Lots of my clients
are very good with the numbers. They are constantly reviewing, measuring, from a multitude of angles, including
lineage by type, by time, by weekend, weekday, night, day, shift, revenue per
game, food and beverage revenue per
game, shoe rental income per game and number of clicks on Facebook, websites,
coupon redemption, payroll percentages, shoe rental to open play ratios and on
and on. Some even measure revenue per square foot.
Other clients measure
revenue in more of an “overview way” they know the numbers, but they don’t delve
as deeply s group number one described above. Instead they spend their time
creating a better bowling experience.
In my humble opinion,
organizations that do NOTHING BUT review numbers are hard pressed to make creative breakthroughs.
Because they’re so
busy measuring and tallying and dividing and multiplying, there is no room in
their day for experimentation and testing ideas. Even if they should come up with a great
idea, it would have to run the gauntlet of “review and measure”. Rarely, if ever do these ideas survive. That’s why there are so few companies called “Apple”,
“Google” or “Facebook.”
Numbers review is
great. I am all for it, but please give creativity a chance to fail. Because if
you are not failing, you will never have a success and a breakthrough.
And that would be a shame.
