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Creating your best year ever starts with marketing planning; at least if you want to create more demand for your recruiting service. As we move to the end of another year over I suspect it has had its ups and downs?
If you are keen on growth this is how it all works.
Now it’s time to get ready to plan 2020 and the start of a new decade; making sure that you start as you mean to go on… with your best foot forward.
I’m not necessarily talking about the whole ‘New Year, New You’ ‘dream’; because I don’t really buy into that.
Fact: It’s just not practical to think that you’ll wake up in January as a new person with different skills, will power or having received amazing skills as you slept on New Year’s Eve!
Let’s start at a place where we can get at least some level of success and kickstart next year in the best way possible.
1. Have A Clear-Out
I know you probably weren’t expecting me to start off with this one and it’s a great way of creating a fresh start.
Ever heard the saying that your outer world reflects your inner world?
That is why I love me a good clear out!
This year I have a couple of health goals, so a few random frozen apple crumbles have been given to neighbours as the freezer became a sugar-free zone.
I came into the office and cleared out some filing draws (yes, I still use a filing cabinet) and some folders of past proposals too.
Look at everything you have and decide whether it plays a crucial role in your business life or your personal growth.
If it doesn’t consider getting rid of it! This process creates physical space in your home, of course, but it also creates mental clarity too and is an easy way to shift your energy.
Taking time for a clear out is therapeutic and relaxing, once you get into it. It helps you to de-clutter your mind, as well as your home and office.
This process is subconsciously making room for a whole new you – and that is so, so powerful. Once this process is complete, it’s time to reflect on last year.
2. Reflect and Review (In-depth) On The Whole of 2019
Bob Proctor, the well-known personal development speaker, often comments that we don’t spend enough time thinking.
Remember thinking and reflection is something we can do at any time; not only as one year ends and another one starts, though this time of year is as good as any to analyse where we are.
We have talked about the gap and the gain before, and you can read the post again here.
Success leaves clues, and I am certain some great things happened for you last year. So how about repeating them this year?
Though they might not be the ‘sexiest’ strategies sometimes nailing the basics is all that is required.
Spend some time with a journal and pen and ask yourself questions like:
- What worked well last year?
- What worked well even though it’s not my favourite things to do?
- What could I have done better?
- What slowed me/us / the company down last year?
Get your calendar or diary and look over the activities, to examine the year, month-on-month.
So, then determine how much of what you set out to achieve last year happened.
Then.
Looking specifically at the things you didn’t manage to achieve, decide whether those things are still relevant and important to you. If they are, circle them, as we can come back to them later.
This is an opportunity to take a long hard look at last year and map your progress along the way.
By analysing last year, you’re able to see clear, solid and quantifiable ways to improve and achieve more during the next 12 months.
Understanding and accepting what worked and what didn’t really is half of the battle.
3. Decide What You Want
One reason most people don’t achieve their goals is that they are not clear on what they want, or they expect ‘things’ to happen overnight without putting in the time, effort, or resources.
A mentor of mine defines his goals in 5, 10, and 20-year cycles.
That might be a step beyond what you were considering for some people reading this though it’s critical if you are serious about building a 7 or 8 figure recruitment business.
So, let’s make it easier for you.
The first place to start is with the things you circled in the previous step. Remember those things you wanted to happen last year that didn’t. The question is, are they still relevant? If they are adding them to your list.
What about your successes last year; can you take them to a logical next level?
[Hint: These are easy wins for you.]
Real goal setting takes thought.
Rather than randomly plucking an idea out of the air, decide how a goal fits into the plan.
A couple of years ago one of our clients had a goal to open a new office that year in neighbouring geography.
After a planning session with us, he realised that the first step was to mine his current geography and to up the billing level of his current team.
Within eight months, this had added 400k into the pot over and above current levels which meant more revenue with very little additional cost.
The new office was then added to the plan for the final quarter of the following year; which leads me onto the next step.
4. Create 90 Day Plans
Back in the day both Sharon and I worked in the Pharmaceutical sector. It wasn’t the easiest job I have ever had though when it comes to understanding marketing and sales it taught me a huge amount.
One strategy that was consistently used was the quarterly cycle.
The year was split into 4.
In fact, as I write this some old buddies of mine will be attending the cycle one kick-off meeting again in January again. They have been working this way well before I started with them, so I sense it’s working!
In the words of the legendary Stephen Covey start with the end in mind and then map out the path to your goal.
Let’s say you have a goal to turn over an extra £750k this year, what would the steps be to get you there? Questions I would ask might be?
- Is this figure viable in the current sector we are operating within?
- Can we increase our fee or add a retained model into the process?
- Is our current set up able to deliver more?
- If so what marketing and lead generation or improved skills will our billing teams need to have?
- If our average fee was 10k, we need 75 more placements, so how many leads do we need to hit those numbers?
We encourage all our clients and students on Superfast Circle to work in this way.
We suggest breaking this down further into monthly and then weekly plans.
The devil really is in the detail.
This gives you some small ‘stepping stones’ to follow, on the way to achieving your major milestones.
In other words, you can focus on exactly what you need to do for the next few weeks.
It’s much easier to build 4 x weekly plans for the month ahead than it would be to plan out your path for the next year.
By breaking everything down this way, you can make sure that you’re always working on the month ahead… however, every step will take you to where you plan to be in a year.
This is SO much more effective than just starting a journey and making it up as you go along!
If you are stuck on the finer detail of what to do get in touch here.
5. Be Accountable
If you have taken action on steps 1 to 4, you are ahead of the pack.
You’ve decided what you want.
Now you need to take action and get some support.
This is where a lot of people fall down.
Start by writing down your own goals for the week and then review what you have achieved. This takes discipline and won’t work for everyone… however, it is a start.
Alternatively, find someone who will support you and call you on your stuff when you need it.
If you want to take it even further join our Superfast Circle ninjas and make this your best year ever.
Thanks,
Denise
Important
To accelerate your marketing at speed, you need to know your starting point and be clear on what good marketing looks like.
That is why we have designed a complimentary Marketing Audit Checklist that you can download here.
