Finish Strong: 10 strategies to make this your best quarter

It’s that time of year. The weather changes, back-to-school plans are complete and you are reminiscing about the summer you just experienced. 

All of a sudden we realize a need to accelerate focus, and to make the most of the last quarter! Goals and budgets to achieve, meetings to schedule, new team members to attract in before we close the end of the year.

Finish strong! It’s a mantra of mine.

Here are 10 ways leaders can make the most of the remainder of the year.

1. Check Mondays – at the beginning of your week, invest 15 minutes checking this week’s activities and ensure you are totally prepared for your week ahead i.e. meetings, team performance reviews, paperwork deadlines, and deliverables. Then check the upcoming month for the same items so you know what is in your sales pipeline.

2. Money Talks – watch your financial targets, keep them visible to remind yourself weekly of the last quarter results you are responsible for. Mine are printed above the desk and on my phone to keep me accountable daily! 

3. Gaps and Goals – conduct a gap analysis of what you had hoped to achieve this year and where you are at. Spend time understanding how to bridge the gap if you have a revenue deficiency or sales goals, or team recruiting goals you haven’t completed or calls you haven’t made. This will help you create your last quarter action plan.

4. Hustle harder – create more urgency to close opportunities, follow up on conversations, add value to existing clients and make more phone calls to touch base. Set yourself goals to make a certain number of calls each day or reach out to great possible team members.

5. Host short team meetings – host effective team meetings that are 20 or 40 minutes, short, with agendas and clear meeting objectives. If the meeting isn’t vital in the last quarter … cancel it, your team will thank you! People need time to achieve their goals as the year draws to an end. Allow your team to be hyper-focused on deliverables, not meetings.

6. Schedule 1:1 – ensure every team is aware of your support and investigate the resources, training, coaching or guidance they might need to finish their year strong. Schedule your 1:1 with your leader to update them on your team’s progress and proactively share good news.

7. Associate daily activities – just as you put the trash out twice a week, allocate work tasks to certain days each week i.e. marketing Monday, outbound calls Tuesday, tasting bookings Wednesday, team development Thursday, etc. Group activities on certain days to accelerate productivity.

8. Work backward – not literally, although it might increase your creativity? Determine the time you need to finish your day and work backwards to allocate time for meetings, projects, and deliverables to help you achieve your last quarter goals. Start with the end in mind.

9. Schedule social – as the year draws to a close you are invited to more social invitations to celebrate holidays. Make time to connect with people you care about at work and at home. Notify the team of upcoming events they may need to attend, and host a family meeting to chat about holiday commitments – determine what’s not negotiable and it makes it easier to RSVP to any additional invitations.

10. Focus, focus, focus – it’s easy to be distracted by the pressure of deadlines, social media activity, and social occasions. These don’t get you closer to your goals. At this time of year set yourself time targets to work on projects or deliverables in time frames. Set the timer on your phone, use software to block distracting websites (we use Freedom and love it) and make this your best year yet!

These strategies will help create great systems, increase your productivity and assist you to finish your year strong!