You need less data, not more

Many agencies will produce monthly or quarterly reports for their clients that are 20 pages long, full of charts and graphs and data. Everything in there is useful, but very few clients will take the time to read through a 20 page report.

Over the years at GreenMellen, we’ve worked to reduce the quantity of data that we share, and instead focus on the quality of it. Rather than a 20 page report, we’ll share perhaps a page or two of data during our review meetings, focused on the most impactful pieces.

In David C. Baker’s newest book, “ Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors “, he summarizes it like this:

You might even look at 40 to 50 data points from time to time, but prioritize them to under a dozen. Overwhelming a client with data can be worse than sharing no data at all.

The amount of data that we have these days is absolutely amazing, but it can quickly become overwhelming. As an expert, your job is to cull through the data and pull out the gems.

The more unnecessary data you can cut, the better.

Originally published at https://www.mickmel.com on February 18, 2023.