Every summer, something strange happens to B2B inboxes. Decision-makers are on vacation, deals stall in “let’s pick this up in September,” and referrals slow to a trickle. It’s easy to treat it as dead time.
The smartest businesses use the summer slowdown to get ahead. The five best ways to use it are to review your first-half performance, refresh your marketing, streamline your financial operations, strengthen client relationships and prepare for the busy season. None of these get done when you’re flat out in Q4. All of them pay off when it arrives.
Review your first half of the year
Remember those goals you set in January? Summer is the perfect checkpoint. Look at what’s working, what isn’t and what’s changed since you made the plan.
Start with the numbers that matter most: revenue, margins, cash flow and how long customers are taking to pay you. Here’s a guide to the key financial metrics worth tracking. Then look beyond the spreadsheet, at customer feedback, team performance and which products or services are pulling their weight.
Your summer checklist:
Pull six months of sales, cash flow and customer data
Hold a short team session to share wins and roadblocks
Update your plan and set clear goals for the second half
Refresh your marketing
Summer is a good moment to try ideas you wouldn’t risk in a busy quarter. Fewer competing campaigns mean less noise, and your team has more time to create.
Test a new channel, run a seasonal promotion or finally produce the guide your customers keep asking for. Content you create now keeps working through the rest of the year.
Your summer checklist:
Publish seasonal content on your blog, LinkedIn and email
Offer a limited-time promotion to re-engage quiet customers
Sponsor or attend a local business event to raise your profile
Streamline your financial operations
When things are quiet, it’s the ideal time to fix the processes that creak under pressure. Invoicing, bill payments and reconciliation are usually top of the list.
Many businesses still run these by hand. In a recent Forwardly poll of 392 finance professionals, 71% said they still invoice mostly by hand, yet 63% said their AR process is fine “for now.” Summer is when “for now” is cheapest to fix. Late payments are a common cost of manual processes, too. 59% of US small businesses have invoices overdue by 30 days or more (QuickBooks).
Start by moving to cloud accounting software if you haven’t already. Here’s our roundup of the top accounting software for small businesses. Then automate payments. With Forwardly, customers can pay you by ACH, card or instant payment, with instant payments landing in about 60 seconds. On the other side, AI bill capture pulls in bill details automatically, and Bill Auto Payments pays each bill on its due date. Every transaction syncs with your accounting software through 2-way sync. There are no monthly subscription fees, just simple pay-per-transaction pricing.
Your summer checklist:
Map out where invoices and bills slow down
Move to cloud accounting if you’re still on spreadsheets
Set up automated payments before the busy season hits
Strengthen client relationships
With fewer urgent requests, you have time for the conversations that build loyalty. A personal call or email shows clients they’re more than an account number.
Use the time to ask what’s working for them and what isn’t. You’ll often uncover new opportunities, or catch a problem before it turns into a lost client.
Your summer checklist:
Schedule check-ins with your most important clients
Send a personal thank-you note or a small summer gift
Host a casual client event or virtual meetup
Get ready for the busy season
Fall and winter come fast. Use summer to make sure you’re ready, so you’re not scrambling when demand picks up.
Forecast demand for the months ahead, adjust inventory, plan your big campaigns and line up extra help if you’ll need it. If your business is seasonal, our guide to managing seasonal cash flow crunches covers how to prepare your cash as well.
Your summer checklist:
Forecast demand and adjust stock levels
Build your marketing plan for the next two quarters
Line up temporary staff or contractors early
Make the quiet months count
A slow summer isn’t wasted time. It’s the one stretch of the year when you can work on the business instead of just in it. Pick two or three of the ideas above, put dates against them, and you’ll start the busy season ahead of the competition.
If getting your payments in order is on that list, start your free Forwardly trial and have it set up before the rush.
By:
Jane Ingram
Published
