. Look at the graph 00:10:21.009 --> 00:10:22.830 of the interactions and engagement you've had. 00:10:22.870 --> 00:10:25.649 That's very, very important, Ron. Yeah. So, but 00:10:25.649 --> 00:10:27.690 for some businesses that might be exactly what 00:10:27.690 --> 00:10:30.730 you want. Um, so sometimes it's not measuring 00:10:30.730 --> 00:10:33.429 everything. It's just measuring a few key things 00:10:33.429 --> 00:10:35.610 that, that mean you're, you're doing well or 00:10:35.610 --> 00:10:38.370 you're going to do well. Um, and then the second 00:10:38.370 --> 00:10:40.049 part to it is just making sure that your data 00:10:40.049 --> 00:10:42.690 gets correct. So it's coming through a system 00:10:42.690 --> 00:10:46.259 in a clean way, which means it's accurate. Question 00:10:46.259 --> 00:10:50.960 then, how would you, how would you identify what's 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.360 the important data to be collecting for a given 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:56.419 business? It's quite simple really for me, but 00:10:56.419 --> 00:10:58.720 it's probably, we're talking about everyone's 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:00.659 business has been quite broad. It does make it 00:11:00.659 --> 00:11:04.539 a bit harder to explain. Um, but it's breaking 00:11:04.539 --> 00:11:08.000 it down into the fewest numbers that makes sense 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.139 that you can measure. Yep. Okay. So if the numbers 00:11:10.139 --> 00:11:11.759 you can't measure, there's no point because you 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:13.700 can't see where you're at against it. So for 00:11:13.700 --> 00:11:15.740 a retail business, it probably comes down to 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:17.600 how many transactions you had, what are the average 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:19.639 sale and what's the margin. Yep. That's probably 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:22.440 the financial ones. So it's not necessarily your 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:24.379 expenses. It's not necessarily measuring how 00:11:24.379 --> 00:11:25.779 many people you have through the door. They're 00:11:25.779 --> 00:11:27.799 probably important as well. But if you're just 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:30.519 looking at an overall what's really going to 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:32.700 make sense, we can either get more customers 00:11:32.700 --> 00:11:35.779 and that's great. Or if that's not good, when 00:11:35.779 --> 00:11:37.799 we get more customers, we need to look at our 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:41.000 margin or our average sale. So we need more average 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.379 sale. So you've got three sort of different areas 00:11:43.379 --> 00:11:45.820 you could, you could focus on. Whereas maybe 00:11:45.820 --> 00:11:47.899 a trade -based business, it's how many hours 00:11:47.899 --> 00:11:49.720 do we have available? How many we're billing 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:51.279 to clients and how much money do we make from 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:54.019 those hours? Whereas people might look at a million 00:11:54.019 --> 00:11:56.639 different things around the outside, which might 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:59.500 be something you drill into. But if you were 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:01.179 just looking at how long does it take for us 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:02.419 to see a customer, how long they're waiting, 00:12:02.519 --> 00:12:04.200 that's probably not an indicator of improving 00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:07.000 in any one of those numbers. But if one of those 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:08.960 numbers aren't doing well, it might be because 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:12.500 of that particular thing. I think just try to 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:15.019 keep it as simple to understand as possible that 00:12:15.019 --> 00:12:16.279 when you're, when you're looking at trying to 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:18.779 make a decision, you can clearly change things 00:12:18.779 --> 00:12:20.259 and go, that would make a difference. And then 00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:22.799 you go look at that area. KISS, keep it simple. 00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:27.200 And it might be as a... as I only have some bigger 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.080 ones that you look at and then an admin person 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.820 might have some different ones, but you try to 00:12:31.820 --> 00:12:33.980 keep a pretty simple relation. And then maybe 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:35.860 the person who's in charge of sales or quoting, 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:37.960 they have conversion rates. How many quotes are 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:39.299 you sending out and how many are you winning 00:12:39.299 --> 00:12:42.639 and how much money are you getting from it? That 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:45.820 also leads into simple actions as well. So if 00:12:45.820 --> 00:12:48.360 you've got simple data without trying to make 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:51.840 it sound too simple, but obviously. The simpler 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.240 it is, the easier it is for someone to understand, 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:56.080 then I've got an action that I can take that's 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:58.500 going to affect the numbers. Yep. And it gives 00:12:58.500 --> 00:13:00.960 you a bit of a chance to empower people to say, 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:02.519 here's your target for the year. I want you to 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:05.659 get 2000 participants in this program. It doesn't 00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:06.940 matter how they get them. It's matters that they 00:13:06.940 --> 00:13:08.879 get them. So they've, they've, they know what 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:10.340 they need to do. They know what's happened in 00:13:10.340 --> 00:13:12.179 the past. Um, they have a bit of support and 00:13:12.179 --> 00:13:14.840 training, of course, but you're not saying, okay, 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:17.139 well, I need you to do this and we're going to 00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:18.340 measure that. And then we're going to do this. