To succeed in business, common thinking says you need a vision of where you want to go, then you need a strategy (plan) for getting there, and then you need to take action over the short-term (goals, projects, tactics).
One part missing from this is measurement.
If you make a change to improve on the execution of your strategy, how do you know it has the right impact?
Gut feel or intuition? Anecdotal evidence? Or do you measure the key factors before and after?
For small to mid-size businesses, who often don't have access to a host of expert analysts, this is a difficult subject to master. It is yet another thing to learn and it takes time. You might not be able to even pull the required data together.
However, to succeed consistently you need to master measuring success (and quickly) or hope luck favours you; because that is what you are relying on.
