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Read time: 2 mins
Ever stood super close to a painting in a museum?
From that distance, you can see the brush strokes, the texture, maybe even little details you’d otherwise miss.
But you can’t see the full work.
Take Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
Up close, it’s just thousands of colourful dots.
Step back, and it actually shows people relaxing by the river near Paris.
Numbers in business work the same way.
Zoomed in, a few numbers don't actually tell you much at all.
Individually, seeing your sales go up, your website traffic booming, or your team looking busy might all look really healthy.
But each of those numbers is only one piece of the picture.
And if you don't step back to see how each piece contributes to the overall story, you risk missing what’s really going on.
Over the past three weeks, we’ve been sharing the biggest mistakes business owners make when trying to grow: from relying too much on gut feel, to trusting messy data, to ignoring early warning signs.
Now, let’s dive into the 4th mistake in the series:
MISTAKE #4: LOOKING AT NUMBERS IN ISOLATION
When you focus on 1 number without understanding what connects to it, you only get part of the picture.
Here are some common traps:
1- Looking at revenue without profit
Make sure that when you sell more, you're actually making more money, not just getting busier.
Sales might be up 20%, but if your margins are down 25%, you’re working harder for less!
2 - Looking at leads without conversions
Let's say your marketing campaign brings in 500 new leads.
Great, right?
Not really, if only 5 of those 500 become actual customers.
A flood of leads looks exciting, but unless they’re qualified and converting, you’re wasting money and energy.
3 - Looking at customer numbers but not retention
You celebrate 50 new customers this month.
But if 45 existing ones left, you’re not growing your business, you're just replacing the customers you lost.
Plus, new customers cost more to acquire, while existing ones are cheaper to keep and more likely to refer.
Without tracking retention, it’s impossible to know if you’re building something sustainable or just treading water.
The big fix
Think of every number in your business as a dot in Seurat's painting.
They all contribute to a bigger picture, one that only makes sense when you step back and see how everything connects.
Looking at how your revenue links to profit, leads link to conversions, and customer numbers link to retention are great places to start seeing the bigger picture.
Bottom line
Numbers in isolation aren't all that helpful.
When you connect them, a fuller story comes into focus, and that’s when you can make confident, data-driven decisions that actually grow your business.
đ Want help connecting the dots in your business?
Book a free strategy call and we’ll map out how to use your numbers for growth.
Speak soon,
Lynne and Steve
TLDR:
Mistake #4: Looking at numbers in isolation:
When you only focus on one metric (common issues are looking only at sales, leads, or customer count) you miss the bigger picture.
Every number in your business is connected, and it’s the relationship between them that tells the real story.
The fix: Think of your data like Seurat’s painting.
Step back, connect the dots, and you’ll see the full picture of what’s really driving (or limiting) your growth.
Speak soon,
Lynne and Steve
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