As I write this there are 15 business days until Christmas – the race is on.
Whilst many are focussed on finally being able to crash and relax, others are already planning for a rapid start to 2024 in early January. Which camp are you in?
At XEN, we’re in the unusual position of potentially working right through the holiday break (this hasn’t happened before), simply because a number of our clients are only planning to take the minimum public holiday days off and then power through. We’ll be there to support them as needed.
This is the complete opposite to last year, when it felt like most customers had already checked out by early December and we didn’t hear from them until mid January at the earliest. How times change!
Part of this is the opportunities that are around – in mid-market especially there is more demand than supply, and thus most companies are doing everything they can to keep up.
But perhaps another part is the increased competition in the market. Whilst mentioning the rapid embrace of AI feels like a cliche, its effects can’t be denied. Companies are focusing on reducing waste, replacing human capital with AI and processes, and accelerating their go-to-market plans.
It’s exciting and exhausting at the same time.
Why do I mention all this?
Simply this – if you need to down tools to recharge and refresh, by all means do.
But don’t assume you can waddle back into 2024 at a leisurely pace.
A quick tactical tip while we’re here: if you’re in B2B and haven’t tested upping your paid ad spend during the holiday break, then this is the year to test it. Most companies pause ad spend during the break – we often double ours to take advantage of the cheaper clicks. Will be interesting to see if that trend occurs again this year.
As always: test and measure.
