The fourth quarter is a very busy time for most businesses for several reasons:

• Lots of clients are spending the remainder of their budgets.

• Customers are motivated to wrap things up before year’s end.

• Many companies are working short-staffed and lose a lot of productivity around Thanksgiving and throughout December because of holidays and vacations.

• Internal planning for 2013 budgets and work plans is typically done during this time.

That’s why it’s not all that surprising that you aren’t thinking about the sales dry spell that often comes in January and February. You may be the exception to this rule, but for many organizations, the first few months of the year are often the slowest in terms of leads, sales and revenue.

It’s usually around the end of January that someone inside the company says, “Wow, our sales are really slow. We’d better do something.” They go into a brainstorming session and come up with some sort of promotion, marketing tactics or special to generate some sales activity.

Odds are, the ideas that get generated at the end of January usually start producing results 30-90 days after they’re deployed.

So if that’s the case, wouldn’t it make a lot of sense to begin those promos, specials and increased efforts now, 60 days before your inevitable dry spell?

Let’s call it your planting seeds effort. You want to generate interest now but deliver the services/goods in January and February. How might you do that?

Offer a 2012 budget/2013 delivery deal: You know that many of your clients have a fiscal year that ends in December. They have “use it or lose it” budgets. Create an opportunity for them to make a smart purchase in 2012 for things they’ll need in the first few months of 2013.

Put together a package: Why not bundle some of your products/services in a way that guarantees usage over the first few months of the year? Set the end date to purchase the bundle sometime in the middle of January. Begin talking about the bundles now, and you’ll either sell some in December or you’ll plant the seeds now and make the sale in January.

Kick off a PR campaign: Maybe it’s time to create some buzz? That kind of buzz usually takes some time to build up, so starting now means you’ll have some momentum in a few months. Be smart – concentrate on a few key publications that will position you in the right way with the right audience.

Reach out to former clients: Now might be the perfect time to reconnect with some of your former customers. Keep in mind that they’re (hopefully) doing their 2013 planning right now, which might result in their realizing that they are going to need what you sell.

Develop and distribute helpful content: This might be an e-book, a white paper, a podcast or even an in-person seminar. Use this opportunity to demonstrate how you can help them by sharing that expertise. Use the content to reach out to potential customers you’ve already courted, prospects and even current customers.

Mine your referral network: Your best customers are typically more than happy to boast about your work. Now is the perfect time to ask them who else they think might benefit from your expertise/products. Set up those initial meet-and-greets for the first week of January.

Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of your slow season. If you start now, the slow season may be a thing of the past.