Many people use summertime to travel, kick back, and relax for a few weeks. Unfortunately, employers don’t enjoy such a luxury. Every employer knows that summer not only brings beach days and bathing suits, but a significant drop in sales as well. After all, it’s difficult to purchase a SaaS app when you have a margarita in one hand and a book in the other.

Though summer has historically proven to be a difficult time to increase – or even maintain – sales numbers, not all hope is lost for small-business owners. These 5 tips will help you battle the summertime sadness of sales that’s stopped you from joining the party – until now.

Review and Update

There’s no shame in admitting that you don’t know everything. To become the best, you must learn from others. When the summer months hit, it’s beneficial to analyze what your competition is doing to counter the annual summer sales drop. See if they’ve changed their marketing tactics and “borrow” the alterations that appear to be working. If new players have made their way to the top, do your homework on what’s led to their forward momentum and strive to replicate it.

Implement New Tools

Summer is a great time to introduce new tools to your workforce in an effort to increase productivity. Summertime sales drops shouldn’t deter your employees from doubling down on their sales efforts – they should encourage them to scratch and claw to increase numbers despite the odds being stacked against them. Help them in their uphill battle by researching and testing different tools that are intended to boost efficiency and productivity, like online guidance systems, for instance. If these tools help alleviate the pains of the summer months, you better believe they’ll work year-round.

Focus on Customer Success

If you aren’t pulling in new leads and generating new revenue, it’s critical that you focus strongly on fostering strong relationships with existing customers and partners. Customer loyalty will increase the chances of upselling and cross-selling, which will play a huge role in keeping revenue coming in. Take the time to check in with your customers, go the extra mile to ensure they’re satisfied with your product, and do whatever it takes to increase the likelihood of customer retention.

Test Your Product

Though you should always strive for product perfection, a lull in sales gives you the time and opportunity you need to test new product features. Take the summer months to test new widgets, fix bugs, and run beta tests – your company will be far better off in the long-term if you take continuous care of your product. Coming out of summer with an improved product will help you increase sales to the point where you’re accounting for the summertime drop.

Network

You may not be selling the socks off of your product in the summertime, but that doesn’t mean you should mope around and stare at the clock until it strikes September. Use the social nature of summertime to your advantage. Attend networking events, host lectures, and ask people out for drinks – do whatever you can to foster interpersonal relationships that will benefit you and your company in the long run. If everybody is happy during the summer, use that to your advantage! Go be happy with them and turn those friendships into a spike in sales.

Summer is tough on sales teams. It’s easy to get down on yourself when you see your employees’ numbers drop significantly. But it’s important to not simply submit to the slowness of summertime. There are measures that you can take to keep sales steady, improve your product, and set yourself up for vastly increased success once the scorching heat turns back into a comfortable 72°F.