Becoming a DataDriven Organization

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Becoming a Data-Driven Organization

• LIFELONG LEARNING 2007 GREG MARSELLO

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• Too many decisions in lifelong learning
  organizations are made today using the wrong
  approach. It not only leads to the wrong
  decisions being made, but it also actually takes
  more time to make the wrong decisions.

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The Wrong Approach

• The wrong approach usually involves a number of
  people making the decision, with the decision
  based more on the opinions of those people rather
  than the data.

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Use a data-driven decision-making approach if you
are making decisions on

• Activities to offer
• Teachers or presenters
• Budgeting
• Pricing
• Canceling courses
• Promotion
• Marketing

• Length of time
• Course/event format
• Location
• Brochure copy or any other programmatic or
  marketing kinds of decisions.

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The Wrong Way

• The wrong way is to make program and marketing
  decisions based on
• Opinion. Many decisions are based on one or more
  persons opinion, rather than the actual facts
  and data.
• Consensus. Group decisions often try to achieve
  consensus, more to preserve the group
  cohesiveness than to make the right decision.

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The Wrong Way

• Personality. The personality of a leader may move
  a decision in a certain direction. Other
  personalities, from those who talk a lot to those
  with purchasing power to those with seniority,
  often have undue influence.
• Group morale. Some decisions are actually made
  more to maintain group morale than to make the
  right decision. One person might gain deference
  on a given decision because s/he has not won
  another decision, or certain persons feel left
  out, or a given decision makes everyone feel
  better.

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Meetings Bad

• Committee generally bad
• Staff meetings bad
• It takes time to
• Plan
• Convene
• Make sure everyone has arrived
• Do introductions and pleasantries
• Distribute information
• Consider exceptions
• Handle diversions
• Ignore interruptions
• Make decisions.

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• The time spent in meetings, furthermore, takes
  time away from actually doing the programming and
  the marketing. Group decision making takes
  longer, and often deadlines are missed, causing a
  decrease in registrations.

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The Right Way Person

• The right way is to make data-driven decisions
  based on
• Customer behavior
• Customer evaluations
• Customer demographics
• Previous history
• Other data.

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The Right Way Person

• The right person to make these decisions is the
  person who has the
• Most information, and/or
• Best information.
• In almost all programming and marketing
  circumstances, there is one person who has access
  to or experience with previous history and more
  data than anyone else. That person should make
  the decision.

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When Groups Help

• The rare circumstances when groups make better
  decisions than individuals.
• These almost always involve
• High dollars, those decisions involving 100,000
  or more
• High risk, those decisions with little or no
  previous history, often involving
  precedent-setting or new activities.
• Little or no data, where there is little or no
  data available from which to make a data-driven
  decision.

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When Groups Help

• In these situations, groups often make better
  decisions than individuals. But these
  circumstances do not apply to most day-to-day,
  session-to-session, or event decision making for
  most programmatic and marketing decisions.

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Redefine Decision-Making Authority

• Assign responsibility. For every ongoing and
  regular decision involving programming and
  marketing, assign a person to make the decision.
  This often can be written into a persons job
  description. It can also be conveyed verbally or
  with a simple email.

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Redefine Decision-Making Authority

• Develop levels. Mentally, devise a dollar scale
  of decision making. For example, front line staff
  can make decisions up to 100 for such things as
  purchasing, refunds, discounts, and exceptions to
  rules. Professionals make decisions up to 10,000
  for such things as courses/ events, instructor
  pay, promotion costs, and so on. Executives are
  involved in decisions over 10,000.

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Redefine Decision-Making Authority

• No precedent setting. Staff understands they
  cannot make decisions which are precedent
  setting.
• Decision guidelines. By your decision making, by
  your reporting and staff briefings, by sharing of
  information, and by demanding information, you
  make it clear that decisions are to be
  data-driven, based on customer behavior,
  participant evaluations, customer demographics,
  and other data.

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Redefine Decision-Making Authority

• Trust. Initially, top executives will need to
  trust the decisions made by staff. After a while,
  most staff will develop data-driven judgment and
  decision-making skills, and you can take
  corrective action with those people not making
  good decisions.

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Redefine Decision-Making Authority

• Advocate and object. If you are asked to serve on
  a decision-making committee, advocate for
  data-driven decision making by one or two
  individuals, document the inefficiencies of the
  committee, and mentally keep track of the bad
  decisions made for the next committee assignment.
  Advocate for data-driven decisions.

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Use a data-driven decision-making approach if you
are making decisions on

• Activities to offer
• Teachers or presenters
• Budgeting
• Pricing
• Canceling courses
• Promotion
• Marketing

• Length of time
• Course/event format
• Location
• Brochure copy or any other programmatic or
  marketing kinds of decisions.

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Data to Collect

• Demographics Registration
• Promotion Method Registration/During Activity
• Evaluations During Activity/Spot Check
• Costs Invoices
• Preferences Surveys
• Not best to collect all data at same touch-point.

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Demographics

• Address
• Birth Year
• Gender
• Occupation
• Job Title
• Best that you determine occupation and job title.

