What Are Your Priorities This Year-end?

For big businesses, the fourth calendar quarter has a predictable set of priorities.  Because so many companies end their fiscal year in December, this is also the period in which the planning processes for the next year are concluded.

Yes, you read me correctly.  While most of us small business owners are just trying to just get through the holiday season, our big-business counterparts are completing their plans for next year.  They’ve already spent months reconsidering their markets, competitors, and products; have finished their personnel, marketing, and sales commission plans; and are fine-tuning their budgets.

What are your priorities for the final weeks of this year?  What should they be?

There isn’t a single, “correct” answer, but there absolutely is a single correct approach, and it consists of four steps:

1. Be realistic.
2. Look at your entire business.
3. Identify a few of your biggest concerns.
4. Focus on solutions you can implement.

Today, I’ll briefly summarize how this approach works.  Over the next few weeks, my postings will provide more detail on the process and benefits of the individual steps.

Similar to the “bite-sized business plan” I’ve discussed previously, this approach helps you quickly create a game plan for making the most from the six remaining weeks of this year.  Through an honest assessment of your whole business, we’ll identify the handful of changes you can make to have your business succeed.

Two things are certain:

1. The best use of your time right now is to execute your fourth-quarter plan.
2. If you don’t have a year-end plan in place already, there is still time for your business to benefit from one.