It’s the last quarter of 2026, and I’ve been meeting with a lot of business owners who are worried about their numbers. They’re not imagining it. Four in 10 small businesses expect to fall short of their financial goals this year (Source: Live Oak Bank’s Q3 2026 BusinessPulse report). Some industries are hit harder than others, but nobody is completely immune.

Here are some things my clients and I are doing to prevent that. The good news? Most of these tools already exist in your business. They just need some focus. And as soon as you put focus on something, it starts to move.

Mine the Clients You Already Have

Your fastest revenue is sitting with people who already buy from you.

• Upsell and cross-sell: List every active client. What aren’t they buying from you yet? What are they still struggling with that you could package a solution for?
• Pre-sell a Q1 offer: Package something for January to March, with a tangible start date and a payment this quarter. Position it as protection against next year’s price increases. (With prices going up everywhere, that’s no fib.)

When I worked at Pepsi, Pizza Hut, and Frito-Lay, we always hunted for leftover Q4 budget because if we didn’t spend it, we lost it. Your corporate buyers are doing that math right now. One of my commercial cleaning clients pre-sold next year’s additional locations to an existing client this year and got the first payment in the door.

I’m doing this myself. I’ve invited past clients and prospects to a peer-sharing session on the Q4 gap. And just yesterday, my former coach messaged me a mini package he made for past clients himself! It works.

Wake Up Your Dormant Leads

The not-yets, the no-shows, the ones who went quiet. Please don’t send “just checking in.” Nobody has time for that, and they probably won’t remember who you are.

Instead, send something of value tied to the problem you solve:

• A trends report or tip sheet
• An invitation to something to watch, read, listen to, or attend
• An offer to talk about how they’re doing

One of my lawyer clients is offering an AI lawsuit avoidance tip sheet. Timely, relevant, and a perfect reason to reconnect.

Launch a Cross-Referral Program

Your clients don’t just work with you. They work with other vendors too. Find the adjacent providers who serve the same target market without competing with you, and launch a referral program with a flat or sliding-scale fee. You make intros for them, they make intros for you.

Here’s where my love of door openers comes in. Send a low-budget gag gift that carries your message, like a back scratcher that says “Let’s scratch each other’s backs.” Or send two puzzle pieces that fit to be a metaphor for how a cross-referral helps you both complete your revenue gap. As you know, door-openers give you the perfect excuse to call.

Create a New Super Niche Offer

This is usually where we start with clients, and it takes the most thinking. But even as a one-off, look for an industry with a very specific problem you can solve with a very specific package.

My favorite example: an IT company that helped hospital call centers reduce wait times without hiring anyone or buying anything. They just reprogrammed a few things and repositioned it as a package. They made $805,000 in a couple of months.

Last Word

If you have a gap, doing something beats doing nothing. Pick one of these and put your focus on it this week. And if you want to brainstorm, I’m happy to help. You might even be on my call list already. My biggest weapon has been the phone, followed up by a loom video, then a poster for an event and so on. Just don’t let the year end without trying there.

Want to reposition your messaging to grow your leads? Follow me on X, friend me on Facebook,watch my Podcast onYouTube or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk.