The Q4 Push: Are you ready?

Can you believe it? 2022 is speeding by and the fourth quarter starts next week, which for many professional services firms has the potential to be the biggest sales period yet. Are you ready for a powerful finish? Could it be a make or break??

For many, the start of October signals the beginning of the “4th quarter push.” Whether in business or your personal life, you’ve probably set yearly goals for yourself -- and the final quarter of the year is when you may feel extra pressure to accomplish those goals by year-end.?

For business owners and managers, this is the time to measure the performance from the previous quarters, make sure you’re on track to hit your goals for the last quarter, and be ready to lay out a strategic plan for 2023.?

No matter which track you’re on, these four tips to handle the 4th quarter push will help you end the year in a positive way:

1. Financial: Going into the fourth quarter, many businesses pull out all the stops to find new business and bring in whatever income they can. But the 4th quarter also provides the perfect opportunity to assess the financial health of your company and ensure a strong start to next year. Start by evaluating your current cash flow. There’s much uncertainty ahead of us with inflation, borrowing costs and a recession. In my experience, cash flow can make or break you. As the pandemic has proved, no one knows what the future has in store. Businesses that weathered the storm best were those with a strong cash flow to see them through the lockdowns and bumpy periods of the past 24 months. The consensus is that small businesses should aim for at least 3 months worth of cash reserves to cover their expenses, but I think that a 6-month runway will help you make better decisions and sleep easier at night.
2. Talent: With salaries and contractor costs accounting for up to 65% of your total expenses, your people are your biggest asset and cost center. Therefore, to help set you up for a strong fourth quarter, consider investing in your team. The first 6 weeks tend to be very busy for professional services firms, and this allows your new talent to build relationships with your clients and become familiar with your ways of working. Then, as business winds down for the holiday season, your new talent has the perfect opportunity for prospecting and building their pipeline for the next quarter. By expanding your team, you’re directly increasing your capacity and so you’ll be able to deliver more projects before the quarter ends. To help your new hire deliver better results, you need to be prepared to train them and provide them with the resources needed for them to succeed.
3. Sales: Meet with your Sales and Marketing team and devise a marketing and sales strategy plan to finish the year strong. To help you do this, you should first assess your current year-to-date performance. Pull up your CRM stats, website stats, sale stats, etc. How was last quarter? How are you tracking year to date? If you’re behind your target, the worst thing you can do is panic. For some businesses the challenge is generating new leads for your sales team, for others the issue is they’re not converting enough leads into sales. Before you invest in a campaign to generate more leads, take some time to find out why you’re not closing more sales. Don’t forget to analyze your competition. It’s possible that a new player is outselling your team. For professional services firms, quarter 4 can be the biggest sales quarter, so if you’re lagging behind a little, don’t worry. With the holiday season just around the corner, many businesses are keen to start and finish projects before year-end. For B2C and ecommerce businesses, the holiday season can represent up to 50% of annual sales. The difference this year is inflation, which means consumers will be looking for great deals. And for nonprofit organizations, this is a perfect time to get ready for Giving Tuesday or to tap your donors for the end of year donations.
4. Plan: Rally your team and get everyone on board to achieve a strong finish to the year. Consider using the S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound) framework to prioritize your 2022 Q4 goals and 2023 goals. Communication and tracking are also key. Use a project management tool, app, or whiteboard (virtual if you’re remote) to track actual performance against KPIs as this helps the team to visualize their goals. You should set incentives, stretch goals and reward top performers. This will keep your employees motivated and engaged. Try asking your employees to come up with their own fourth quarter goals based on your benchmarks. You may be surprised that some on your team will be happy to help design the plan.

With creative planning ideas, the fourth quarter has the potential to produce enough sales to make 2022 a successful year. Pick a date in December where you’ll measure outcomes and celebrate the success by taking your team out to dinner. Then schedule a date to plan the first quarter of 2023. These quick quarterly plans should go hand in hand with your yearly strategic goals.

Good luck!