Pumping It Up in the All Important Fourth Quarter

It’s Not Over ’til the Fat Lady Sings.

A famous colloquialism and it sounds just about right because we all know that you can never be 100% certain of an outcome until it is over.

If we agree this statement is true then why is it that so many people seem to give up somewhere in mid 4th quarter with the following excuses:

• It’s holiday season and no one wants to do any business.
• There’s no way I can reach my numbers at this time of year.
• The economy is starting to get soft again.
• My clients are having a tough time.

Whew, with that mindset it’s a wonder that any business is done at all. It shouldn’t be that way. We move into fourth quarter with three full months to pump up the activity, get things going in the right direction and close out the year with a bang. Did you have a few bad months in Q3? Did the year itself never seem to gather momentum…forget about it! You’ve been handed a reprieve of three more months to set things right. You can’t change what happened, you can only impact what is going to happen.

Here are a few suggestions on how to do just that:

Prospect More. Yep, this is a good time to develop a prospecting plan to generate short-term results. Set out to execute a specific number of prospecting outreach calls per day. Five, ten, you know your schedule and stamina but don’t cut yourself any slack. You are making a commitment to yourself. As for whom you will call, well, I suggest that you target some of the “low hanging fruit” and by that I mean target prospects that are most likely going to be interested in your product or service. This isn’t the best time to attempt to contact those “stretch” prospects.

Network More. Sure you network but do you truly have a networking game plan? Networking is not simply about going to meetings and events and exchanging cards with the hope that “something” will evolve. Heck, it’s up to you to take that “sound bite” networking moment and turn it into something much more robust. And while we are at it, be strategic and reach out to people because you know they are good networkers and not because they “should” be a good referral source for you. A good networker makes proactive introductions regardless of the industries and professions they are putting together. They are “natural” connectors and make things happen and that’s whom you want to target.

Connect with Existing Clients More Often. Your fastest source of new business comes from your existing clients. They already know you and respect your work and they are often able to provide you with a new project or extend the one on which you are currently working if you can provide them with a persuasive and beneficial reason for them to do so. It’s your job to educate them on the benefits of doing more work with you and the reasons they should start now!

So you see, it’s not over. You have three full  months to start executing on the above and tracking your successes too. Do more of what works, ease off on what doesn’t and get going. These three months won’t last forever you know….that fat lady is getting ready to sing!