The Five Star 5 – Why I Don’t Sell In The Summer!
Summers are short in Northern Canada, so I have to make the best of the warm weather and longer days!
I actually do sell in the summer, and just wanted to get your attention with a catchy title 🙂
Here are the top 5 things that I like to do with customers and/or prospects when most of my competitors are on the golf course:
- Drop by later in the day with cold drinks and snacks. Most people are stuck at their desks just counting down the minutes until they get to leave and enjoy the sun too!
- Take them out to lunch! Make sure to sit on a patio and take in the great weather.
- Attend an outdoor sports game, concert or other outdoor event. No better way to get to know them than enjoying these activities together
- Plan a trip with key customers. Every time I hear about customer trips they rave about the good fun for years to come!
- Have a “there are still people to sell to” mentality vs. “everyone is off ’til September so I will just coast” mentality.
These business building activities will pay dividends in the long run. Nobody likes being stuck in the office when the weather is balmy!
I am sure there are many other great ideas that I am missing. But the key is to:
- get creative
- build rapport
- get sales!
You don’t want to risk your competitors having all the great ideas!
Posted on August 15, 2013, in Sales, Sales Management and tagged Blogging, Building Rapport, Customer Loyalty, Internet Marketing, Selling, Summer, Wordpress, Writing. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 
Hi Tim, those are great tips, I especially like the one about dropping by later in the day with cold drinks and snacks. I think I will have our office marketer try that one!
Thanks Tina! Glad you liked it. Hanging out at offices when nobody expects you to be there is always a good thing. The treats don’t hurt either… Take care!
Tim, I especially liked the comment about not just coasting until September. If we think about it, people say the same sort of thing about the year-end/year-beginning holiday period: “Nobody is going to hire staff, make big investments, etc. from mid-November to mid-January” (after U.S. Tax Day!). We could lose a lot of productive time buying into that philosophy!
Hi thanks for taking the time to comment! It is so easy to coast in the summer, but there is still business to be done! If we tune out our minds for those periods of the year (as you eluded to) we could lose MONTHS of productivity, and there are only 12 in a year! Thanks again for taking the time to comment!
I think the idea of taking clients out to something such as an open event. Especially existing clients as I think that you need to make sure that they don’t get overlooked for newer sales.
I could not agree more! Thanks for taking the time to stop by!