8/8/2023-Q4 Planning

Labor Day, Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then poof…bye-bye Q4. The time to prepare for the fast lane of the calendar year is now, so get organized and be the one who looks chillax in Q4.

"Leave me alone…I"m tired of being told I have to plan! Can’t you see I’m busy and just want to do sell?"

Umm, yeah. Chillax.

You need to hear this message…ya see, there are 51 days from today until the start of Q4. (But hey, keep enjoying your summer.)

Even if most of your Q4 business has been booked, there are many transactional details you’ll be managing in Q4. Planning for Q4 means putting real time and thought against all scenarios and contingencies now when you have time to think clearly.

You fought hard for your Q4 revenue and obviously want your execution to be tight, so you record all of that revenue.

Take out your crystal ball and give it a rub: what has to happen to execute perfectly in Q4 for you? If your ball doesn’t answer, then start creating a list of "Q4 To Dos."

List all the accounts that will be active in Q4. What unresolved items need attention now? Rub that ball again and ask, "What should I anticipate about XYZ account so that Q4 goes smoothly?" (This could refer to either running accounts or prospects.)

You can take this exercise in any direction you want but think about Q4 now because company resources and customer attention will soon be in high demand.

Booking revenue is great! (Good job!) Keeping it on the books is even greater. For some, Q4 is already set; your revenue is either booked or about to be booked. And others are chasing a few incremental dollars that you know always appear.

Either way, there’s something nuts about Q4. Admit it, every year around Halloween you say the same thing, "Wow, this quarter is flying by…I’m running out of clock."

Labor Day comes, and you start watching a few football games; after that, you roll around in some leaves and decorate some pumpkins. Before ya know it, you’re singing "Auld Lang Syne" with a magnum of champagne (or diet Coke) in your hand!

In Q4, you’ll be competing for internal resources and attention. You’ll be competing for attention from your customers. And if you’re chasing incremental revenue from your running accounts, you’ll be competing with everyone else, asking them for the same.

Plan now.

Q4s are always busy, but hopefully never as chaotic as this play from the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. (1-minute watch.)

No doubt you may think you’re prepped and ready to go for the final quarter, but take a cue from these players who never intended to look like bumbling amateurs.