Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are finally upon us. But is all that “lazy, hazy” just  making you crazy? Are you feeling like you’re spinning your wheels?

As a business owner you may find that business slows down this time of year- lots of folks are on vacation- and you wonder where those sales will come from to keep the cash flow healthy. Instead of enjoying this time of year, the inactivity may have you fretting. How to make the most of it, from a business perspective?

Depending on the nature of your business you might want to think about your clients and what you can do for them this time of year.  Sure, a lot of folks may be on vacation but there are many who are still available for some networking time, or would love an excuse for a day of relaxation in the name of work.  Among your clients you’ll likely find golfers, tennis players, concert goers… most people have some kind of preferred leisure activity.  Find out what they like to do, and treat them.  What about their families? Offering your clients and their families an opportunity to do something fun that involves everyone is a great way to say “thanks for your business”.
Here’s a few ideas to consider to maximize time with clients in a relaxed way:

• a great big family picnic
• setting up a golf day for a charity
• an evening at the Tattoo or another event
• a spa day for the ladies (and guys, too!)
• a favourite concert

Yes, it can take some organizing but it doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate and it’s well worth the results!

Summer is also the ‘halfway” mark through the year.  A time to reflect on how you’ve done with goals, staff projects, and introducing your clients to the new services you have to offer them.  It’s a great time to get out the checklist and see how you’ve fared.  Get the staff involved and get some feedback from them. Staff are too often an underutilized wealth of information. In our financial services business the staff are the first point of contact. These are the people I can count on to be honest with me about how I’m doing on a daily basis.   You need to know if you are getting the job done; the only way to measure that is by doing an analysis of the business to see if sales revenues are meeting the goals you’ve set.  If they aren’t where they should be, then the business plan you have implemented may need to be tweaked a bit. Summer can be a good time to do that- you may be less time-crunched, and you still have the second half of the year to implement any changes you may want to make to your strategy.

We meet once a week at the board table and take an hour or so to see where we’ve been, where we need to be, and how we’re getting there.  That way we know where we stand and what we have to do to rock and roll for the rest of the summer!

On a final note, if you’re traveling this summer in Canada, the US, or abroad make sure you have your out of country/out of province travel card with you.  If you’re not sure whether you have travel coverage or not, check with your employee benefits plan administrator.  If you do not have coverage for travel, please make sure to get some. It’s a small price to pay to protect yourself and your family.

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Submitted by Sharon Kinsman, RHU LifeQuest Financial Group
Find her at www.sharonkinsman.com