Here we are, already half-way through the year and many are looking forward to the summer’s hot and sunny months. The summer season is a great time to relax: your clients and potential clients are also on holidays, or at least more relaxed, and your centers of influence have more availability – everything rolls at a slower pace.

This season also gives us time of rest in order to recharge; we all know how much we need that!

It is also the ideal moment to take a step-back and review your business, your team, and strengthen your business relations.

Your business practice

In order to take advantage of this period to review your positioning and business practice and make, when necessary, changes, here are the elements to consider:

Your vision: What is your current business vision and your long-term business vision — in 2, 5 and even in 10 years?

Ask yourself: Are our daily actions bringing us in the right direction, in the direction of our vision?

Your mission: Your message must be clear, precise and simple while describing the added value you bring to your clients.

Ask yourself: Does our mission truly reflect the services we offer our clients? Do they really see the value in what we do? (Hint: ask them!)

Your marketing collaterals: review all your marketing collaterals (website, brochure, template letters, etc.).

Ask yourself: Is our message and our branding current/trendy? Do we have functional hyperlinks and resources documents? Could we develop more dynamic content in order to encourage more people to visit, or revisit, our website regularly?

Your communication strategy: If you do not have a communication strategy, it’s time to put one together! If you have one, evaluate the results.

Ask yourself: Which strategies have provided the most results? Is the content of our newsletter relevant to our clients, potential clients and centers of influence? Are we constant in the frequency? Should we use social media in order to increase the visibility of our team?

It’s important to review the positioning of your business each year to ensure that your initiatives characterize your vision in regards to your branding, your communications and the services you offer your clients.

Your team

Summer is also a good time to renew with the people on your team. If your vision is to develop an elite team, you need to surround yourself with people qualified and motivated: a team who works together for the benefit of clients, a team that shares your desire to succeed. Take the time to:

Share your passion with the people on your team. Share your short-term, medium term and long-term vision – this will help them understand their role and the impact they have on the success of the business.

Delegate accountability. Let the people on your team choose the projects they wish to undertake to realize your vision and give them the chance to be accountable of the flow and results. People need to feel accountable, to know that their contribution plays a role in the achievement of the objectives. Trust them and encourage them to act in this direction.

The strongest teams are those where each member is motivated to give the best of her/himself and asks daily: How can I improve the client experience today?

Your business relations

Your first role is to understand your client’s needs and discover what’s important to them. What better season than the summer to strengthen your business relations.

Take time with your clients. A game of golf, lunch on a terrace, a BBQ with your best clients: the opportunities are endless to chat with your clients and potential clients about everything and anything. People do business with people; mingle and have fun.

Ask them their opinion. A survey (paper base or electronic) or a courtesy call will allow you to take the pulse of the level of satisfaction of your clients. You can take the opportunity to ask them how you can help them better, which topics they would like to discuss or even how they find your newsletter. Ask questions that will enable you to demonstrate that their opinion is important to you.

A Friday well filled. Set a goal to have lunch with a center of influence each Friday. Given that the summer season is usually quieter, your centers of influence will be more likely to accept your invitation.

You can recap the first half of the year by yourself, with your team, with a partner, a coach or a consultant. The important thing is that you take the time to do it in June and July in order to establish your strategy in August and start in full force in September. Above all, do this with an accountability partner in order to grow your business faster and smarter.

[tweetthis]The Cicada, having sung all summer long, found herself in want -Summer, a season of opportunities![/tweetthis]

There you have it, a good way of recapping the first half of the year while recharging your batteries. Do it slow and steady all summer long.

BONUS! If you want to have a clear path for your summer initiatives or to clarify the direction you should take to be ready for September, I’m offering you a 10% discount on a Full-Business Strategy day (Option A), but don’t wait as this offer will only last for the months of June and July 2016! To schedule your Business Strategy day, email me directly at sara.gilbert@saragilbert.coach.

 

P.S. To stay on purpose with your goals, I’ve just launched a LinkedIn group to help entrepreneurs and thought leaders. A community of like-minded professionals — join us by clicking here: LinkedIn Group: Entrepreneurship + Leadership