Get an early start on your planning for the new year.

As we begin to close in on Christmas (some of us still with our heads reeling - where has the year gone?), many are thinking about a well-earned break. And rightly so, as the year has been challenging and tiring and probably found you working more hours than you should.

But we often head off on holidays at the end of the year, thinking we'll have a clean slate and will do our planning for the new year when we get back, when we're refreshed. However, when we get back to the office, we're usually straight into work, and before you know it, it's Easter.

So how do you get a head start and can actually have some of the work done before you leave the office?

I'm a big believer in not planning too far ahead. Things change so quickly and often all that work for the 5-year plan becomes null and void fairly quickly. But what if you could just plan for the first 6 months of the year? With a plan to replicate what worked for the second half - if it works well?

That usually sounds a lot more palatable and easier to manage for most business owners than trying to plan too far ahead. With most clients, we tend to break it into 5 categories:

• Understand your cost to serve
• Know your ideal client
• Get your messaging right
• Create content that connects
• Make sure you can convert leads

When we take clients through our Power Session, we walk through all of the categories above and lock down the framework as we go. Here's a little example of how it works.

1. Understand your cost to serve

When you know exactly what a new client costs to serve and the associated profit for the business, it allows you to factor in what attracting new clients should look like from an investment perspective. But also, how much you should spend to keep the ones you have? Any new lead you attract has a lifetime value attached, which means you know exactly what you'd be willing to spend to get one. Your marketing costs then become very clear.

2. Know your ideal client

You might have a range of clients in your business, but who is the best client in your business? The one you would really love more of. The one that pays their bills without fuss, they have the problems you really love working on, and they value the work you do. That's the type of client you really want to start targeting with your messaging - it doesn't mean you won't get other 'types' of clients approaching you, but you focus on the one you want.

3. Get your messaging right

From your website content to social media and right through to email marketing - everything speaks to that ideal client you just uncovered. We find ways to draw out their challenges, objections and then highlight the solutions you provide them. But this is where we get really obvious and state exactly who you can help.

4. Create content that connects

Creating content that starts conversations usually means social media, email marketing, blog content and newsletters. This is when you start to bring it all together - talk about their problems and your solutions, highlight what clients think of your services, and discuss a client scenario. You step in your client or prospect's shoes - what do they need to hear to be reminded of your value or to make a decision to work with you?

5. Make sure you can convert leads

No point in having great content that generates leads if you have no way to capture them. Maybe it's getting them on an email list? Or getting them to book a free consultation. But it can be even deeper than that - can filter the leads even further to make sure you get the right client on the phone? Or is the lead flow so good that you have a waiting list and need to keep them warm? This is when you can get really creative with how you nurture your prospects and choose the right ones to work with.

By the end of our session, you have a plan that you can implement quickly or over time. It's simple to implement, and you can get more creative with it as you go along. Plus, you can access metrics to gauge success, and your investment in any marketing activities can be tracked.

We have limited spots in December if you want to get planning for the new year. Head to the link to book a chat.