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Promotion Method

• Distribution Method
• Mailing List
• Snail or Electronic
• Mailing 1, 2, 3
• Word of Mouth
• Web Site

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Evaluations

• Satisfaction
• Teacher/Presenter
• New Activities

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Model Programmer Course Evaluation Form

• Course__________________Teacher__________________
• Programmer Evaluation. At the conclusion of the
  above course, the following information should be
  generated. A copy should be passed on to your
  supervisor, a copy should be put in the teachers
  file and a copy should be put in the course file.
• A. Student Evaluations
• 1. Overall, were you satisfied with the course?
  ____ YES ____NO
• 2. Fill in your response to the following
  questions
• 1very poor, 2needs improvement, 3okay,
  4good, 5excellent
• Understood the subject matter. _____
• Was well prepared for each session. _____
• Made the goals and objectives clear at course.
  _____
• Stimulated discussion and group
  involvement. _____
• Provided individual help when needed. _____

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• 3. Comments. On a separate sheet of paper, list
  key comments on what participants liked about the
  course and improvements they suggested.
• 4. Testimonials. On a separate sheet of paper,
  list key testimonials along with the persons
  name. Make sure to hold their evaluation form on
  file because it has their signature approving the
  use of their testimonial.
• B. Teacher Evaluation
• 1. Overall, were you satisfied with the course?
  ____ YES ____NO
• 2. Fill in your response to the following
  questions
• 1very poor, 2needs improvement, 3okay,
  4good, 5excellent
• Was the organizations staff helpful? _____
• Was your room prepared for your course? _____
• Did the learning environment meet your
  needs? _____
• Did the description clearly outline your
  course? _____
• Did your programmer give you feedback? _____

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• 3. Comments. On a separate sheet of paper, list
  key comments on what teachers liked about the
  course and what improvements they suggested.
• 4. Testimonials. On separate paper, list key
  testimonials along with the teachers name. Make
  sure to hold their evaluation form on file
  because it has their signature approving the use
  of their testimonial.
• C. Performance Analysis
• 1. Price of the Course _____
• 2. Total Registrations _____
• 3. Total Withdrawals _____
• 4. Total Income (after withdrawals) _____
• 5. Total Cost of Promotion _____
• If there was additional promotion beyond the
  catalog listing, attach a copy to this
  evaluation. To figure the promotional cost of
  a course in a catalog, divide the total cost of
  the catalog (desktop, printing, mail, etc.) by
  the number of courses.

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• 6. Total Cost of Production (instructor fee,
  materials, space) _____
• 7. Total Direct Costs (5 6) _____
• 8. Operating Margin (4 5 6) _____
• D. Half-Life The number of weeks/days prior to
  the course when 50 of registrations were
  generated _____
• E. Participant Analysis Report. On separate
  paper, breakdown the students demographics Age,
  Sex, Geography, Education Level.
• F. Programmer Evaluation
• 1. Overall, were you satisfied with the course?
  _____
• 2. Rate the teacher on the Likert Scale
  (15) _____
• 3. What action steps would you take to improve
  this course?

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Costs

• Promotion
• Production
• Administration

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Preferences

• Whatever You Need to Know
• More Surveys, Not Less

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The Language You Should Be Speaking

• Repeat Rate
• Lifetime Value
• Operating Margin
• Cancellation Rate
• BrochureParticipant Ratio or Response Rate

• Staff Productivity
• Average Participants
• Average Fee
• Satisfaction Level
• Development Costs
• Go/No Go Point
• Promotion CostIncome Ratio

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Making It Happen

• LERN Program Planner Tool
• LERN Contract Training Tool
• LERN Segmenting Tool
• Web-Based Software

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Push Down Data Analysis
80/20
7 Primary Market Segments
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Dig Deeper

• Analysis by market segment involves taking each
  of your market segments or primary customer
  audiences and analyzing sales.

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Total sales by market segment

• What is my top market segment by sales?
• What are my four top market segments by sales?
• My four top market segments are what percent of
  total sales?
• My next three top market segments are what?
• What market segments are growing faster than
  others?
• Are any market segments stable or declining in
  sales? Do I keep them?

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Average sales per customer

• What is my top market segment by average sales
  per person?
• What are my poorest market segments by average
  sales per person?
• Do I keep targeting my poorest market segments?

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Percentage growth

• What market segments are growing as a percentage
  of total sales?
• What market segments are declining as a
  percentage of total sales?
• What is my strategy for my segments that are
  growing?
• What is my strategy for those segments not
  growing?

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Market share/market potential

• As market share, how are my market segments
  doing?
• As market potential, how are my market segments
  doing?
• What do I keep as my primary market segments?
• What do I drop as my primary market segments?
• What do I add as my primary market segments?

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By product

• How are sales of each of my product lines by
  market segment?
• Are there new products/programs or product lines
  I need to develop for a particular market
  segment?

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Top customers

• Who, by name, are my top 1,000 customers for this
  year, by dollar sales?
• Who, by name, are my top 100 customers?
• Who, by name, are my top 10 customers?
• Is there anything I want to write, say or do for
  my top customers?

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Thank You!marsello_at_lern.org
Be Data-Driven!