Decrease in unsatisifed customers?

I am sitting here watching the news (or what is supposed to be news) and keep hearing about this poll and that poll regarding the different presidential candidates.  It reminded me of this quote from Evan Esar,

"Statistics: the only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions."

While it is almost humorous to watch the political pollsters argue over a few percentage points, we don't have that type of latitude in our organizations.  Data is the lifeblood for making sound business decisions.  Decisions that could lead to business growth and job creation or decisions that could lead to business decline and headcount reductions.  The data needs to be accurate and precise, and communicated in a way that it clearly represents the facts (or true truth).

I once heard heard some analysts talking about increases in customer attrition rates and they jokingly defined it as "a decrease in unsatisfied customers".

Please be careful how you collect data and communicate information.

Comments

[John Hunter]

It is important to understand what the data being quoted actually mean. People can attempt to mislead by trying to quote the data in a way that gives the impression they want. Data can't lie, though if you are not careful you can be mislead by the assumptions you make about what the data says. Data is just a proxy for the real truth (sometimes the proxy is very close to the truth and sometimes there is quite a bit of room for the data to indicate one thing but reality to be something else).

http://management.curiouscatblog.net/2007/08/09/data-cant-lie/ http://management.curiouscatblog.net/2004/08/29/dangers-of-forgetting-proxy-nature-of-data/