Do the research. Make the decision. Take action!

I’m going to share an idea with you today, which can help you make massively more progress with your business… and very quickly too.

I want to start by asking you a question: What role does research play in your business?

I’ve discovered that most small business owners can be divided into one of the following broad groups:

• Those who will make big decisions, without doing any form of structured research.They get an idea and when the motivation is high, they take action.
• Those who do enormous amounts of research, yet fail to interpret the data and then act on it.

Clearly, a balance between those two approaches needs to be struck if you want to make profitable decisions. You need to do the research,  study the data, get whatever advice you need, then decide what plan of action to take and take it.

Making a judgement call

This combination of intelligent, informed decision making is rare. British advertising legend David Ogilvy, explained it beautifully:

“I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgement; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”
~ David Ogilvy

Why is using one’s judgement so rare?

Because the person with the courage to make a judgement call, risks calling it wrong. This stops a lot of people. After all, if they fail to make a decision, they can’t call it wrong. Of course, it also means they can’t call it right.

The most successful decision makers I have worked with, use a very similar approach to decision making.

It looks a lot like this:

• They get clear on what they want to achieve.
• Then, they do the research.
• Next, they analyze the data and figure out what it means.
• If required, they get expert help or advice.
• Then, they make the decision and back it up with action.
• Then measure the feedback from their actions and learn from it.

No, this is not as easy as it sounds. This is why those who do it, set themselves apart from those who either act on impulse or procrastinate until the opportunity has passed.

In short, learn what you need to know, make the decision and take action.