In a post at the iKnowtion blog, Sreekanth Sampathkumaran tells a story about healing his back: though the injury was minor, simple movements became painful. "While searching for relief, instead of sticking with my typical remedy of sleeping it off, I decided to apply analytics to find the best solution," he says. "I incorporated a test & learn strategy and tracked the results of my mix of remedies which included a combination of heat generating balms, massage, pain relievers, and an electric heating pad. In the end, I found effective relief relatively quickly."

Sampathkumaran argues that in a time of cutbacks too many companies are not taking the same analytical approach to their recessionary strategies. It's a decision likely to cause long-term damage—but it could also hurt your company's health in the short term.

To make his point, he uses the practice of giving deep discounts to encourage sales, and asks questions like these:

• Have you determined whether all of your customer segments and product lines have been equally affected by the recession? "[K]nowing this can allow you to tailor discounts based on past performance, expected revenue/profit impact, etc.," he notes.
• Do you rigorously measure the performance of test elements and cells as a way of tracking what works and what does not?

The Po!nt: An unthinking, knee-jerk response won't help your company or your customer. Sampathkumaran concludes with quotes like this one from Voltaire: "No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking."

Source: iKnowtion. Click here for the full post.

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