I am a fan of enjoying my holidays! Historically, I’ll sit back and relax a bit in my business throughout December, and just close out what I have on the books. We should savor the season!
But before I check out completely, I know one important thing needs to happen: PLAN MY NEXT YEAR’S MARKETING CALENDAR. I will also set goals and create a detailed business plan — even though I have a love/hate relationship with business planning. Sometimes the best-laid plans go awry. So I’ve learned over the years to acknowledge that I can ONLY CONTROL what I can control. And that means – my ACTIONS, not results, are a priority to plan.
You’ve probably heard this statistic: typically the lead generation activity I’m doing today shows up in my business 90 to 120 days later. So if I want to continually have new repeat & referral clients, I need to always be marketing. I’ve also learned that if I don’t plan, my execution and consistency suffer. I have found that if I don’t start looking at my business until January, my results for Q1 will lag.
So, this time of year, I pull out next year’s calendar and plan the marketing I am doing every month, every quarter, and my annual client appreciation events. I also plan my trainings and travel, and other important personal events for the year. It can seem a little overwhelming if you are not used to the process but believe me when I say that once it’s in writing, the worry and uncertainty can be released, and I can go to work executing my plan.
Now, if you haven’t made a plan, there’s still time! Make a commitment to plan your year ahead so you don’t have to think about it, and execute.
One thing I love about Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, the first week in December, we gather and synergize to plan for our individual annual marketing calendars. It’s one of my favorite times of year to get new ideas! And the brokerage puts systems and services in place to make my execution even more streamlined. It’s amazing how positive peer pressure and brokerage support can improve my desire and ability to get things done.
The bottom line is that if you are building a business for the long term, planning and consistent execution are the keys to a solid foundation. From there, the sky’s the limit!
Yours in success!
Wendy
