In part 1 of this 2-part series, we looked at how to make time off non-negotiable this summer. In this post we're going to dive into how to generate revenue all summer long, even while you are at the beach or away on vacation.
“You may be slowing down over the summer but you don’t want your business to slow down.”
The #1 reason revenue dips in summer for most coaching and consulting businesses is lack of planning and preparation.
The first thing you need to do is get clear on how much revenue you want to generate this summer. Then you need to map out a plan for how you can you achieve that target.
When you take the time to plan for Q3 now, and even Q4 at a high level, you set yourself up for success all throughout the year and avoid the mad scramble so many business owners experience when summer ends and they realize how much there is to do to hit their goals before the end of the year.
Tune into Episode 72 of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast or keep reading below.
First things first, define your revenue target for the summer. I always recommend setting 3 numbers for revenue targets - base, target, and stretch.
- Base is the amount you need to generate to keep things running and pay yourself and your team. It's not the sexiest number and definitely not what you want to be shooting for, but it is an important number to know so you don't dip below it in slower periods in your business.
- The next is your target. This is the number you are actually going for and what will allow you to continue growing your business.
- Finally, there is stretch. A number that is not likely, but that is possible if everything falls into place perfectly.
Once you've got your revenue target, you need to get clear on your approach for generating revenue and plan.
- Get clear on what products / offers / services you’ll be promoting over the summer
- Build out a plan for what you’re doing when over the summer – launch and promotion plan
- Know your numbers!
Let's break things down.
Your offers:
Some things to consider….
As you are determining which offers to promote over the summer, consider how much of your time it will take to deliver the offer and if that aligns with how much you want to work.
Your launch and promotion plan:
Some things to consider….
- What do you do live today?
- What can you shift to be automated / evergreen?
- What systems can you put in place to simplify the process?
- What can you do now so you lessen the work you need to do later?
Understanding your numbers:
Some things to consider….
- How much committed revenue do you have coming in over the summer and what's the delta between that and your target?
- How many new clients do you need to bring in to achieve your target?
- Working backwards, analyze your conversion rates to determine the number of people you need to reach.
- For example, if your funnel is paid ads --> free workshop --> sales call --> client, you want to understand your conversion rate at each step.
- If you want 10 new clients and you have a 50% conversion rate on sales calls, you need 20 sales calls.
- If 25% of people who show up for your workshop book sales calls, you need 80 people to show up.
- If only 25% of the people who sign up for your free workshop show up, you would need 320 people to sign up.
- Your efforts should then be laser focused on getting those 320 people to sign up, either via paid marketing, organic marketing, or both.
Summer Launch & Promotion Approach Example:
Last summer we made some shifts for one of our programs to minimize our time to both sell and deliver the program over the summer. We got very strategic about:
- Automating where we could
- Keeping live what really needed to be live but simplifying as much as possible
We transitioned from a recurring live webinar to an on-demand webinar.
We automated the entire end to end funnel from paid ads --> on-demand webinar --> email sales sequence --> onboarding sequence for those who purchased, or ---> nurture sequence for those who didn't.
We kept our monthly live workshops, however we:
- Scheduled them around vacations
- Did all the prep in advance so I just had to “show up live” to lead them
It worked great. So great that we kept the live webinar evergreen.
When looking at your summer launch & promotion approach:
- What does that look like for you?
- What can you sell now and deliver later?
- What can you promote now and sell later?
- What can you delete, reimagine, or delegate to free up your time?
- What automations and systems can you put in place now so things continue while you’re on break and things aren't dependent on you or on being done live?
You can create your ecosystem and conditions for success.
Your objective is to have a clear plan for how you will generate revenue and who is responsible for what so your business can be generating revenue while you are recharging and enjoying the summer!
The 4 Critical Things You Need for Success to Make Time Off Non-Negotiable and Continue to Generate Revenue This Summer
- Strategy
- Planning
- Systems, including automations
- Team
Strategy:
- Determine your revenue targets, what offers you will be focused on and promoting, and the approach for how and when you will generate revenue over the summer.
Planning:
- Create your lean strategic plan, including what needs to happen when and who does what. Refer back to part 1 in this series about how to make time off non-negotiable this summer to ensure you are focused on what matters most and creating a capacity-based plan that sets you up for success without overwork or overwhelm.
- Pro Tip: Don't only think short-term about the revenue you will generate in the summer, but think longer term about what you have planned through the end of the year to see if there is anything that needs to happen over the summer to be set up for success. For example, do you need to be driving new leads now, so you can be ready for your Fall marketing plans with a warm audience?
Systems:
- The best time to create systems in your business was yesterday, the next best time is today. Systems are critical to scaling and to removing yourself as the bottleneck in your business. Leverage the summer as your motivation to invest the time to build (or uplevel) your systems and automations - and you will benefit from doing so long after the summer is over too.
- Pro Tip: Ensure you are using the right tools to keep things super simple.
Team:
- Leverage your team (or build your team) so you can effectively delegate the things that don't need to be done by you. You may need to cross-train team members so there are no gaps as your team takes time off for the summer as well.
- You also can't effectively scale or remove yourself as the bottleneck in your business without a team, so invest now to build out and uplevel your team, and like with systems, you will benefit from doing so long after the summer is over too.
Something to Think About…
If you can figure out how to achieve more and generate more revenue by doing less for the summer, why not keep it as your new normal?
With strategy, planning, systems, and team you can.
Relax, refresh, and enjoy your summer while generating revenue and preparing for a successful Fall!
When you are ready to accelerate making your big bold vision a reality, here are 2 ways I can support you:
- Want to spend a full day together working on your strategy, planning, systems, and team to make time off non-negotiable this summer? Learn more about working together privately in a VIP Strategy Day here.
- Looking to scale your business faster? Our Simplify to Scale Business Accelerator helps you eliminate unnecessary complexity and build a business that runs itself through simple systems and a rockstar team so you can step into your next level of visionary leadership and dramatically increase your impact and profitability. Learn more and apply to join our next cohort here.
by Crista Grasso
Crista Grasso is the go-to strategic planning expert for leading global businesses and online entrepreneurs when they want to scale. Known as the "Business Optimizer", Crista has the ability to quickly cut through noise and focus on optimizing the core things that will make the biggest impact to scale a business simply and sustainably. She specializes in helping businesses gain clarity on the most important things that will drive maximum value for their clients and maximum profits for their business. She is the creator of the Lean Out Method, 90 Day Lean Out Planner, and host of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast.
