Want to Win the Year? You Have to Win the Summer!

I have long said that “In order to Win the Year as a Sales Professional, you have to Win the Summer.” That is in line with another one of my long-standing mantras – “A year is a long period of time that goes by very quickly.” Before you know it, it’s the beginning of Q4 and everything just got serious. 

The reason Winning the Summer is so important is that I have seen many sales pros who get off to a great start in Q1, hitting or even exceeding their goals. And that great start can even linger into April and May. Then something happens: it is called summer.

You know the deal. The weather gets nicer. The air smells sweeter.  The days are longer. You start to cut out earlier and leave at 12:00 noon on a Friday. After all, you think to yourself, I got off to a great start this year. I can take a break. I earned it.

Did you earn a break? Yes. Should you take vacations? Absolutely. Not taking a vacation will cause burnout. Trust me – I skipped a vacation in 2023 and it sucked!

Here is where you must be careful. It’s not the time that you take off that is the problem; it is the change in your habits. Once you start to make fewer calls, send fewer emails, and book fewer appointments, your pipeline will start to dry like a sandy beach.

If you are no longer consistent with the good habits that created success in Q1 and Q2 then your pipeline will pay the price. The vacation won’t kill your year; sloppy habits will. What happens next is how you can lose the year.

You are enjoying your last official BBQ of the year on Labor Day, and you see that business has slowed. The problem is you haven’t feed the beast. Now you pay the price. I hope you enjoyed that hamburger.

The good habits that you exercised in Q1 and Q2 created your early success. When you stop feeding the pipeline and you stack two slow months on top of each other, you are in the proverbial hole.

Here is the warning: if you wait until September to “kick things into high gear,” you might not have enough runway left.  You may run out of time.

As a seasoned professional, I will assume that you know your numbers. How many calls you need to make, emails you have to send, appointments, demos, and proposals you need to book to get to your number of closed deals.

Numbers don’t lie. Calculate the adjustments in activity to compensate for your vacation. It’s simple. Yet every year I see salespeople acting shocked and bewildered that they are in a hole on September 1^st.

If you think you can adjust your habits in panic mode when you are 10-20% behind goal, GOOD LUCK!

Adjust your good habits NOW as you head into summer knowing you will have days off. Frontload calls and appointments to make sure you are taking care of the pipeline.

When you take care of the pipeline, the pipeline will take care of you. Good habits performed consistently will help you win the summer. When you win the summer, you win the year!