Peter Drucker, author of more than 39 books on business, is credited with inventing modern business management.

Perhaps the most fundamental quote in business management is attributed to him, and it is this:

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

You can credit Drucker for all of the KPIs that it collects and measures, and all of the software that has been built to measure all of the statistics in your sales process, i.e. calls, contacts, closing rates, top, middle, and bottom management. of the funnel. , etc.

I recently had a concrete example of how motivating measurement results can be when I downloaded a fitness app called Pacer. It is a standard exercise and step counter. Much like Fitbit, which I never used.

Pacer can track an exercise routine, like a two or three mile walk, and/or track all your steps in a day, as long as you have your phone in your pocket as you walk around the office or home . etc

To help keep you motivated, you have a preset goal of 10,000 steps per day. If you reach that, you are considered to be very active that day. It maintains a weekly total, broken down by day, which can be displayed with a bar chart or many other assorted variations.

What I noticed right away is that as soon as I started measuring my steps for each day, I had a desire to improve it the next day.

If I hit 10,234 steps on Monday, I wanted to do at least 11,000 steps on Tuesday. And on Wednesday I wanted to do at least 11,500 steps.

Just the act of measuring my active level led me to look for ways to improve it the next day. For example, during the walk he always did, he would look for ways to make it longer: take the next street, walk the entire greenway, or finally do two full laps instead of one!

Sure enough, simply by measuring my daily steps, I have improved the number I am now taking daily.

And guess what? It’s the same with anything else. If you want to start saving more money, even $20 or $50 a week, start measuring your savings at the end of each week and each month and each quarter. I guarantee that if you do, you’ll find ways to save an extra $5 or $10 or more every week.

And it’s the same with sales activity. Don’t let your manager or company measure you, set your own sales activity goals and track daily or hourly.

This is a technique I still use to increase my production, which, unsurprisingly, always increases my sales results.

So ask yourself: Do you have measurable goals for the areas of your life that you would like to improve? If not, start writing down some measurable goals or activities right now. And then measure your progress each day.

And just like Peter Drucker said, in a very short time, you’re likely to get better in the areas you’re measuring.