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Kevin Hillstrom

7 Jul, 9 tweets, 2 min read

1 - If you are an analyst, you are aware of one of the most challenging situations you'll face ... the situation where you are working for a controlling leader who thinks s/he is brilliant at analytics and is slow to make decisions.

2 - You've met this person.

The person is "analytical".

The person is "data driven".

The person "prescribes" how to look at issues ... your job is to be the query engine for this individual, not the analyst.

This person slows things down.

This person centralizes decisions.

3 - You really have three choices when working for this individual.

(a) Do what the person says and do it the way the person says to do it. You'll suffer, but the boss will be happy.

(b) Argue with the person. You'll suffer, and so will your boss.

(c) Be sneaky.

4 - Obviously, I recommend being sneaky.

5 - There are things you control that the "analytical, data-driven" boss doesn't control. Take full advantage of those opportunities.

And while you do that, give the boss just enough of what s/he wants the way s/he wants it. But that's not your focus. You'll implode otherwise.

6 - The sneaky analyst feeds the "right" information to those around the controlling boss ... giving the "right" recommendations to those around the controlling boss, allowing the company to move forward in spite of the controlling boss.

7 - I worked for one of the most controlling individuals on the planet.

I gave this person just enough information to keep him from firing me.

I gave the good stuff to the CFO and the Chief Merchant and the Operations Executive (I did share this info with the boss, too).

8 - The CFO and the Chief Merchant and the Operations Executive all made good decisions with the information, thereby evading the controlling boss (who they all worked for, FYI).

9 - If you do what the controlling person says the way the controlling person says you should do it, you'll be unhappy and your company won't make the same level of progress.

You're going to have to find sneaky ways to improve business performance.

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More from @minethatdata

Kevin Hillstrom

@minethatdata

6 Jul

1 - The image below shows a key tenant of the Customer Development Thesis.

When you acquire a customer, you have about three months to convert the customer to a second purchase before the customer fades away.

2 - The curve is virtually identical for most clients. Sure, some clients are better-than-average, some clients struggle (typically because of the product/merchandise offering, not due to marketing failures), but the shape of the relationship almost always looks like this.

3 - When you acquire the customer, the first month is critical. This is the month when the customer is most responsive. Every month thereafter the customer is lapsing, becoming increasingly less interested in a relationship going forward.

Read 9 tweets

Kevin Hillstrom

@minethatdata

4 Jul

1 - Since it is July 4 and you are an analyst awaiting a thrilling afternoon and evening, let's consider the role of data and the role of power in our jobs.

2 - We'll start with the definition of Liberty, since that's always a hot topic.

Liberty: "the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views."

3 - The key phrase there for those of us data-centric folks is "restrictions".

Read 9 tweets

Kevin Hillstrom

@minethatdata

21 Jun

This kind of thing happens in retail all the time (i.e. you are the 5th-8th best team out of 30, here's why a writer thinks you are awful: theringer.com/2021/6/21/2254…)

It's easy for a pundit to point out flaws.

Notice that pundits seldom do the hard work (especially in retail)?

In retail (and in e-commerce) the "doing" is really hard.

A pundit might tell you that you just have to be "remarkable" ... that's all ... that's all you have to do.

Have you ever tried to be "remarkable"? The answer is yes. You try doing it every day. It's hard to be consistently "remarkable", isn't it?

If you could be consistent at it. you'd have eight figures in your checking account.

Read 8 tweets

Kevin Hillstrom

@minethatdata

17 Jun

1 - One of the dangers of "consultant communication" is the issuance of the phrase by a professional ... "Your ideas likely won't work because we are unique and we are special, and you probably don't understand our specific business model."

This is a red flag, folks.

2 - This is the way a professional tells you that they aren't going to change.

3 - It means that the professional quite likely agrees with your thesis, or can't find a way to fight your thesis. Without a way to fight your thesis, the professional develops a viewpoint that discredits the thesis ... "we're unique, we're special."

Read 19 tweets

Kevin Hillstrom

@minethatdata

15 Jun

1 - I've noticed that too few e-commerce professionals ... and almost no vendors (and it isn't their job to understand this) understand the fact that if few customers repurchase then the entire focus of the marketing department needs to be on customer acquisition.

2 - You'll miss this point if all you ever look at is conversion rates.

3 - Here's an example I just analyzed, with numbers scaled down to be easily understood.

The brand had 100 twelve-month buyers. 25% of those customers bought again in 2018. The brand then generated 70 new+reactivated buyers.

Next Years Buyer Count: 100*0.25+70 = 95.

Read 8 tweets

Kevin Hillstrom

@minethatdata

14 Jun

1 - This quote is misleading and true.

"Snapchatters spend 1.6x more than the average shopper across ALL Q4 shopping moments."

2 - I'm 100% confident that an analyst queried a database and found this outcome to be true.

3 - It's also a classic misread of a database.

Just because you can query a database doesn't mean you get accurate results. You write a query that is 100% correct and get a result that is bogus.

How so?

Read 7 tweets

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