Our business tends to slow down through the summer. Kids are out of school, families are taking vacations, and everyone in Charleston tends to head to the beach on a pretty afternoon. We’ve come to expect this summer slump, and have started planning around it. If your business also hits a summer lull, or a slow period during another part of the year, we wanted to offer our “back-burner” projects that we save for these warm months.
1. Review
Our slowish period conveniently lines up with our six-month reviews. We love to take a moment in the middle of the year to check in on our annual goals, see how our staff and clients are feeling, and take a peek at our budget for the rest of the year. We also compare our clients analytics to previous years, analyze what programs are working and which ones aren’t, and take some time to strategize what programs we want to implement through the rest of the year. Want to schedule your mid-year review? You know who to call!
2. Experiment
Summer provides a great time to experiment with different offerings and services. Have a great idea, but haven’t had time to flush it out? Want to start a project that you’ve been putting off? This is a great time to pull out that notebook of ideas, and try out a few. We launched our video marketing plan last Summer, when we knew we had time to learn new skills, and our clients had time to try out some new ideas.
3. Prepare
Remember that blog calendar you created at the beginning of the year? Fallen behind on your social media posts? Take this time to write some blogs, design and schedule some posts, and plan out your Fall schedule. Consider delving into the operational and budgeting tasks you never have time to complete during the in-season rush. Reexamine your subscriptions for goods and services or revise your employee onboarding plan, for instance. Go big and reevaluate your budget, or go small and encourage employees to tidy up their desks. This way, once fall hits, your whole team will come back refreshed and ready to excel.
Whatever time your slow season is, make sure to have a plan and stay productive. We hope you can use some of these tips when preparing for your off-season lull!