If you don't maintain prospecting activity for the last three months of the year, you are digging a hole that will make a successful 2019 much harder than it needs to be. (Photo: Shutterstock)

I hear benefits producers complain about the fourth quarter all the time. They talk about how crazy it is, there are so many renewals to handle, there just isn't enough time for everything.

Suddenly, they have themselves convinced that there isn't time to get everything done, and something has to go. Unfortunately, prospecting is usually the first thing to be eliminated. Seems like a legitimate reason to avoid the task they hate most, right?

Right action, wrong activity

Kevin Trokey is founding partner and
coach at St. Louis-based Q4intelligence.

Yeah, fourth quarter is busy, I get that, but prospecting is about the last thing a producer should ignore. If you don't maintain prospecting activity for the last three months of the year, you are digging a hole that will make a successful 2019 much harder than it needs to be.