SBOs (as in Small Business Owners) have two speeds in the summer — business as usual (easily mistaken for “full speed ahead”) and tourism season (sometimes referred to as “the 16-week mad dash”).

If you are in a position to take a vacation, go for it. However, some business owners go into a kind of quasi-hibernation this time of year, having convinced themselves that these are the dog days when no one does any business. I see it differently.

Especially if you’re in sales (and we’re all in sales), now is the time to lay the groundwork for fall business, not retreat to the golf course or suck down margaritas while paddling around the pool. Now’s the time to get re-focused, re-dedicated, rejuvenated ... ready for the fall harvest.

Yes, business can slow down in the summer. The weather is nice, the days are long. It seems like half the country has taken the summer off to go to baseball games or do yard work; the other half has packed up the family and headed for the hills, the shore or wherever.

However, this no-one’s-home attitude is more mindset than reality. Even if some customers are gone, that means you can take advantage of the golden opportunity to prep for some record-breaking business in the final third of the year.
To get the most out of the dog days, consider some of the following activities:

• Nix the idea of “summer hours,” dialing back to shorter hours or just slowing down the pace a bit. Letting yourself slip into a laid-back schedule promotes non-professionalism that can undermine everything you work toward the rest of the year. Remember, you spend most of your time running at full capacity and at peak efficiency. Suddenly deciding it’s okay to slip into slo-mo mode can unravel your self-discipline, making it a struggle to get back up to full speed again. A better idea: either work or take vacation ... but don’t try to do both at the same time.

• Go with the flow. On the other hand, if this is your slow season, now may be the best time to take vacation and come back rested for the fall push. (Personally, I love the idea of three-day weekends, throttling back to a four-day week. Still, when I work, I work. When I play, I play. I keep those mindsets totally separate.)

• Promote dog-day activity. Don’t buy into the myth that there’s no business to be had this time of year. Not every customer or prospect takes the summer off. Plus, since your competitors may think business will be a dog during the dog days, there may be less competition. At the very least, it’s a good time to research, prospect, to get referrals, to make contacts that can be followed up later.

• Prepare for the “fall harvest,” when those get-back-to-me-after-the-summer objections come due. Here’s one approach: “I know you’re busy now. That’s why I’m calling ... to arrange a more convenient time to get together after the summer to talk about your fall order or year-end projects. How does your calendar look after Labor Day? I have some time....” With this approach, it’s not uncommon to wrap up August with your entire September calendar bursting with business just waiting to happen.

The bottom line: The dog days of summer should be anything but dogs. Consider them the golden days of opportunity, a time to prepare for the fall harvest of sales.

By John Ingrisano

John Ingrisano is a small business owner and the author of The Back to Basics Book of Selling: A Guide to A Successful Sales Career. Contact John at john@ TheFreestyleEntrepreneur.com.