Enhancing Your Business During the Lazy Days of Summer

Business usually decelerates a bit in the summer as people take vacations. But that doesn’t mean you should flip the sign on the door to “closed,” pull out your swimsuits and head to the beach until Labor Day. True, taking some time to hang out with your friends and family is a great idea! But the more relaxed summer months are also a good time for company owners to step back and take steps to improve their businesses.

1) Expand your network – Get out of the office and meet new people. “All my business is from networking and word of the mouth, says Jennefer Witter, the CEO and founder of the public relations firm that represents small businesses and real estate developers. Here are a few things you can do over the summer to grow your network:

• Go to a conference or networking event, and don’t be afraid to start conversations. Turn to the person to your right and say, “isn’t this a great organization or event?,” Witter says.
• Take advantage of people’s lighter summer schedules. Email or call potential clients and see if they are willing to grab a cup of coffee with you. If there’s someone in your industry that you have always wanted to meet, take that person out to lunch.
• If you are chained to your desk, improve your digital networking. Connect with people you want to get in front of on social networking websites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Just make sure you keep your business accounts separate from personal ones.
• Your downtime can lead to new connections, too. You never know who you’ll meet at a barbecue or another summertime get-together. “Never leave home without your business card,” Witter says.

2) Refresh your website – First, if you don’t have a website, it’s time to build one. “People will Google you before they call you,” say Melinda Emerson, who consults with small businesses on their social media strategies. Websites such as Weebly.com and Yola.com let you create basic websites for free. If you don’t want to be bothered with doing it yourself, hiring a developer to create a simple website shouldn’t cost more than $1500, Emerson says.

• If you already have a site, make sure it’s simple to navigate. The address and phone number for the business should be easy to locate, Emerson says.
• The website must be readable on mobile devices. People are traveling, and there will be new people in your town who have never seen your website before.  If they can’t find you on a mobile device, you possibly lost a potential customer or client. Ask your Web developer to make it mobile-device ready.

3) Assess your goals – By the summer, you should know if your business is on track to reach its goals for the year.

• Take out your list of goals and plans you wrote down at the beginning of the year and make sure you are sticking to them, says Brian Moran, founder of Brian Moran & Associates, a consultancy that works with small-business owners.
• If you don’t think you will reach your goals by the end of the year, set up time to work on them with your company leaders or staff.  Discuss the company needs in order to meet the goals.
• As a part of the process, Tracy Benson, the CEO and founder of On The Same Page, a company that helps companies with their internal communications, suggests calling customers and asking for feedback. Depending on what they say, you can adjust how you do business to keep your customers happy and achieve your goals.

4) Get your staff on track – Give your employees a break from daily duties, and train them one on one. Love and Quiches, a dessert and baked goods seller, brings the company’s salespeople, who are scattered around the U.S., to its Freeport, N.Y., headquarters. Vice president Joan Axelrod schedules two days to talk to each of them about how they can reach their goals for the rest of the year – and help corrects any mistakes.

5) Automate your business – Putting aspects of your business on autopilot can save time and money.  For example, if your website lets potential customers email you to ask for an estimate, set up your email so that it automatically responds with a list of rates, says Carrie Wilkerson, a business consultant and author.  Chances are, your email program you’re using allows for automation. Use the slower summer months to read your email program’s instructions or watch tutorials on YouTube.

6) Get away from it all – Getting small business owners to take a break is hard, but doing so will recharge your batteries and help you work better. Go on a trip, have a picnic or just stay home a few days and read a book that has nothing to do with your industry. “Many small-business owners are workaholics. Remind yourself that you’re a person and not just a slave for your business,” Emerson says.