What a November it’s been; wet and windy with very little sunshine. At least Travel Agents will be happy as this sort of weather makes people think of holidays abroad in sun-kissed villages in the Med or on white sandy beaches in the Caribbean. Pick up a travel brochure and very likely there will be charts showing temperature, sunshine hours and rainfall in the area to help you choose. But wait. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to look at how long it rains for rather than how much? After all Barbados has over twice the rainfall of Eastern England but there it rains heavily for a very short time and then stops, not pattering down for hours ruining the whole day. And as far as temperature goes more isn’t necessarily better, hot enough is good enough for most people. Only the sunshine hours chart is really straightforwardly helpful.
My point is that accurate numbers are only a start. You need to look at the ones that matter to you and that are appropriate to your needs. And remember that not all the things that matter can be easily quantified (I bet the fish and chips in Bridgetown aren’t as good as Scarborough or Whitby).
It’s a bit flippant but the moral is: Look at the wrong figures (or the right ones in the wrong way) and you could end up in Cleethorpes. And that goes for the business too.