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.200 We're going to measure that. You're saying. see 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.059 how you go, and then you might find that they 00:13:23.059 --> 00:13:24.460 fail, you might find that they do it a better 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:26.720 way and other people can implement that in the 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:30.179 team next year. So it's just sort of, you can 00:13:30.179 --> 00:13:31.740 break it down to different levels and it's not 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:33.419 over measuring, but it's just making sure everyone 00:13:33.419 --> 00:13:35.759 has something simple and easy to understand. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:38.500 And it's so much easier now when you can automate 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:42.559 a fair bit of that data collection. Yeah. So 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:44.220 that's talking about key performance indicators 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:46.139 with data, but again, it's just setting stuff 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:49.809 that you can measure and Make sure the data going 00:13:49.809 --> 00:13:51.950 in. So if it's the people doing the accounts, 00:13:52.230 --> 00:13:53.669 they're not putting them in twice, or they're 00:13:53.669 --> 00:13:55.129 not putting in the wrong account, or they're 00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:56.649 not entered when you're looking at the data. 00:13:57.490 --> 00:13:58.909 The point that you're looking at the data is 00:13:58.909 --> 00:14:01.769 correct and it reconciles. Or when you're looking 00:14:01.769 --> 00:14:03.950 at the sales figures, it's not, you know, got 00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:05.990 a whole bunch of times where you've have put 00:14:05.990 --> 00:14:07.649 four options in for a customer. So you put them 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:09.110 as four quotes for four amounts. So it looks 00:14:09.110 --> 00:14:10.789 like you've quoted four times amount of work. 00:14:12.470 --> 00:14:14.470 Yeah, just making sure that you actually got 00:14:14.470 --> 00:14:16.730 something set up to make sure that data is clean. 00:14:17.090 --> 00:14:20.389 Most CRMs can do that. Most, if you're using 00:14:20.389 --> 00:14:25.409 it properly. Yeah, they track it. Or, you know, 00:14:25.629 --> 00:14:27.230 you're putting it in differently to me. So I 00:14:27.230 --> 00:14:30.549 put my, I put my, what I'm going to charge the 00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:32.409 client and I'm going to put in my costs. So it 00:14:32.409 --> 00:14:33.649 has a margin. You're just going to put in what 00:14:33.649 --> 00:14:34.809 you charge the client because that's what they 00:14:34.809 --> 00:14:37.730 care about. So then your margin is always going 00:14:37.730 --> 00:14:39.250 to look bigger than mine, but effectively it's 00:14:39.250 --> 00:14:42.470 the same. So it's just having, making sure that 00:14:42.470 --> 00:14:44.330 whatever process people will put in the data 00:14:44.330 --> 00:14:47.139 in it's giving you the report. and you check 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:48.600 the report that it's actually correct. Yeah, 00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:51.860 it's like on Google Analytics when the conversion 00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:54.960 or the goal is set at a particular, like they're 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:57.759 clicking on the about us page instead of actually 00:14:57.759 --> 00:14:59.919 converting to the contact page. That's a good 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:01.539 example of that. Correct. And then if you don't 00:15:01.539 --> 00:15:03.039 know too much about the data, you look at the 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:04.279 dashboard and go, oh, we had a hundred conversions. 00:15:04.299 --> 00:15:07.080 Brilliant. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Spot on. So 00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:10.120 CRM for some people who might not use a CRM customer 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:14.369 relationship management software. Yes. Which 00:15:14.369 --> 00:15:16.649 pretty much ordinates what your salesman used 00:15:16.649 --> 00:15:19.309 to do with their notepad and their diary. Yeah. 00:15:19.610 --> 00:15:22.210 Your contact lists and then all your interactions 00:15:22.210 --> 00:15:24.570 if you're using it effectively. So we've got 00:15:24.570 --> 00:15:27.769 two ways we can use, how most people can use 00:15:27.769 --> 00:15:30.529 the data. But yeah, before you do something to, 00:15:30.610 --> 00:15:32.370 this is what should happen and this is what I 00:15:32.370 --> 00:15:34.850 can see. And then I'm doing these actions and 00:15:34.850 --> 00:15:37.029 this is what I expect to get out of it. It does 00:15:37.029 --> 00:15:39.830 that out to what I wanted to do. And then on 00:15:39.830 --> 00:15:42.470 the other end, what happened? What did I get? 