As a research consulting firm, how can we use our resources for monetary gain through the very slow holiday period?

Write a few white papers on topics that will be important to your clients to gain new subscribers and to nurture your vision for 2016. Write weekly blog posts and analyze your E-Mail outreach. Write a book about your consultancy's expertise. It's what we did with great success.

From what you've shared, it sounds like your sales pipeline is empty.

Many people complain the holiday period is slow, but for me, it's one of the most busy times of the year.

I'll share with you a secret, in two parts:

1. Nearly everyone gives up for the holiday season because they believe everyone else is out for the count

and

2. Those business owners and decision makers who remain at work during the holidays because they could care a less about them are much easier to reach. The help has gone home.

The Christmas Business Stall is entirely a false but widely held belief.

I have sold 5-figure coaching in the Christmas week!

I have picked up the initial order for what turned into a long term and very profitable relationship two days after Christmas!

But the question is: Are YOU In?

Have YOU turned off?

What big underlying business belief do YOU have about the season?

So your current clients are away at holiday time?

Come up with a new target customer. Include as a factor that they NOT be on holiday at Christmastime. Screen for and go get them!

Nearly everything in business is centered around your limiting beliefs. If you BELIEVE nobody is available, you won't do anything--reach out, email, call, advertise, whatever.

If you BELIEVE the perfect customer IS out there, you'll go get them. And now, at holiday time, their gatekeepers have gone home...staff aren't busting into the decision makers' offices wanting decisions...your perfect customer is just sitting there, undistracted, hoping for something to do!

(Similarly: if you believe you're the janitor, you just won't talk to a CEO. See where I'm going with this? It isn't "woo woo"; it's real.)

When you bring a limiting belief out from the unconscious into the sunlight, it dissipates. You are then freed up to substitute another belief, of your own choosing this time. A supportive one.

I hope I have opened your eyes a little. If you'd like to find out exactly what limiting beliefs you have, and replace them with supportive beliefs and effective prospecting methods, then let's book a call.

Unless they are micro/small or seasonal entities, the challenge is that your client's employees are the ones on vacation, which only delays work until February. Focus on capitalizing on the backlog created as a result of being on abbreviated work for two months. Otherwise, the good news is that revenue-focused businesses don't completely shut down during extended holidays. There is a lot to do at year-end including FYE reporting and business and marketing planning, for example.

If your target audience is academia and corporate entities, research alternative target markets that can benefit from your service. Take note from seasonal entities like vacation resorts and double up during high season in terms of generating revenue. If you meet your revenue goals 10 months out of the year instead of 12, then continue to make good use of the down time for team building, sprucing up the office, culling your customer list, or even doing some business/marketing planning or prep.

If you're bent on generating cash 12 months out of the year, change your pitch AND offer a special product (see Fabian's response) that helps clients focus on how to prepare for and succeed in the New Year. You will want to pitch specialty products in Oct/Nov so clients have a reason to buy (even pre-pay) for Dec/Jan.

Let's brainstorm about product development, pitching and promotional/sales strategies!

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