Tips & Tricks to Avoid Summer Holiday Business Havoc

The dreaded school summer holidays present an enormous challenge for many British businesses. SMEs can struggle if they don’t have the number of staff to cover employees who are jetting off with their families for some downtime. It doesn’t help matters if your customer base is primarily in the B2B sector.

By implementing a few sound strategies, your business can adapt to the summer holidays and, at the very least, limit the damage done by this tricky period. In this guide, we share our tips and tricks to keep your sales figures ticking along until it’s back-to-school time.

Sort Out Your Staffing

Effective staff planning and holiday management is crucial to mitigating the impact of summer holidays on your business. Consider cross-training or even temporary staff to ensure operations remain consistent. Identifying key roles and functions essential to the machine's smooth running is an excellent place to start.

By equipping team members with a diverse skill set, you can create a versatile workforce capable of seamlessly stepping into different roles when necessary. This strategy ensures that essential functions can be maintained even when key personnel are on leave.

Consider Flexible Working

Implementing flexible work arrangements for your team is a beneficial but often overlooked method for managing a potential summer slump. As employees get their annual leave booked in, remaining agile can help your business maintain productivity and a healthy work-life balance.

Recognise that employees might have commitments and obligations during the summer and be flexible. If certain team members work remotely, you could achieve this by investing in technology such as VPNs and video-calling platforms. You could even offer the option to work longer hours on fewer days, resulting in long weekends.

You could also shift your focus to a more results-based approach. Changing the emphasis from tracking hours worked to tracking outcomes could empower employees to manage their time effectively and still hit objectives.

Communicate with Customers

Clear and proactive communication during challenging periods is essential to managing expectations and preserving positive customer relationships. Reach out to them well in advance of the summer holidays to inform them about potential challenges for your business that could affect the service they receive.

The honesty you show will likely resonate with your customer base. Instead of glossing over disruptions, your business demonstrates a willingness to confront obstacles head-on and provide solutions to mitigate their impact.

By reaching out before the summer holidays, you prove your commitment to delivering exceptional service and offer your customers with ample time to make any necessary adjustments on their end. This can reduce uncertainty, allowing them to plan accordingly and minimise the inconvenience they might otherwise experience.

Think About Finance

If all else fails, consider pre-empting cash flow challenges by looking at business finance. A business loan could be an excellent short-term option to help bridge the gap between upcoming debts and a source of credit becoming available.

Another avenue to explore is invoice financing. If your business struggles with customers paying late during the summer holidays, this can throw a spanner in the works for your cash flow.

Finding the Best Small Business Loan

We provide expert assistance in identifying the most suitable loans for your business. Our comprehensive comparison includes a range of business loans from reputable high-street banks to more specialised, small lenders.

How We Can Help Your Business

We help businesses like yours compare essential products and services, ensuring you get the best deal. Save time and money with BusinessComparison by comparing today.

Sam White