Hey everyone! As you know, I like to start the week with a good roundup of some of the best articles I’ve come across in recent days. I like to look for articles on leadership, marketing, customer relationships, branding, technology, strategy, etc. that will be of interest to business owners and leaders. So, here’s this week’s summary of must-reads:

• Should companies in mature industries focus on fringe customers (w/ flexible or no loyalties)? bit.ly/2bDP2hg
• Don’t make these mistakes when bringing your products to market: bit.ly/2bolq8r
• The secret to better conversations by rebalancing them: on.inc.com/2blbPzf
• This methodology tries to help you find your most valuable #customers: whr.tn/2bhfcWf
• When does a startup stop being a startup? for.tn/2bGTdJD
• How different customer types (utilitarian, emotional, and fanatical) MUST be treated differently: bit.ly/2bgIeFx
• Premium customer care begins with premium employees: bit.ly/2bNDfKJ
• Interesting story about how a company used data to relook at their #customers’ journeys: bit.ly/2c3xhKj
• Some surprising (but science-backed) ways to improve your decision-making: bit.ly/2bSzkj9
• A few ideas for fine-tuning your email marketing: bit.ly/2bSi9yh
• No, your startup may NOT need outside funding. Here’s what you can do instead: entm.ag/2bMwiL7
• IPO index is up; are investors ready to start taking on more risk? read.bi/2bAJLan
• Make sure your content has entertainment value: on.inc.com/2bAyYgD
• Here are some mistakes you might be making with your content marketing: entm.ag/2b9Xyqj

As we close in on the fourth quarter of 2016, I was thinking a lot about how the year will come to a close. Have we reached our goals? Have we lost sight of what our strategic goals for the year even are? Is it possible to end the year on a strong note? Of course! And I shared a few tips along those lines:

• Get your staff focused on the one primary strategic goal for Q4. The coach doesn’t win on the field, the players do.
• When planning your strategy for tackling that big Q4 goal, remember to plan around the holidays.
• Make sure your team clearly knows that top strategic goal you’re targeting for the rest of 2016.
• Look at your goals for 2016. What is the one biggest goal you haven’t achieved yet? Develop a Q4 plan for achieving it.
• 2016’s Q4 starts soon. Plan your strategies now for finishing 2016 strong.

I also wrote my latest blog post about that issue. I argue that you and your company can still end 2016 strongly if you focus on a key unachieved goal in 4Q. I’d love for you to read and react to my last post, “Finishing 2016 Strong” and let me know what you think.