FORBES -- Q4. The opportunity it presents can add a lot of pressure to an already hectic period — and for good reason. Q4 is instrumental to the success of your fiscal year and can fast-track your growth. But if you’re not prepared from a leadership perspective, things can go wrong. Fast.
The higher the stakes, the busier and more stressed out your employees become. I’ve seen staff burnout, supply chain delays that made our reputation take a hit and overspending on acquisition, especially in the early days. But if you empower your people and lead with empathy, you can not only finish the fiscal year strong but give yourself a huge advantage going into Q1.
So as we prepare to close out the year, here are the five things I’ll be doing to win Q4 and guide my business into 2022.
Be an empathetic leader.
I cannot say this enough: success is driven by your team — especially in Q4. But that also makes it an incredibly stressful time for them. Your employees can’t take care of your business if they don’t feel taken care of.
According to a 2020 workplace empathy study by Businessolver, 76% of workers believe workplace empathy is motivating. Having open lines of communication and regular check-ins with my team members (not just my direct reports) has helped me learn and show empathy. It has sometimes meant encouraging wellness days even when we were busy or giving employees more tools for achieving work-life balance. Q4 is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s best to listen to your team and give your people a few days off than have them risk burnout or quit midway through the quarter.
Celebrate the wins, both big and small. In the same Businessolver study, 93% of employees report that their employer recognizing their professional accomplishments boosts their productivity. That’s why we send each new employee a survey asking them how they like to be recognized. Whether it’s publicly, privately, with paid time off or a small gift, we make recognition specific to each person. We also highlight our people’s contributions and accomplishments at weekly company meetings and encourage them to praise each other through our HR platform.
Set clear KPIs — and talk about them.
Either I or my co-founder is involved at the approval stage of each employee’s KPIs, along with their direct manager. I can’t tell you enough how much that pays off.
This three-way agreement encourages each of my employees to focus on work that has a real impact on the business. I’ve found it to be the best way to enable them to prioritize their to-do list: It gives them a solid reason to say “no” when they don’t have time for a task, and helps them understand — and invest effort in — the tasks that matter. But prioritization isn’t all KPIs are great for. KPIs also help mitigate work overload, especially in Q4. They keep people accountable. And most importantly, they give our people a sense of belonging in the business.
Build your customer service team for your future — not your present.
According to Salesforce research, 89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase if they’ve had a positive customer service experience. That means if you’re growing fast, your customer service and operations teams have to grow faster. I’ve seen first-hand that what works at $20 million in revenue doesn’t work when you hit $100 million.
This spring, we had a huge increase in the volume of products being sold — and that was fantastic! But it also led to greater shipping demands, supply chain challenges and delays. We know customers expect immediate replies — that’s 10 minutes or less — through any number of channels (social media, email, etc.), and handling those queries in a timely manner became a problem. But it was only one of the critical things we had to do to manage the situation.
Communicating clearly and honestly about the issues was another. Studies have shown that four in five consumers will not forgive a bad experience at a company whose customer service they found very poor, whereas four in five will if they found the customer service very good. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in our operations and customer service team coming into Q4 this year, and why you should, too.
Invest in performance marketing.
100% of our marketing budget is allocated to performance marketing. Yes, 100%.
Our performance marketing team is continually following the data to make sure we’re driving a return on our investment. And while that’s important all year, no time is more vital than Q4, when the greatest number of opportunities appear.
During Q4, our creative team will have their heads down in execution mode. That’s why the first thing we do — and by first, I mean, Q3 at the very latest — is make sure we understand today’s customer. Great creative is the foundation of successful marketing, and great creative only comes when you understand your customer and the problems they’re trying to solve. Our other focus — and main driver of success — is A/B testing. We relentlessly examine what copy resonates, whether creative is making an impression on our audience, and any minor adjustments we can make to maximize return.
Lastly, we stay open to being wrong. We check our tactics, stay up to date on how our ads and funnels are performing. And we shift our budgets to accommodate our insights. Essentially, we’re flexible. And that brings me to my final point.
Be flexible.
Planning can only take you so far. As we’ve seen in the past 18 months, things can always go off course. I try to stay on top of what’s working and change what isn’t. I remind myself that strong leaders remain calm when things take an unexpected turn. I try to communicate regularly and often. But most of all, I show my people I’m not too proud to get out of our way: that I’ll always pivot when the data shows we should.
