The 4th quarter of the year is upon us! You can either look at the year's final quarter as crunch time or as an opportunity to make something happen.
Whether you’re on track with your goals or need a boost, let’s finish the last quarter of the year strong.
I’ve seen from experience that with the right plan in place, business owners can have an incredible Q4. It all depends on how you head into this last quarter. I meet with my clients on at least a quarterly basis to review their goals and profitability. We’re able to create a game plan that’s tailored to their specific needs so they can hit the ground running in October.
Today, I want to share part of that framework with you so you can finish this year strong!
Creating Your Business’s 4th Quarter Game Plan
First things first, in order to create and complete your 4th quarter game plan, you need to block off time on your calendar to work on your business. Think about how the coaches work behind the scenes to create the playbook and strategize with the team. They wouldn’t show up on game day with no plan in place. You can’t head into the 4th quarter of the year with no prep or strategy. That’s why I’m offering you this game plan below.
The 4th Quarter Game Plan for Business Owners
1. Review Your Goals - It’s time to pull out your annual goals and review them. Hopefully, you were able to perform a mid-year review of your business. If not, there’s no better time than now to review your progress towards the goals you set almost a year ago. Are you on track? Way off? There’s no need to beat yourself up or feel guilty if things didn’t go your way so far. Look to the 4th quarter as a fresh start and move on to the next step.
2. Analyze Sales and Expenses - Let’s look at your sales and expenses so far. Review which products and services sell the best. Is any of the data surprising? Without seeing your specific data and trends, let’s consider a few things. What is selling the best? First, does your price need to be adjusted? Second, why might it be the most popular? Write down your answers to these questions. Look at your expenses from each month and look for any duplicates or recurring transactions that can be canceled. Check out my resource on how to perform an expense analysis here.
3. Discover Opportunities - In this step, let’s discover some opportunities to reach your goals. If you have a product or service selling really well, could you offer an additional bonus for anyone who purchases or books by a certain date? Are there any leads or past clients you could contact about working together? Maybe you just need to tap into your existing network. Dream up some opportunities that will lead you to your goals.
4. Create a Sales Challenge - Now is the fun part! What sales or expense challenges can you set for yourself? Can you call ten leads? Create a holiday promotion to capture sales? Maybe it’s reaching out to your network to update them on who you help and why. Create one, maybe two, sales challenges to help you achieve your goals.
5. Find Support - Finally, the most important step is not to go this alone. You need support in place to hold you accountable so that you can finish strong. If you’re really hoping to finish the year strong, it might be time to bring in expert support!
Fractional CFO Support from Lighthouse Advisory in Newfields, NH
As a business growth specialist, I not only review and process my clients' data and reports to show trends, but I dig in to reveal opportunities that will help their business succeed. I’m right there beside my client offering strategic advice and support based on their needs and goals. I work with clients 1:1 throughout the year as well as one-time consulting. Schedule your free connect call with me here.
