Time is Getting Short to Finalize Your Q4 Plan

“I love it when a plan comes together.”

       ~ Hannibal, from the A-Team TV show

Yes, there’s nothing like the feeling of having a plan. A good plan helps you sleep at night and provides a sense of security. Sure, you can wing it, but why would you? A plan can give you hope, but hope is not a plan. With Q4 rapidly approaching, is your plan ready?

The final quarter of the year presents some unique challenges as well as some great opportunities. Ultimately how important it is will depend on your particular business and industry, but there are some special factors that make Q4 a different animal.

One of those factors is holidays. You don’t have to check the calendar to realize that there are a lot of them packed into the last few months of the year. Starting with Labor Day and continuing on through New Years’, they just keep coming. You’ll likely want to take some time off to enjoy them with your family and friends. How will that affect your deadlines? If you have employees they’ll want to take time off too. How will you juggle having a reduced staff or cope with the absence of key personnel? If the holidays are a busy time, will you need extra staffing? Will you and your team have to put in overtime?

Speaking of holidays, what are you planning to do about them? Do you have a plan for the Christmas rush? What about Halloween? Do you have a great products and a strong production pipeline in place so you can be like Santa and deliver the goods on time?

Don’t let those holidays go to waste. Each one is a marketing gold mine if used properly. The one thing that is almost always true about the holiday season is that people have money they want to spend. Why shouldn’t they spend some of that money at your place of business? Spruce things up for the holidays. Have a sale. Even if you’re not a retail business, consider co-hosting a community event with a partner. Make some friends, generate some holiday cheer and get your name out there. To do this type of marketing takes time and coordination, and that’s where your trusty Q4 plan will give you an edge.

Even if the holidays are traditionally a dead time in your industry, there’s no reason to let that time go to waste. It might be a perfect time to fine tune your marketing strategies, test a new product line or gear up for the coming year.

The best time to make a plan is before you actually need one, so don’t wait. Q4 certainly won’t.