Seriously, what is about Xmas that makes the majority of us go mad at about this time of year. We start winding down at about the 10th December, we forget that to get ahead in the New year we should be pushing right up until the final whistle, as it were and instead we go all misty eyed at the Christnas Lights in our respective towns, following some old adage that 'nobody wants to do business at Xmas anyway' Now this isn't my bahh humbug moment although many will perceive it as such, its simply a realisation that despite the fact that many of us do sit back, eat too may mince pies, indulge in Secret Santa, and make fools of ourselves at the Xmas party, we could still get ahead of the game, if there was a little bit of forethought.
As a financial adviser, an IFA, etc, I'm sure its probably different. Timing isn't as crucial for someone looking to invest, or start a pension as it is for someone looking to fill a financial advisory role. In the financial services recruitment industry, January is the time when the financial organisations want more staff, to get a flyer into the New Year, so what do many of us do, we go AWOL. Although we are physically sat at our desks, the activity level is probably at about 50% of what it is in September. What we need to do, is crack on, get those calls done, contact those candidates, check out what your clients are doing - who has new roles coming up in January and start working on those now, not actually in January. We can all still enjoy the Xmas period without grinding our business to a halt. Keep the activity level high for as late as you can pre Xmas and I can guarantee, you won't have a hangover come New Year when looking at your pipeline!
