How many times have you made a business choice based on a gut feeling? Did that turn out well every time? Gut-instinct is not always the best thing to rely upon when making personal and professional choices, including how you run your business. Metrics are a better resource, as that data provides unemotional information which will reliably provide more accuracy than your gut.

One way to test this is to ask yourself certain questions about your business operations. For example, who is your biggest customer? Your immediate response might be the one you deal with most frequently, or the one that is the most reputable. Yet, are they your most profitable customer? It could be that this particular customer which first came to mind is actually using more of your resources than they pay you for, ultimately depleting profits. For that answer, spend some time running reports, do some number-crunching, and find out if they are indeed your biggest customer, or if something needs to change.

Questions like this are important to periodically ask yourself. This is because the answers may provide new ways of analyzing your operations. Using actual metrics, driven by realistic data, will assist you in making sound business decisions, versus using your gut-instinct. While it is important to trust your gut, is it the best way to assess your needs?