Just about ready for winta'.  As part of my never-ending "drive-1,000-miles-a-week" travel schedule, late Thursday night and Friday morning found me in the towns of Colchester and Williston, VT.  I thank the inventor of GPS every single trip when I head off with absolutely no idea where I'm going other than... "It's north (or some other direction) somewhere."  A Mobil station dinner and a Hampton Inn breakfast later, I found that the management team at the Colchester and Williston plants were truly engaging, have complex opportunities, and I'm looking forward to our two day planning session in December.

Driving back to the NH beach later Friday afternoon, I finally hit my first snow of the season.  I had heard reports of a few fluries hear and there, but nothing real.  The "we-gotta-be-1st-in-the-country" Killington Marketing Team had a couple of Death Ribbons open last weekend just to say, "we did it again!".  But in the drive down 89, it actually snowed and left patches of white stuff on the grass for a couple of miles. That same day, with perfect calendar and weather alignment, Stratton cranked up the big guns, and will continue every minute that they can right through Thanksgiving and Christmas until Mother Nature takes over.   Every fall, just like sales and business planning for the next year, the weather and skiers wait for no one.

So, with winta' on it's way, Thanksgiving around the corner and only 28 Selling Days left in the season, it's time to make everything "neat & tidy", just like my 5 cords of wood now perfectly stacked in the wood tent out by the front door.

It's Checklist Time...

• Update all Key Account Plans for the next 28 days
• Offload everything else that gets in your way.  It needs to wait! 
• Jumpstart your Q1 leadgen with Marketing this week
• Finish your 2014 Sales Plan over Thanksgiving 
• Detail your Q1 Monthly Sales Activity Plan before 12/15 
• Finish your sales input to your boss's Business Plan
• Turn in the next draft of your own business plan by 12/1 

What did I forget here?  What other checklist items do you have to make everything neat & tidy between now and the end of the year? 

You can use the next 28 days to your advantage and be "neat & tidy" at the end of the year...or, you can be looking down at your shoes and be left without any wood to burn for the winter! This time of year, your attitude, drive and your checklists need to be in perfect alignment for the remainder of the season.