Contributed post.

What is “business bias”? It’s a general term referring to instances where managers or business owners call upon their unconscious biases, a.k.a. preconceived notions or “gut instinct,” to make decisions.

You believe you know what’s best for your business because you started it from the ground up. You’ve got a close emotional connection to the company and you’ve also had experience making business decisions in the past. This creates a combination of emotional and cognitive bias that often leads to poor decision-making.

In other words, you’re not necessarily making the right decisions based on all of the information available to you; it’s more of an instinctual response or centered around what used to work well.

This approach can lead to your downfall as your business grows larger and more complex. Correct it by avoiding business bias and implementing these two strategies to improve your decision-making process.

Use a data-driven approach

Modern businesses have been largely run by technology since the IBM mainframe days of the 1960s, and increasingly so since the emergence of the SaaS ecosystem starting 25 years ago.

At a base level, this includes processes like AI in social media marketing, but look beneath the surface and you see tech at the heart of everything you do. Your company has access to loads of data relating to the business itself, customers, and much more. Additionally, you now have an array of tools to harness this data and make sense of it through real-time analytics.

A data-driven approach to decision-making means you’re basing decisions around objective facts. You can almost hear the data screaming at you, telling you certain decisions are better than others. Making decisions becomes less about using your intuition or personal opinions on how the company should be run and has more to do with what the data says.

One of the best (and most common) examples focuses on marketing your business. You may have spent most of your budget on direct outreach because your company started as a small local business. It feels like the most effective method of generating leads and revenue—but what does the data say?

Analytics may show you have a higher conversion rate through search engines or social media marketing and these channels are more cost-effective. Use this information to make smarter decisions like allocating more money to the methods that work, rather than wasting it on ones that don’t generate results efficiently.

Get outside perspectives

It’s easy to get bogged down by your own perspective on business issues. This is where biases form! You’re emotionally attached to your business and this skews the way you see situations and make decisions.

Get an outside perspective by hiring a business consultant with no attachment to your company. They provide a fresh view of things and will easily pinpoint areas you can improve in – while also showing you where some less-than-ideal decisions are being made.

Some business owners tend to neglect getting outside help due to their egos. No one likes being told they’re wrong. But what’s worse: admitting your faults or running your company into the ground because you keep making the wrong decisions?

Using data and outside guidance can help you make better decisions and avoid business bias. Base your moves on facts and get opinions from professionals who won’t have a bias toward your business. These approaches can help turn the ship around and avoid sailing directly into an iceberg that ruins your company.

The post Two Quick Ways to Avoid Business Bias and Make Better Decisions appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog | Webbiquity.