Well, well, well… if it isn’t Q4 sneaking up on us far quicker than we ever thought possible! It feels like approximately one minute ago that I returned to work in Q1 following a couple of weeks’ Christmas vacation… albeit a lot heavier than I am now, thanks to copious amounts of pudding and mulled wine… mmm. I digress.
A brand new quarter – the final quarter – is here and now is the time to make sure you finish the year with a bang! Agency recruitment has its naturally hectic and quieter periods, which generally coincide with the holiday seasons, so we know how important it is to make the next few busy months really count!
Finishing the year on a bang means starting the quarter off with a bang (I’ll stop saying the word ‘bang’ now). Here are my top 8 tips to getting the most out of the next few months… to maximise cause for celebration come the festive season (which is just around the corner, yikes):
1. Clean up your admin act
Do you have million tasks well overdue and ‘yet to be completed’ according to your CRM? Is the reality actually that most of them were actioned months ago… but you just never deleted the task in the system and updated your notes? If you know you are supposed to log some not-critical-but-still-important information about a process, or update some client information… just do it now. Set aside an hour or two to clean up your admin act. All your admin shortcomings will clog up your brain space and slow down your productivity. Start Q4 on a new page.
2. Clean your desk space
If your desk is cluttered and spewing papers, pens and crisp packets, it’s time to have a good old ‘autumn clean’… as the… saying… goes. Get rid of all the old job specs, notes and bits and bobs that serve absolutely no purpose. Cleaning up your work bench will help you feel fresh; it’s like a physical representation of wiping the slate clean. Tip: grab a baby wipe and give your keyboard go-over. You’ll be surprised / disgusted at the black grime that comes off.
3. Get new stationery
Further to my above point, once you’ve done a bit of cleaning, reward yourself with a new notebook, fresh pens and a highlighter which doesn’t stain 10 pages deep. Having some fresh tools at your desk space will again make you feel fresh and ready to go!
4. Get in early
In sales, you only get out what you put in. Starting a little earlier each day and getting in before the rest of your colleagues to get ahead each day will make you feel super productive. It’s amazing what you can get done when noone else is around… no jokes to distract you, no laughter to interrupt your phonecalls, no last-minute meetings to wreck your momentum.
5. Analyse what went well & what went wrong
Analyse your last quarter in terms of statistics and KPIs. How many CVs were sent? How many meetings did you go on? How many calls / meetings were booked in? And the big one… how much money did you make / candidates did you place? Tallying up your output will gie you really good insights on your work and your pipeline, with respect to your performance. Idnetifying areas you need to improve on and put more work into will give you some direction. you can also take those stats to your manager and ask them for their input… can they spot patterns in your activity which worked well/ didn’t do so well?
6. Meet everyone you placed last quarter
Often you’ll meet a candidate prior to placing them, then the rest of the process will be conducted over email and phone calls. Take a quick second to book in a meeting with your placed candidates for a meeting at their new offices (if they have started). Even if you took them for a celebratory drink last quarter, it doesn’t matter… booking them in for a proper business meeting after they’ve started their new role will be a great chance to ask them about other areas of the business for you to follow up on for job leads, and really cement this person as an ally for you in future! As they say, your candidates will ikely become your clients!
7. Go through all old jobs & call every candidate you didn’t place
Once you’ve dealt with the candidates you did place, turn your attentions to the candidates you sent to jobs but didn’t place. These candidates are obviously really good, if you were happy to represent them! Don’t let them slip away into the abyss with a job lost or placed. Is there anywhere else you can send these candidates? Can you proactively make introductions with your other clients on their behalf?
8. Map out 25 top new clients
Top make sure your pipeline can stand the test of time and well, a million other odds, map out your market and create a list of new clients you’re going to try open doors into! Chipping away at these target clients each week and trying to book meetings with key decision makers will make you feel like you’ve got some big ambitions for Q4 and will help you visualise the potential with your business!
Happy Q4!
