Counting enquiries consistently over time is harder than it looks

4 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

Introduction

A business reports forty enquiries in March and sixty in June and concludes that demand grew by half. What actually happened is that in May somebody started counting messages from social channels, which had always existed and had never been logged. Demand did not move. The definition did.

This is the most common corruption in small business measurement and the least discussed. It happens quietly, usually for a good reason, and it invalidates every comparison that crosses the moment it happened. A year of carefully kept records can be made useless by one sensible improvement to how the counting works.

The fix is a written definition and a note whenever it changes. Neither is difficult; both are almost universally skipped.

1. Counting enquiries consistently over time needs a written definition

The foundation.

One sentence saying what counts as an enquiry, kept where the numbers are kept. Without it, the definition lives in one person's head and leaves when they do. It takes two minutes to write. Pin it to the top of the sheet.

2. Decide about the channels explicitly

The first ambiguity.

Phone, form, email, social message, walk-in, text. Say which are counted. Most drift comes from a channel being informally added. If a channel is excluded, say that too, so the omission is visible later.

3. Decide what a genuine enquiry is

The second ambiguity.

Someone asking whether you cover their area is an enquiry; a supplier selling you something is not. Draw the line and write it down. Reasonable people draw it differently, which is exactly why it must be recorded. Include one example on each side of the line.

4. Decide how repeats are handled

The third ambiguity.

The same person contacting three times is one enquiry or three depending on your rule. Both rules are defensible. Only inconsistency is not. Counting the first contact and ignoring the rest is the simplest workable rule.

5. Log at the point of arrival

The practical safeguard.

Recording as they come in produces a different and better number than reconstructing at month end. Memory undercounts, especially in busy periods. This alone removes most of the variability. Busy months are precisely the ones you most want counted accurately.

6. Note the day the definition changes

The essential record.

When you start counting something new, write the date beside the series. Every comparison across that date then carries a warning. This is the single most valuable line in a measurement file.

7. Count the new category backwards if you can

The repair.

Where the records exist, going back and applying the new definition to earlier months restores comparability. It is often possible for a few months. Where it is not, say so.

8. Keep the rule when the person changes

The handover.

A new person will invent their own definition within a week unless given yours. Include it in whatever handover exists. This is the commonest moment for a series to break.

9. Review the definition once a year

The maintenance.

Businesses change and a definition written three years ago may no longer describe how enquiries arrive. Change it deliberately and date the change. Deliberate changes are manageable; accidental ones are not.

Be careful about improving the count in the middle of assessing something. If you tighten the definition during a trial of a new channel, the result becomes uninterpretable, and the trial has to be run again.

Conclusion

Write one sentence defining what counts as an enquiry and keep it beside the numbers.

State which channels are included, where the line between a real enquiry and everything else sits, and how repeat contacts are treated. Log enquiries as they arrive rather than reconstructing them later, date every change to the definition, restate earlier months under the new rule where the records allow it, hand the definition over when the person counting changes, and review it deliberately once a year.