What Are You Doing for Q4? Don’t Know? Do These 3 Steps

10.1.14Welcome to the last business quarter of the year!  This quarter is commonly known as Q4 in business terms.  Are you greeting it with glee and joy?  Probably not.

This is a very dangerous time of the year for you because all the best holidays are coming up: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve.  It is our human tendency to figuratively, take off our “Spanx” and relax into the holidays.  However, if you do so without taking some steps to insure that your business continues to grow, you may be setting yourself up for more work in marketing your business and creating sales occurring for next year and this final quarter.

Do these steps before the holidays begin and you can set up a plan that will take you forward to next year.

1. Look at what worked for you this year.  Please list each item that worked and why it worked.  We are doing an analysis here.  This is a paper and pen analysis.  Not a mental analysis.  What caused the most profit in your business?  What segment of your target market responded to your marketing?  Was it your marketing plan?  Your new offers?  Your outreach to your target market?  These are just a few examples of looking at what worked.  Each business is unique and you will have unique answers to what worked.

2. Look at what didn’t work for you this year.  Perhaps, writing down what didn’t work will be harder for you.  We do like to look where we succeed not at where we fail.  It is so important to list the failures too.  Without looking at them purely from an analytic point of view, we cannot see what we should stop doing or change.  Both steps are important.  You will have your unique responses to this step.  Note to Self: This is not a step that you use to beat yourself up with.  No, it’s an approach to having your business thrive.

3. Keep your marketing going during Q4.  Our tendency to stop causing business through effective marketing also damages sales for the next year.  If you are “out of sight” during the Q4, you are setting yourself up for business disappointment in the next year.  Keep your business marketing present and valuable to your clients and potential clients.

By doing these simple steps, you will be far ahead of most businesses.  And of course, it will be much easier to enjoy the holidays with business success standing there glittering away.

I look forward to hearing your comments.  Please tell me what you will do as you go forward to Q4.

 

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