When we play sports, can you imagine playing and not keeping score and not wanting to win? Not only do we know how to keep score, but we know the game will end. We play nine innings in baseball, three periods in hockey, four quarters in football and basketball.
We also know when the game ends at our business. It ends each fiscal year. We add up the score from all four quarters and see how we did this year. We don't have to wait till the end of the year. We should know the score at least every quarter; that is, if we choose to measure it. How do we know we won the annual business game? We meet or beat our budgeted expense projections and we meet or beat our sales goals.