Sally Schmidt | Football games are often won or lost in the fourth quarter. Here are some end-of-year marketing plays you can use to finish the year strong.
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I love football. High school, college, pro — it doesn’t matter. While football teams need a strong performance for the entire 60 minutes, I know games are often won or lost in the fourth quarter. You are in the fourth quarter now. As the clock winds down, here are some end-of-year marketing plays you can use to finish strong and set yourself up for a win next year.

Preparing for a Strong Year’s End: 6 Strategies

Preparing for a Strong Year’s End: 6 Strategies

“Winning isn’t imperative, but getting tougher in the fourth quarter is.” — Bear Bryant

Now is the time to plan your end-of-year marketing activities and put things in place for the New Year. Here are some examples:

1. Get Ready for Your Holiday Outreach

If you send holiday cards or gifts, is your list ready? Prepare a list of the year’s top clients or referral sources by revenue to be sure you are recognizing the most important people. Determine which ones will get handwritten cards thanking them for their relationship — you can even write them out now. Decide who will get a gift. Give some thought to appropriate recognition; you still have time to personalize or customize your approach.

Be sure to review Attorney at Work’s Law Firm Holiday Card Planner.

2. Talk to Clients About Their Budgets

Most clients are going through their planning and budgeting process now (if they haven’t already). Talk to your clients about their key imperatives for next year and how you might help. Assist them in determining numbers to plug into their budgets for big matters or anticipated projects.

Read Sally Schmidt’s advice on “Turning Rate Increase Discussions Into Opportunities” and “Good Lawyers Talk Money With Their Clients.”

3. Create Annual Reviews and Substantive Summaries

Do you create any annual reviews or yearly summaries? Many lawyers prepare things like the “Top 10 Whistleblower Cases of the Year” or “Trends in White-Collar Matters.” If you gather information from the first three quarters now, it will be easy to add to the final analysis. It will also help you get your information out to your audiences in a timely fashion.

Read “Create Legal Annual Reports for Your Clients” by Jordan Furlong and “Create Informational Tools for Your Clients” by Sally Schmidt.

4. Schedule Holiday Lunches, Parties or Dinners

If you plan to see good clients or referral sources before the end of the year, start to schedule these get-togethers. Calendars fill up quickly with holiday events and year-end activities, so get some commitments now.

5. Plan New Year Client Visits

Most clients are going to be busy in the fourth quarter, so you should plan to meet with as many as possible in the early part of the new year. This is an excellent time to get together for a look back at the year — what you handled, how it went, what could have been done better — and a look forward at the new year — what is coming down the road and how you fit in.

Read or listen to Sally Schmidt’s tips for “Mastering Client Visits.”

6. Write Next Year’s Business Plan

Finally, and very importantly, write your personal business plan for the coming year. (If you have time, do it strategically, identifying your goals, objectives, strategies and activities. If you don’t, you can still make your efforts more productive by establishing some objectives for next year (e.g., plan three webinars, write 12 blog posts, visit a client once per quarter) and outlining some specific activities for the first quarter (e.g., “Visit XYZ company to introduce my colleague from the New York office”).

Read “Writing Your Annual Business Development Plan” for advice on drafting your plan.

Lawyers are busiest at the end of the year. Start your end-of-year marketing activities now so you don’t miss out on fourth-quarter opportunities.

end of year marketing plays football and rising arrow

Play to Win

In “Play to Win,” you’ll get smart, executable business development and marketing tips from Sally Schmidt, the authority on winning new clients and holding on to them.

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