Getting Your Team Aligned with 5-Quarter Planning Part 1

It's December 1st, and your marketing team is doing exactly what they've always done: scrambling. 

"Did we decide on Q4 messaging yet?" someone asks in the morning meeting. 

"Should we shift our campaign because of the election results?" another team member questions at 2 PM. 

"What's our content theme for next month?" your contractor asks on Slack in the afternoon. 

Meanwhile, an unexpected opportunity lands in your inbox. A potential partnership that could transform Q1. A PR opportunity that needs a response by the end of the day. A customer success story that's perfectly timed for holiday messaging. 

But there's no bandwidth to capitalize on it. Your team is already stretched thin just keeping up with daily tasks. The opportunity sits in your inbox while everyone scrambles to check off today's boxes. 

This is what reactive marketing looks like in practice. Not because your team isn't talented or hardworking. Not because they don't care about strategy. But because they're running a daily sprint with no finish line in sight, they never look up long enough to see there's a better way to run this race. 

If you've been following our journey through Q4, you understand why this reactive cycle exists. You've learned about the 5-quarter strategic approach that connects October 2025 through December 2026 (or any upcoming 5 consecutive quarters). You know that customers are the bridge between quarters, making trust and consistency more valuable than headline-chasing. You've mapped when your customers' needs intensify throughout those 5 quarters. And you've seen how to align your marketing plan with those customer cycles so each quarter naturally builds into the next. 

You have the strategy. You understand the framework. 

But your team still feels like they're always running behind. 

Here's what most CEOs don't realize: your marketing team isn't resisting strategic thinking. They're just trapped in a reactive execution cycle that doesn't give them room to see beyond their immediate to-do list. 

How Do I Get My Marketing Team to Think Strategically Instead of Just Reactively? 

The shift happens when your team experiences strategic planning firsthand, not when you tell them about it. 

Think about how you learned to ride a bike. Someone could explain balance, momentum, and steering all day long. But you didn't actually learn until you got on the bike and felt what it was like to ride. 

Strategic marketing works the same way. Your team needs to experience what it's like to work with a plan that extends beyond this week's checklist. They need to feel the difference between daily scrambling and strategic execution. 

This means involving them in creating the 5-quarter framework. When they help map it out, when they see how the pieces connect, when they understand why certain things happen in certain quarters – that's when the lightbulb goes on. 

Not because you convinced them. Because they experienced it. 

What's the Best Way to Introduce Strategic Planning to a Marketing Team? 

A focused half-day planning session where you map your 5-quarter framework together. 

Not a lecture about why strategic planning matters. Not a presentation about the theory behind 5-quarter thinking. A working session where everyone who touches marketing execution helps create the roadmap they'll follow. 

Here's what makes this approach work: when your team helps build the plan, they understand it more deeply. They see how customer intensity cycles connect to business goals. They recognize why certain campaigns run in certain quarters. They grasp that this quarter's work sets the stage for next quarter's success. 

Most importantly, they start thinking in terms of connected quarters instead of isolated weeks. 

One half-day session. That's what it takes to begin the shift from reactive scrambling to strategic execution. 

Do I Need to Plan All 5 Quarters in Detail Before We Start? 

No – and that's exactly what prevents overwhelm. 

Here's the critical distinction that makes the 5-quarter approach actually doable: you're not creating detailed execution plans for all 5 quarters on day one. 

You're creating: 

• Detailed tactics for current quarter – what needs to happen now, who does it, when it's due 

• Detailed outline for next quarter – with a schedule for completing the work 

• Framework for quarters 3, 4, and 5 – major milestones, themes, and direction 

Think of it like building a house. You plan the entire house before you start – you know the full floor plan, where each room goes, and how the structure will look when complete. But you don't build everything at once. You pour the foundation and frame the structure in complete detail first. You create detailed plans for the next phase of construction. And the finishing work in each room? You know what needs to happen, but those specific details come as you reach each phase of the build. 

This built-in flexibility is what makes the system sustainable. You're not locked into decisions made months ago. You have the architectural plan, but you add construction details as you progress through each phase. 

Won't This Take Forever to Set Up? 

The initial session takes half a day. But let's be realistic about the pre-work. 

Yes, there's pre-work involved – particularly around understanding your customers and setting business goals with your team. This foundational work takes time the first time you do it. But once it's done, you're simply checking and updating it going forward – unless major business changes happen. The half-day session is where this foundation comes together into your 5-quarter roadmap. 

