Which is the Right Track?

The past 12 months, needless to say, have been an economic maelstrom for many. Compounding the issue has been which metrics to measure your performance by?

• Year over year numbers became inconsequential given 2008’s performance through the first three quarters and the price of copper (and commodities in general) and price increases that manufacturers realized.
• Many companies began to consider their monthly sequential performance, recognizing that year over year was not feasible. In fact, it was demoralizing.
• As we recognize the anniversary of the economic and credit meltdown, the next measurement challenge is comparing today’s business to twelve months ago, when business was credit was non-existent. Any growth nowadays could show significant percentage improvement vs. last year.

The Association for American Railroads (www.aar.org) has a twist. Rather than look at when the economy took its slide, for comparison purposes it is looking at 2008 and 2007 data. Why 2007? To get a perspective of pre-recession data.

Which measurement criteria are you looking at:

• Year over year data
• Sequential by quarter
• Sequential by month
• 12 month daily sales trends

Something else? Does considering 2007 make sense for you?