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Summer Holiday

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Some people feel the summer, and August in particular, is a write off citing that “everyone is away”, which of course just isn’t true, as the vast majority of people have a maximum of 2 weeks summer holiday which means that they are all available for half the month at least. As many businesses have a reduced expectation for performance/results in the summer this creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where output reduces correspondingly…“whilst the cat’s away” syndrome.

I also find it ironic that throughout the year the most common issue I encounter is the complaint of not having enough time and even though August can be a great time to properly connect with clients, who are otherwise being ignored, it also is a time to get things done that otherwise get missed in the normal business busyness – consequently August should be viewed with enthusiasm, it truly can be the best month of the year.

Here’s a few things to consider for a really productive summer:

  1. Contact all key clients, ask them when they are around and schedule a call/visit.
  2. Set targets for new business appointments based on increased numbers of calls and reduced numbers of connects – i.e. you will have to dial out more to get the same number of appointments but the connect/appointment ratio should be the same.
  3. Look at August as a time to get really well prepared for future business – review and refresh your database.
  4. Look ahead to September, October and November. What activities have you got coming up that you can prepare for now. Get ahead of the game.
  5. Never mind a spring clean, what about a summer clean instead? What are all the jobs you’ve put off because you’ve been too busy – first of all identify which one’s are clearly not important that you can discard, (if you’ve ignored them for months then they can’t be important can they?), then see what you’re left with and schedule these into your diary to get completed.

And when you’ve done all the above then go on holiday and recharge.

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