It’s almost that time of the year again. The weather is warming up, and the social calendar—not your sales meeting calendar—is filling up—beach with the family, boats on the lake, and burgers in the backyard. 

For many sales reps, the summer months are ones that you look forward to all year long. The anticipation of sun-drenched days and relaxed schedules can be a powerful motivator through the colder months. 

It’s a period often associated with slowing down, recharging, and indulging in personal passions and family time.

Stay the Course

While it’s important to enjoy this time of the year and create wonderful memories, as sales professionals, you also cannot lose sight of your sales pipeline. The temptation to completely disengage can be strong, but a thriving sales career demands consistent effort. 

Neglecting your pipeline for just a few weeks can have compounding negative effects that are difficult to recover from later in the year. Remember the 30-day rule. The prospecting you do now will pay off in 90 days. So don’t doom the rest of your year.

Here are some tips for keeping a strong pipeline, even in the months ahead.

Prospect, Prospect, Prospect

First, intentionally carve out time for prospecting every day. Even if you only have 10 minutes to send a few emails or if you only have time for five outbound calls – just do it. Keeping prospecting on your calendar will help you maintain some sales pipeline momentum. 

This consistent dedication ensures that your efforts don’t completely halt. So you don’t have to rebuild from scratch when autumn arrives. Think of it as keeping a small fire burning; it’s much easier to add kindling to an existing flame than to try and ignite a new one from cold embers. 

It’s OK if you don’t have a full hour for a call block because you are planning to hit the golf course early on a Friday afternoon. But that 10 minutes of prospecting before you tee off will pay off. 

These micro-commitments are better than nothing, and they accumulate significantly over time. You must nourish your pipeline throughout the typically slower summer period.

Prep for Vacation with Prospecting

Take a proactive approach with your sales pipeline. Don’t wait for your pipeline to start to tank and then try to build it back up. If you know that you are taking two weeks off for that family trip to Europe, then plan heavily before that trip so that when you return, there are already meetings on your calendar. 

Personal time off means an inevitable slowdown but doesn’t necessitate a crisis. By front-loading your activities, you create a buffer, ensuring that your return to work isn’t met with an empty calendar and pipeline. 

Also, take advantage of technology. Before that vacation, you can schedule a post for LinkedIn or even emails that can go out as part of your outreach sequence while you are sipping on mimosas. Utilizing automation and pre-scheduled content allows your outreach to continue even when you’re physically away. 

Taking some time off is not usually a surprise, so be sure to intentionally prepare and plan for the days that you know your prospecting will not happen. 

Leverage Your Location

Record a video message from your destination. It only takes five minutes and your cell phone to record a tip or best practice for your audience. Videos that are filmed in unique places, like the countryside, tend to catch the viewer’s attention. This approach injects personality and authenticity into your professional communications, making them more memorable and engaging. 

Sharing valuable insights from an unexpected backdrop can also foster a sense of connection and demonstrate your commitment to providing value no matter what. Think of questions that your customers ask on a regular basis and share that tip via video on LinkedIn or via email.

Maximize Your Idle Time

While you are in the car for that long drive or sitting in an airport, take some time to focus on your second half of the year. Review your goals and make adjustments as needed. 

How many more appointments do you need on your calendar? How much more revenue do you need to generate to hit quota by the end of the year? Is there a targeted industry that you need to develop a lead list for, so that you have a plan of attack for the second half of the year? 

Use these moments of downtime to refine your sales strategy, identify potential bottlenecks, and proactively scout for new opportunities. This strategic reflection, often difficult to fit into a busy workday, becomes a powerful tool when utilized during otherwise unproductive hours. Even just 20 minutes of focused work activity on a long layover or flight can make a huge impact.

The Bottom Line

You don’t have to choose between enjoying the summer and being a workaholic. With a little planning and adding these best practices, you can keep your sales pipeline active, even while you’re flipping burgers. 

Embrace the season not as a period of inevitable decline, but as an opportunity to implement smart, sustainable sales habits that will propel you towards your annual targets.

Don’t let summer be an excuse to slow down; let it be a season when you thrive! 

Learn more from Jessica Stokes at Sales Gravy University or our Live Fanatical Prospecting Bootcamp.