What this means
Commercial data has value only when it improves a decision. A larger dashboard is not necessarily better management. I want information that reveals the health of the customer journey, the quality of choices being made and the points where leadership action can alter an outcome.
How I apply it
I start with the decisions required at each level. Sellers need to understand opportunity quality and the next meaningful action. Managers need to see where capability or deal strategy requires intervention. Leaders need to distinguish isolated execution issues from structural problems in segment, proposition, capacity or process. Measures and meetings are then designed around those decisions.
What I look for
Excessive manual reporting, forecast changes without explanation, metrics that nobody acts upon and meetings dominated by reconciling numbers are signs that the system is serving administration rather than performance. I also look for false precision: a confident percentage does not compensate for weak customer evidence.
Evidence in practice
During a wider commercial transformation, fragmented reporting was connected more closely to the operating cadence and the customer journey. CRM information became an input to management decisions rather than a separate compliance exercise. This supported stronger forecast discussion and helped identify where process and value communication required change.
The outcome
The organisation spends less time producing a version of events and more time deciding what to do. Intervention happens earlier, forecasts carry clearer reasoning and leadership can direct resources towards the constraints that genuinely affect growth.