With summer officially ending and fall settling in, as a business owner you know it’s time to finish off Q4 and start prepping for the end of the year. This is a busy time for many business owners considering the amount of prep work that goes into this, as well as the added stress of the holidays. If you want to succeed in the final quarter of the year, here are 5 things you can implement right away.

Prepare Campaigns and Promotions

For many businesses, the end of the year is the most important time of year for revenue. Whether you’re e-commerce, tech, B2B, or virtually anything else, the end of the year is where you can wrap up work and lock things in for the beginning of the new year. During this time you’ll want to ensure you prepare and prep for any campaigns and promotions that are set to go live. Ideally, this work is done before the start of Quarter 4 but you can still get a sizable amount of work done in these next few months.

Plan Holiday Deals and Sales

If you rely on holiday deals and sales you’ll want to have them all planned out and ensure they help you to reach your budget goals and not the latter. Use this time to maximize bringing in new customers and increasing brand awareness. This is when consulting with your marketing and finance departments will be important to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Review Yearly Expenses

In any normal year, you want to ensure you’re reviewing all expenses from the year and seeing where you can make cuts or bring new ones in. Because of COVID, it’s going to be crucial to many industries that new expenses are not accrued if there has been a major dip in revenue. Having a Virtual CFO to help identify wasted money and draining expenses is invaluable, especially if your business was hit hard during COVID.

Set Quarter 1 Goals

Even though quarter 4 is not over, you still want to have an idea of what you hope to achieve in the first quarter of the new year. These goals are typically reliant on performance from the entire year, as well as the last quarter of the year. As always, keep your goals realistic and seek help when needed.

Educate Your Staff

After you’ve done your planning and strategizing you want to get your staff or team members up to date on what to expect during the last quarter of the year. Take this time to keep everyone on the same page and set the expectations. 

Succeeding in the last quarter of the year doesn’t have to be draining. If you’re needing some extra assistance this quarter, reach out to us and we’d be more than happy to help!