10 Signs You Need to Hire a Measurement Sherpa

This article is part of The Measurement Advisor’s Special Issue on the Measurement Sherpa, an in-house data wrangler and measurement resource who organizes, queries, and gains insight from data. Our coverage follows the development of a Sherpa’s skill and experience, from newbie to pro, and is organized in three levels:

Sherpa Level One: Getting Out of Base Camp

• Introducing the Measurement Sherpa
• 10 Signs That You Need to Hire a Measurement Sherpa
• 5 Reasons Why You Really Want to Become a Measurement Sherpa
• The First 5 Steps to Take to Become a Measurement Sherpa
• Learning on the Job: Notes from a Sherpa-in-Training

Sherpa Level Two: Climbing the Mountain

• Must-have Equipment for a Measurement Sherpa
• Commonly Confused PR and Social Media Measurement Terms
• 6 Books That Should be in Every Measurement Sherpa’s Library
• Katie Paine’s Advice for Measurement Sherpas: Dos and Don’ts for Reporting Web and Social Media Analytics

Sherpa Level Three: Peak Operations

• Matt Clement: Fort Worth’s Sherpa
• Lisa Binzel: Measurement Evangelist
• How to Get the Best from Your Measurement Sherpa
• Mastering the 6 Projects a Measurement Sherpa Must Know How to Do, including as separate articles:
  • Measurement Sherpa Skills: 4 Steps to Budget for a Measurement Project
  • 6 Keys to Managing an RFP Process 

If you have found yourself in any of these situations in the last six months, then it’s time to take out that help wanted ad. You need a Measurement Sherpa.

1. You have several measurement reports sitting on your desk and none of the metrics match.
2. You are trying to do your budget but have no idea which of last year’s efforts were successful and which failed.
3. Your digital agency is claiming a 500% return for its investment in promoted Tweets and you have no idea how they got that number.
4. Your boss glowers at you whenever the subject of measurement comes up and asks where your dashboard is.
5. You’re sitting in an agency presentation that deals with metrics that you’ve never seen before.
6. You are asked to compare the results from three different campaigns and realize that none of the results are comparable.
7. You have constant nightmares in which you are presenting results, generally in the nude, and are trying to answer impossible questions. You realize you have no idea where your data came from and that it is completely whacked.
8. You are sitting through your fifth vendor presentation for a social media measurement platform and suddenly realize that you can’t tell any of them apart.
9. You avoid the COO because you haven’t gotten your monthly report done — and it’s due tomorrow.
10. Meltwater has just left its 15^th message on your voice mail, and you have no idea why.

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Thanks to Editing At Large for the image.