I slice bread and answer the phone for my local bakery. Sometimes I’ll be slicing bread when the phone rings. Like normal, I answer it. My manager would get upset with me: “if there is bread that needs slicing, don’t answer the phone. You interrupt the task at hand.”
I saw her point, but I also saw a huge blindspot. Customers won’t walk out if their bread takes 30 more seconds to be sliced. They will find a new bakery with one unanswered call. So for the next week, I started tracking every call, who it came from, and how much money it made for the bakery.
To my astonishment, the phone alone brought in four times my bread-slicing salary. Just answering calls kept the entire bakery profitable.
On presenting this information to my manager, she firmly agreed and now lets me answer the phone every time.
If you disagree with someone, don’t argue harder.
Measure better.
Facts don’t scream like words. But they decide.