10 steps to a successful Q4

Well sad to say but, summer is over. Children are back to school and the leaves, (at least outside my window), are changing fast. Hmmm come to think of it, Q3 is just about over as well, which means we have that last critical quarter of 2019 to make it happen!

Whether you are a Business Owner, Executive, HR professional, Manager, Marketing professional or a Sales professional, there are but "3" months left in 2019. Even though we are still only half way through September. For most of us December is not a full month, as many spend the last 2 weeks enjoying or getting ready for the holidays.

There are not many things you can do that will create results quickly but putting aside a small amount of time each day to do these steps will create IMMEDIATE RESULTS.

So what do we need to do in order to maximize our results for the Q4? Here are 10 things you can start doing right now by committing a little time everyday to ensure a more successful last quarter.

1) Let the world know, who you are by creating an engaging online profile about yourself, not your company, not your products or services, just about YOU. I know this is hard to believe but people want to know who you are not why your company, products and or services are the greatest.

2) Rewrite, (yes rewrite, your’s is awful), your LinkedIn summary so that it tells the captivating story about how you became to be the person you are, doing the things you do. Not your job description, but rather how it came to be that you are doing what you do now… I have yet to meet a person that did not have a crazy thing happen to them along the way that helped to get them where they are now. One person, “ran with bulls”, another was a “summer paleontologist”, yet another went on a game show as a contestant…

3) Find a photograph of yourself that reflects what you really enjoy doing so that people get to know who you really are. Put this up on any and all your social profiles.

4) Look up, find and connect with all your existing and previous customers, vendors and suppliers through all of your profiles. You won't find all of them, but you will find many of them, whether through, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or any others you may use. When connecting say something in order to make it much more friendly and welcoming approach. Do this, ten minutes everyday and you’ll develop an excellent network in no time.

5) Look up and connect with your own team present and previous, in exactly the same way

6) Begin engaging with all of these people by way of liking, sharing and commenting on the articles they place on any of the channels you are using.

7) Now for the tough part...Write an article about your thoughts and ideas around an interesting or better yet controversial event - topic in your industry. You don't have to pick sides (unless you want to), you just have to speak knowledgeably about how it affects you and others in or around your industry.

In addition, share, (but comment on), industry articles or just fun articles you like.  

8) Write down the key hashtags that your article reflected in order to add to your article. Eg, if you are an HR professional you might hashtag the skills you are looking for, ie, if looking for engineers you might hashtag engineering. If you are writing about the state of the industry than think about who you want reading it and hashtag accordingly. Don’t use any more than 3-5 hashtags!

9) Tag those that you think would be most interested, (again not too many), now stop thinking and just post your article! There is no such thing as a perfect article and the more you post the easier and quicker it becomes.

10) Lastly, thank all those that engaged with your article and reach out and connect with those you have not already connected with., do this across all channels posted to.

11) BONUS STEP...write another article or post and Repeat, repeat, repeat...!

Lastly, but most importantly, let me know all about your amazing results. I promise, I won't be surprised, I see the results every single day with all of our clients.

Now, if you don't have a couple of hours a week to make this happen and would instead prefer to blast out more emails, buy more corporate advertising, get somebody else to do it for you, call a meeting to discuss Q4...Then be prepared for poor results!

Being on social and having an impact online (no matter what your position or industry) requires you to add something to the conversation. So, make it personal, interesting and don't be afraid to poke the bear occasionally.

Lastly, and this is the big one...you won't be losing any time, in fact you'll be gaining even more! You will soon learn that much of what you do now will no longer make sense. Just as I have been writing this article, I have received 9 new spam emails that I will definitely not read but will soon, delete.

Shortly, I will have a couple dozen new conversations going on, just because of this article. That's the power of social. You can do the same thing!

For every client we have worked with they have seen tremendous results long before we are finished. Why is that? Because, "Social" is right now, not tomorrow, "RIGHT NOW", therefore your results are immediate.

If you are wondering how to get started and want to have an amazing Q4, just let me know and let's get started!

** An overwhelming number of companies are still stuck in the mindset that social media is the domain of marketing rather than sales. As buying patterns continue to evolve this is an increasingly dangerous position to take. More and more every day, buyers are reaching out via social channels rather than phone or email, and your sales team needs to be equipped to properly follow-up with these leads. **

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