Evaluating sales provides valuable information or intelligence. Knowing who is buying our products, who is selling our products, where our products are being sold, and specifically, what is being sold helps us identify trends. These trends can help us decide where to spend marketing dollars, when to invest in more inventory (and when not to), and so much more.

Consider a baseball pitcher on the mound. An opposing player walks up to the plate, and now it's time to decide what kind of pitch to throw. The catcher will call a pitch based on the batter's past performance and the pitcher's performance for this game. For example, if 70 percent of a batter's hits come on fastballs and less than 10 percent on curveballs, the pitcher will want to avoid fastballs, if at all possible. There's even a name for this condition; it's called "trouble with the curve."