The Dog Days of Summer: A Great Time to Catch Up

The Dog Days of Summer

My family and I enjoyed a 10 day break at the end of July and beginning of August. Rest, recuperation and recreation are critical pieces of an organization (family, company, etc.) or an individual’s success. Despite what the 24/7 advertising world is bound to convince us of, burning the candle for too long and too hard has severe side effects. For more on this topic, read the Harvard Business Review article on “Challenges of the 24/7 Workplace” 

Now I am back in the office, following up after a week of delivering a Workshop for a customer. There seems to be many individuals who are on vacation now, as school seems to roll around earlier and earlier each year. This turns out to be a great opportunity to get to those items that have been ranked as a “B” or even a “C” on my To Do list since the beginning of the year.

Some of those items include:

  1. Follow Ups: from all of the conversations in the first 7 months of the year, at least a dozen need to be revisited to see if they are moving from ”looking” to “interested”. You never know what will trigger an opportunity for your company.
  2. Research: each month, my prospect list builds and I like to get deeper insight into what is happening with these companies. Seeking Alpha and Google Alerts provide overviews, but a deeper dive in the Harvard Business Review or Forbes always turns up a gem or two.
  3. Send Information: do you keep an eye on your customers’ or prospects’ marketplace? I do, and often will send over a web link to an article of interest to them. Hopefully, this helps them to remember you when the time comes to discuss the use of your product or service.
  4. Read: not sure about you, but my reading list grows faster than my ability to read.
  5. Invite: my customers are always interested in getting to seminars or conferences related to their industry, and I like to invite them to join me, or send them on our company’s behalf.

If you find yourself with a bit more time now, and you’re not one of the people on vacation, take a chance to get caught up. Soon enough the bell will ring for school, and the start of September means the calendar year is headed for Q4.

Can you find the dog in this picture?

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