Working Hard at Year End is a Great Way to Have Momentum in the New Year

It’s a fact! As the days and weeks of December pass us by more and more people seem to lose their focus on work and concentrate instead on the season’s festivities. Parties, gifts to buy and family get-togethers fill the time. Work, clients and prospecting…bah humbug!

Now please don’t get me wrong. I’m all for holiday spirit but I know that December will soon turn into January and with the holidays behind us work will be front and center.

And don’t all of us know about those first few days in January. Trying to catch up on the emails and calls that piled up during those last few days of December, “checking in” with prospects to see if they still remember you, “catching up” with existing clients to find out about continuing work and stressing with the knowledge that while the days and weeks are swiftly passing by you have certain Q1 goals that must be met.

It’s tough to get started after there has been a lull in activity. Just like with the gym it’s much better to maintain some momentum rather than come to a dead stop and have to restart.

How about doing this instead:

Make it a priority in December to connect with all of your existing clients in December not to wish them holiday greetings but also to “re-cap” what was accomplished in 2015 as well as get a read on what is upcoming in 2016. This is the time to plant the seeds and brainstorm about ongoing work.

Think no one is in his or her office in December? Not so! This is a good time to do some prospecting. Most people are in a good mood and you’ll have less competition because less people are playing the prospecting game in December! Plan on making a specific number of lead generation outreach calls each day so that you can be certain that your sales pipeline is full in January.

It’s fun to attend holiday networking events but remember that these events should have a work component as well. Don’t spend all of your time speaking with people that you know. Make it a point to seek out new contacts and learn about their business and what they have planned for 2016. Who knows? You might uncover a good lead right then and there.

It’s more than okay to slow down and celebrate but maintain modest business activity or you just might find that recommencing efforts in January is very difficult.