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:45.879 Um, and if I changed that, what would, what would 00:15:45.879 --> 00:15:49.039 that do? So we can then say, okay, in the case 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.019 of we need more customers, we look at that and 00:15:51.019 --> 00:15:53.600 we go, yep, we're going to do a campaign of ads. 00:15:54.379 --> 00:15:56.279 We expect that to increase our customers by 10%. 00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:59.019 And that will be a great result. Um, and there 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:00.600 are some businesses we're increasing the customer 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.360 by 10 % would be a bad result, um, cause it doesn't 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:07.179 have enough. Yeah. Or the margin's wrong or whatever 00:16:07.179 --> 00:16:09.419 it is. So, okay. In that case. Well, we're not 00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:10.940 going to do an advertising campaign. We need 00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:12.379 to make more money, but it's not going to be 00:16:12.379 --> 00:16:14.700 through more sales. We're going to have to reduce 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:17.100 our expenses or we're going to have to sell more 00:16:17.100 --> 00:16:19.620 profitable products. I think one of my favorite 00:16:19.620 --> 00:16:22.700 stories in that regard is, I heard you talk about 00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:26.440 builders and the way that they work their cashflow 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:30.139 and sometimes taking on more work can be detrimental 00:16:30.139 --> 00:16:34.159 to your cash flow and the numbers. I've seen 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:37.879 you, it's hard to explain. over audio, but I've 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:39.879 seen you model it out visually on a spreadsheet 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:41.879 and just changing this number over here on the 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:46.139 right, you're bankrupt in two years. Like the 00:16:46.139 --> 00:16:48.659 taste of interface. Yeah, and you can do that 00:16:48.659 --> 00:16:50.240 because you've got the projection, the budget 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.779 that works it out. Yeah, when we worked this 00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:56.159 thing out for the person the other week, I think 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:58.500 we looked at how they normally price, which is, 00:16:58.600 --> 00:16:59.980 well, how they're going to, but how everyone 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:02.259 price is, which is an hourly rate and then marking 00:17:02.259 --> 00:17:05.319 out materials. And it was a difference with just 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:07.539 one person working in the business of $200 ,000 00:17:07.539 --> 00:17:10.500 net profit. Between four different jobs, they 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:12.299 priced exactly the same way. If they did that 00:17:12.299 --> 00:17:14.599 job all year, which probably the biggest variance 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:17.640 I've ever seen, but it was four examples of possible 00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:20.599 jobs they would do. And that was the variance. 00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:23.299 And if you don't have the right setup, you don't 00:17:23.299 --> 00:17:24.799 know how to do it. You just, you don't know what 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.900 you're doing and it's not your fault, but that's 00:17:27.900 --> 00:17:29.500 where sometimes you can get a bit of guidance 00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:32.269 advice to help you get the right. trail setup, 00:17:32.390 --> 00:17:34.670 the right systems, make sure the reports are 00:17:34.670 --> 00:17:35.869 correct and make sure that you're actually looking 00:17:35.869 --> 00:17:38.309 at the numbers that mean the most. So imagine 00:17:38.309 --> 00:17:41.630 if they just followed their gut and hadn't sought 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:45.750 advice. Two years down the track, why have we 00:17:45.750 --> 00:17:49.250 lost so much money? What's going on? Yeah. 100%. 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:51.349 Because you feel like you're busy. Yeah. So just 00:17:51.349 --> 00:17:53.430 using the data in that case, save them from... 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:55.740 reinventing the wheel and going down the wrong 00:17:55.740 --> 00:17:58.779 path. So that was really good. But data, I think 00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:00.859 it's pretty good. Um, you can be very creative 00:18:00.859 --> 00:18:02.920 and like the data says one thing and you can 00:18:02.920 --> 00:18:04.440 sort of skew it around the edges if you want. 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:06.880 And that's your bells and whistles and how you, 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.259 how you market things, I guess, like you're saying 00:18:09.259 --> 00:18:11.559 people use the data to say this and the data 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:14.640 to say that. Um, but fundamentally you need the 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:16.240 numbers to make sense. And if you don't have 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.410 that, then the rest doesn't matter. Yeah, I don't 00:18:18.410 --> 00:18:20.990 even have any more to add. That pretty much wraps 00:18:20.990 --> 00:18:26.990 it up. Yeah. If you do want a bit of a, an idea 00:18:26.990 --> 00:18:30.049 of different tools you can use, I'll list them 00:18:30.049 --> 00:18:32.869 in the, in the show notes. I'll just list out 00:18:32.869 --> 00:18:36.789 a heap that work for finance or marketing or 00:18:36.789 --> 00:18:40.430 workflow. But yeah, otherwise we'll see you next 00:18:40.430 --> 00:18:41.869 week. Bye.