I visited a school as part of a prize-giving ceremony this week, and at the end the headmaster told the children to enjoy their summer break – but warned that they should keep reading and make sure they didn’t forget to practice their work.
This advice really resonated with me. All business owners should take the same advice. Your kids or grandkids may be off school. Lots of your team members may be taking a holiday. Perhaps you have planned a vacation too. But don’t let the summer holidays create a sales slump in your business.
August is fast approaching. Many people mark it down as a “slow month”. The heat (if we’re lucky) and the impact of school holidays can create chaos, and chaos can be an excuse to slow down or lose focus. But if your productivity drops, your people will struggle too. You need to set an example. This is the time to push hard, and really drive sales and partnerships. Keep that momentum going! Or it will take even more effort to make up lost ground.
I know that it can be more of a slog at this time of year. It’s disheartening when you receive one “out of office” after another” but you mustn’t give up. Even on the Continent, where it seems like whole departments disappear for a month at a time, my teams are tirelessly growing the business, even though it may take extra effort to track down a prospective customer.
I don’t know about you, but I find myself at my most productive in the summer. Perhaps it’s the early sunrises and late sunsets, which means it’s easier to put in longer hours. Perhaps it’s the Vitamin D giving me a boost. But, throughout my career, my ventures have always had a sales spike over July and August. My last company had its year-end in August, which spurred me on to give my all in the final quarter – and the habit has stuck with me.
I do take a holiday but that doesn’t stop me from checking in, and making sure that sales are progressing as they should. I lock my phone in a safe for part of the day, to ensure I’m giving my family the attention they deserve, but then it comes out for a super productive couple of hours in the evening. Technology like BigChange can help you stay on top of jobs, invoices and new business – even on the beach.
There’s nothing worse than checking on your performance in September, and realising you’ve had a bad August, and failed to chase up new business. You can’t go back in time and do it all again, so don’t walk the path to regret – keep your eye on the prize.
Take a holiday. Let your people have a break. But make sure it’s not all fun and games this summer – losing focus now could beach your business.
