Executive Focus: Three Keys to Growing Your Company the Old-fashioned Way

Multichannel electronics merchant Best Buy started relying on measurements as a key to growth more than 10 years ago. The company provides its retail store managers with in-depth financial training so they understand store return on investment and can recognize which customer segment produces the most profit — not sales, profit. Each store manager receives 30 operational metrics daily. They are coded green (good), yellow (caution), or red (problem). Managers are coached on how to eliminate red problems and mitigate yellows. The company has five key customer segments — named Jane, Buzz, Barry, Ray and Jill — that are profiled in great detail, and store salespeople are trained to identify, qualify and meet those individual customers’ needs. If there is a task that you want your employees to focus on, all you have to do is measure and reward it. We’ve all heard that line from “Field of Dreams,” “If you build it, they will come.” Well, in business, if you measure and reward it, it will get done.