Weekly Tip: 4th Quarter Sprint

We are in the third week of October…What’s that leave for the remainder of the year? Pluck the holiday weeks out and you have… AT BEST…nine real weeks of work to finish the year strong. Whatcha-gonna-do?

Let me make a recommendation. Focus on 9 things for 9 weeks to make the difference in your end of year performance:

• Three biggest customers – These customers represent a lot of the end of this year’s sales and possibly a good part of next year’s. Don’t let them go quietly into the holidays. Connect with them now. Firm up their commitments, watch out for interlopers and competitors and close out their forecasts.
• Three biggest contracts – You are in the contract phase with three opportunities. End of the year usually accelerates or decelerates the closure speed, but rarely does the steady velocity of other times of the year continue. Get these buttoned down if it is the only thing you do between now and the holidays.
• Three biggest near-closes – You probably only have three real opportunities in the top-tier of prospects that you can get closed before the end of the year. These are worthy of your full-court press efforts.

It’s simple – you only have a little time left in the year and you can’t spend it the same way you spent the rest of the year. There was plenty of time, now there isn’t. So get after it!