Yesterday I ordered my first pumpkin spice latte of the season (yes I am one of THOSE people, and I take pride 😆).
I was enjoying my warm delicious cup of fall… meanwhile it’s 90+ degrees and 100% humidity in Houston, and it made me realize we’re just a DAY away from September. 🤯
Even though in my mind I’m thinking it’s WAY too early to be drinking a PSL, I also was thinking to myself, “It's September already?! WTF.”
I know we say it every year, “time is flying by,” but really… time is fucking flying.
I feel like just yesterday I was brewing up all my ideas for 2022 — and thankfully, I can say it has been a fruitful, fun, and exciting year (so far) with still 4 months to go.
But lately, as I’ve been in conversation with a TON of my clients and peers about their priorities entering into the end of Q3, there seems to be a common theme — we’re prepping for Q4 NOW.
Whether it’s planning end of year sales and offers, ramping up workloads to cushion up for time off during the holidays, or just reevaluating our processes, there’s a collective urgency I’m noticing in streamlining, optimizing, and auditing our business.
And I am HERE FOR it. You know the queen of automation loves a good streamlining moment 😜
So if you're a planner like me, you may find yourself preparing to think about ways to prep for the holiday season in business.
Here are 3 tips to get that planning underway:
- PLAN YOUR OUT OF OFFICE HOURS/DAYS NOW
It may sound like overkill, but getting ahead of your calendar now to start prepping for holidays, vacations, or just general time off to be with family during the fall/winter season will help you manage your workload and give your clients a heads up on when to expect you to be unavailable (especially important for my retainer-based businesses reading.)
Plan these dates and get them on your calendar ASAP - so your clients won't book calls, appointments, etc. on those days and cause you to have a rescheduling fiasco.
I make a point to send out my holiday hours to all my active clients around October of dates they can expect me out of office. Or you can also include it in your email signature once the dates are getting closer.
And if you're a vacation responder junkie like me, grab BRANDPSEAK Studio's OOO responder to use when you're clocking out for those holiday PSLs.
- AUDIT YOUR CRM
Yeah, this is the “not fun one” for a lot of you. Setting up, using and managing a CRM is exhausting enough - but how often are you auditing to ensure the content and processes are still relevant? As a workflow and automation expert, I love doing my audits before the end of the year so when those new year vibes roll around I'm not stuck in the weeds auditing all the fine details of my processes (I can just start off the year on the right foot.) This handy audit checklist will run through every facet of your CRM you should check, review, and revamp (if necessary). This will be especially crucial when you get to tip #4.
* If the thought of auditing your CRM gives you the ick, then maybe it's time to bring in the big dogs (ahem, me 🙋♀️) to give you the upper-hand in delegating the not-so-fun-parts of business. Click here to take a look at how I can do some hand-holding in your CRM.
- PREP CONTENT (OR GET IN THE HABIT) WHILE YOU CAN
Many of you are probably content KINGS (or queens) – you know how to prep content like a pro and have a good grip on that creative flow. But I know for many of you, you're more in the “post and ghost” category. While normally that can slide, what we DON'T want happening is your content marketing strategy taking a back seat while you're digging into Thanksgiving meals and taking a week of to spend Christmas with your kids.
Get a head start on content creation now. Figure out your content flow, start brain dumping your content ideas, and (if possible) get into the habit of scheduling content for when you really need it.
Not sure where to even begin with content creation? My girl Jess from Lightly Social is the expert for you. She has TONS of free tips on social media marketing on her Instagram and a sweet membership that will cost you just a few week's worth of PSLs per month. SCORE.
- EVALUATE Q4 OFFERS
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday.. it seems like there's a day for everyone when it comes to holiday sales – so take advantage of it! People are ready to spend $$$ during the holidays, and you've got the goods to give them.
Spend some time next month making out your offers, potential discounts / bundles, or upcoming launches you can monetize on during the holiday buying rush. Prepping now will give you the upper hand in creating that content and ensuring your offers are hot off the press when the time is right.
(There's nothing like a little flash sale action, am I right?!)
