Selling in the Summer Time
Summer slows buyers down. It does not have to slow you down. This is for sales leaders who want to keep the pipeline moving through July and August and not just survive until September.
Every summer, the same thing happens.
A message goes out on the team channel: "Let's push this one too after my vacation." The reps, relieved, follow. With that, prospecting pauses. Activities decline. Waiting starts. Nobody says it out loud, but everyone agrees: there is nothing to do in summer.
Your competition thinks the same thing.
Here is what those teams actually do.
The Assumption Is Wrong
In Northern Europe, July can feel close to a shutdown. Elsewhere, August is the slow month. Decision-makers take two to four weeks off, and the market reflects it.
If you accept that summer will be bad, it becomes bad. If you look for results, you will get some. When competition sleeps, you can win.
When competition sleeps, you can win.
The vacation month probably will not be your best. Accept that. What you cannot accept is letting "probably won't be great" become a reason to stop. Not every buyer is away. Not at the same time.
Where Summer Is Different
Buyer availability is uneven. That is the real challenge. Not that no one is there. It is that you do not know who is when.
Map it. For each open opportunity, have your team find out when the key contacts are away. Then ask a different question: what can move without them?
Use the time you have to make sure the paper is ready when the pen arrives.
If the economic buyer is on holiday, use that window to build a business case with their team and to progress technical steps that do not require their signature. Progress does not require everyone in the room at the same time. Use the time you have to make sure the paper is ready when the pen arrives.
Identify what can move. Not just what cannot.
Running It Right
The team keeps prospecting. Leads are contacted at normal speed. The pipeline progresses with timelines built around vacations, not abandoned because of them. Opportunities close.
This is not exceptional. It is what happens when the team decides in advance to keep going.
Opportunities do not move themselves.
Coordinate each open opportunity before summer starts. Agree on clear action points for before, during, and after the holiday window. Schedule a checkpoint for when both sides are back. Opportunities do not move themselves.
What to Do
- Stagger team vacations. If everyone is away at the same time, you have already lost the month. Cover the pipeline.
- Align on timelines with prospects before summer. Sales reps should ask each key prospect directly: Can we target a decision before the break? If not, when exactly is the right time to reconnect, and what should happen in the meantime?
- Map each open opportunity. Have your team map which steps can move? Who needs to be there for it? Get this list out of your head and into the CRM or into mutual plans with champions.
- Keep prospecting going with awareness of the rhythm. Adjust your prospecting and cadences for the vacation period: Before a call, send an email. No out-of-office reply means they are likely working. Call the switchboard before going to the direct number. If they are out, ask who's covering for them. Check social profiles. A vacation post from three days ago is not the same as one from three weeks ago.
- Set the tone from the top. The mindset travels down. If the leader treats summer as dead time, the team follows. If the leader keeps going, the team follows. Lead from the front.
The Decision
Summer is not the problem. Deciding in advance that summer is a problem is the problem.
That decision shapes what the team does in July or August. Which shapes what September looks like. Which shapes whether Q4 starts with momentum or with a month lost catching up.
The teams that outperform in Q3 did not wait for September to start. They kept going.
Start selling. Happy hunting.
