Choose the right ‘numbers’ to measure true success
The numbers don’t lie — we’ve heard this umpteen times from our bosses, colleagues, friends, family members and mentors.
We believe in numbers blindly since they draw a ‘clear’ image. Or do they?
One of my clients saw a steep decline in the likes and comments on his LinkedIn posts while working with me.
He was a Chief Financial Officer, working with a reputed FMCG company based in San Francisco.
When he reached out to me, he was consistently getting 80–100 likes and 5–6 comments on his posts.
But after working with me for over a month, the engagement dropped to 30–40 likes and 8–9 comments.
Occasionally, a few posts would go viral, garnering 500-odd likes, but overall, the likes averaged 30.
However, the client was still very happy with my efforts, and he gave me $2000 as bonus.
Do you know why?
I helped him understand, “Sometimes, numbers do lie.”
Previously he would post quotes, fake stories, and utter bullshit and get hundreds of likes on his posts.
His profile views, posts traction and other related numbers were constantly rising, and he was really happy with his efforts, even if the engagement wasn’t helping him in building brand awareness.
When I started working with him, I helped him in understanding the shift of mindset from focusing on “LIKES” to caring about “OPPORTUNITIES.”
I convinced him to create content around extremely niche-specific topics. Initially, he was reluctant, but after I persuaded him, he agreed.
I began creating content for him on topics around current and future trends in finance, the role of finance in a startup or a company’s decision making, and success stories of reputed CFOs.
In a few days, he started receiving requests for speaking opportunities, consulting sessions, and mentoring.
His profile views and search appearances were lower than before, but mostly, his targeted audience (CHROs, startup founders, c-suite executives) would view his profile, which gave him much better chances of expanding his network among right set of audience.
High numbers don’t mean guaranteed success.
Always remember, numbers might lie, especially, when they’re analyzed stand-alone. But when you align them to your objectives and strategies, numbers start reflecting the ‘correct’ and ‘real’ picture.
So, the next time when you’re measuring success and growth for yourself, your team, organisation or clients, don’t run behind the numbers blindly.
Choose the ‘right’ numbers to evaluate the performance and measure success.
