HAVE YOU PREPARED YOUR END OF YEAR CHECKLIST?

With less than 3 months to go until the holiday season, industry and government are already busy preparing for the hectic Holiday period.

To ensure your business is prepared for this festive season, we have outlined our essential checklist of actionable items to ensure good relationships with key clients, stakeholders and employees are maintained and enhanced.

 

CHRISTMAS CARDS

Christmas Cards present a fantastic opportunity to keep in touch with your clients and employees, reminding them of their value to your business and providing you with the opportunity to maintain and build on existing relationships.

To truly impress with Christmas Cards, business should go for quality and make sure that Christmas Card messages are tailored and tasteful. Including a handwritten note on your Christmas Cards provides an important personal touch, reminding key clients and stakeholders that your willing to go the extra mile to achieve real outcomes for them.

 

FUNCTIONS & EVENTS

There are a number of considerations a you should consider when deciding to attend the plethora of year-end functions. These events may allow you chances to engage with existing clients in an informal setting as well as cultivate new opportunities for your business. You never know who you will run into during these events and so pocket full of business cards is one of the most essential things to have at a year-end event. For more on event attendance tips, Nexus has previously prepared an in-depth guide for your benefit, click here for more details.

On the other hand, should your business or industry be planning to host a year-end function, it is critical to ensure that initial planning has already commenced given the sheer number of events that businesses and industries typically hold during this period. This means that businesses should make sure that appropriate venues are booked well in advance as well as ensure that a clear plan, purpose and budget is prepared. Considering conflicting events is also important to ensure maximum attendance at business functions.

Finally, maximizing event promotion through effective utilization of media venues, particularly social media, will help promote the event itself and the objectives of your organisation. Following-up with attendees once an event is completed will provide maximum value from your year-end events. American Express have created a useful tip-list that provides further insight on effective event organization, see here for more.

 

BUYING GIFTS

While some people may associate the silly season with the giving of gifts, this may be a potential minefield for clients and key stakeholders. Before making that purchase, it is essential that you are aware of any company policies and guidelines that may hinder or even prohibit the giving of gifts to someone in their professional capacity. If there are no policies standing in your way, conducting research on your client’s interests, values and objectives can make choosing the right gift much easier.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE CONSIDERATIONS

To ensure continued stable business operation, it is prudent to plan well in-advance of the holiday season for potential leave taken by employees, clearly communicating policies on out of office email correspondence, and providing appropriate notice for potential office closures.

Having these measures in place well before the holiday break will leave a good impression of your business on stakeholders and clients and give you and your employees piece of mind whilst enjoying the festive season with loved ones.

The Nexus team has significant experience in project management, function planning, and the production of key year-end deliverables that ensure the objectives of our clients are met, achieving desired client priorities and delivering real outcomes. Should you require insight on how to maximize your end of year, or require any of our services, please don’t hesitate to contact the Nexus team at your convenience.