Here's what you're trading: the time to do this foundational work once, plus a focused half-day session, for eliminating 15 months of daily firefighting and reactive scrambling. 

Preparing for Your Half-Day Planning Session 

Before you gather your team for the session, you need to prepare the foundation. But here's what's critical: this preparation shouldn't happen in isolation. Your team needs to be involved in the pre-work, especially in understanding the business goals. 

When your team participates in preparing for the session – not just attending it – they come in ready to build, not just listen. 

What You Need to Prepare (With Your Team) 

1. Know Your Customer

You need a clear understanding of your customer's pain points, buying habits, and seasonal intensity cycles. If you completed the work from our November blogs (mapping customer seasonal needs), you already have this. 

If not, involve your team in gathering these insights: 

• What problems drive customers to seek your solution? 

• When do those problems become most urgent throughout the year? 

• What are their natural buying patterns? 

Your team members who talk to customers, create content, or handle inquiries have valuable insights here. They're not just executing your vision – they're helping build the customer understanding that guides everything. 

2. Know Your Business Goals (And Involve Your Team in Setting Them)

This is where team involvement becomes absolutely critical. Don't set business goals in a vacuum with just the CEO and COO's input. Involve key team members who are closer to the daily operations – the people who understand what's realistic, what customers are actually saying, and what resources you have. 

When you bring in people one step down from top management – those closer to the everyday work – you create goals that are both ambitious and achievable. 

Share these goals with your broader session team beforehand: 

• Q4 2025: What needs to happen? 

• Q1 2026: What's the priority? 

• Q2 2026: What are you building toward? 

• Q3 2026: What's the focus? 

• Q4 2026: Where do you want to end the year? 

Let them ask questions. Get their input on whether these goals align with what they're seeing in customer behavior. The less done in a vacuum, the better. 

When people march in the same direction with the same message and they're all committed to it, it trickles down. The rest of the company sees the alignment, which keeps everyone from confusion. 

This pre-session involvement is what transforms the half-day from "here's the plan" to "let's build this together." 

3. Determine Who Needs to Be in the Room

Must attend: 

• Anyone who touches marketing execution (staff, contractors, agencies) 

• The CEO (at least for part of the session – your participation ensures alignment with business goals) 

Should attend if applicable: 

• Sales leadership (if marketing and sales alignment is critical to your business model) 

• Customer service leadership (they hear customer challenges firsthand) 

Keep the group focused. Too many people create chaos. Too few people means missing critical perspectives. Aim for everyone who will execute the plan or needs to align with it. 

Why This Preparation Matters More Than You Think 

Most planning sessions fail before they even start because the groundwork wasn't done. The CEO and top leadership show up with business goals that the team has never heard. The team shows up without understanding customer patterns. Everyone's hearing critical information for the first time instead of building on shared knowledge. 

When you do the preparation work – especially involving your team in understanding customers and goals – the half-day session becomes productive instead of educational. You're not spending time getting everyone up to speed. You're spending time together building the strategic framework. 

The Shift from Reactive to Strategic Starts Before the Session 

Here's what happens when you prepare properly: 

Your team comes to the session already thinking strategically. They've been involved in understanding customer patterns. They know the business goals and have had time to think about them. They're ready to contribute, not just absorb. 

The session itself becomes collaborative instead of presentational. Instead of you explaining everything, the team is actively building the framework. They see how customer cycles and business goals connect. They start proposing campaigns and tactics that serve both. 

Most importantly, they own the plan because they helped create it. This isn't something being done TO them – it's something they're building together. 

That ownership is what makes strategic planning stick. 

Your Next Step: Do the Preparation Work 

Block time this week to prepare for your half-day session: 

With your team, map customer intensity cycles. When do your customers' needs become most urgent? Get everyone's input – the people who talk to customers daily often see patterns leadership misses. 

With your team, review business goals for the 5 quarters. Help them understand what you're trying to achieve and why. Let them ask questions. Let them identify potential challenges or opportunities. 

On your own, finalize the logistics. Who needs to be in the room? When can you block 4 hours where everyone's available? What materials do you need? 

Schedule the prep work now. Get your team involved. Lay the foundation that makes strategic planning possible. 

The scrambling ends when the strategic thinking begins. 

And strategic thinking begins with preparing your team to participate in creating it.