January 1st is a day of possibility. The dreams are big, the vision is clear, and the possibilities are endless.
October 1st is a different story for many entrepreneurs. It is a day of reckoning. If you’ve worked the plan all year you are silently celebrating. Not wanting to count your chickens before they hatch, but still envisioning crossing that finish line.
If you haven’t worked the plan all year, you’re probably doing one of these things:
Maybe you are in denial. Like an ostrich with her head in the sand. There is a storm of underperformance swirling violently around you and your solution is to simply hide from it.
Maybe you are a settler. Someone who set out heading from New York to California. But about Nebraska, you decided, “This is good enough. I didn’t really need to put my feet in the sand, or feel the salty water on my skin. These plains have a beauty of their own.” And so you plant roots in the plains of mediocrity and adjust your desire to be happy with what you have, even though it is clearly not what you wanted.
Maybe you can start to feel yourself getting angry. That deep, slow building resentment that you have another year that hasn’t turned out the way you wanted.
Or maybe you are just apathetic about whether or not you finish out the 4th quarter strong.
Wherever you are at, the undeniable fact is that you have three months left of the year. And no matter if you are on track, hiding with your head in the sand, building a log cabin in Nebraska, ticked off, or done caring, I want your year to end well.
Here are some strategies to help you rock out your 4th quarter.
Step 1: Reset the goals. I like to see my clients and my team stretching in the fourth quarter. At the end of a race, runners always give a final push and that is exactly what business owners should be doing in the fourth quarter. If you are on track for the original goal, consider increasing it. If you are so far behind the original goal that is never going to happen, set a new goal that feels like a stretch. It should be doable and still feel like a win. Get clear and committed to the goals. Hang up goal posters and visually track your progress. Make it the walk and talk of all you are doing!
Step 2: Shift your energy. Not all, but many of the business owners I’ve talked to recently have a sluggish energy around their business. They are feeling tired and kind of worn out. Block off a couple of days on your calendar. Remove yourself from distractions. Rest, and plan. Then come back with new energy and the stamina you need to finish out the year.
Step 3: Ask THE RIGHT questions. As a linguist and sales scripting expert, I understand the power of questions. What color is the sky? What do your pants feel like against your skin? How long has it been since you had a drink of water? Every question demands an answer. And too often we ask ourselves questions that bring problems to mind instead of solutions.
Here’s an example. Question: “How did we get so far behind on our goal this year.” Answer: “We planned too many vacations and family activities this summer and we lost our momentum.” You’ve just found a problem, but you are not closer to finding a solution.
Instead try questions like this. Question: “What can we adjust to finish out the 4th quarter strong?” or “What would it take to create $350,000 in new revenue in the next three months?” or “Who can I bring on to help us finish this goal?”
Step 4: Adjust your workflow. To create a dramatic shift in 4th quarter results, you will need to do things differently. You may need to shelve some projects to increase your marketing efforts. You may need to pour more energy into sales. You may need to let some team members go that are not able to perform at the level you need and replace them with someone more capable. You’ll need to make those adjustments quickly if they are going to have impact for the fourth quarter.
January 1st is right around the corner. If you’ll follow these four steps, you will go into the new year with results, momentum, and ready to expand your reach in 2017.