The holiday stress test
By the time you read this, I’ll (hopefully) be sat somewhere warm, attempting to ignore my inbox and convincing myself that another ice cream is a perfectly reasonable lunch.
Like many of you, taking proper time away isn’t always easy. There are clients to look after, opportunities bubbling away, and that nagging feeling that the whole thing might descend into chaos the moment you switch your out-of-office on.
Holidays are actually one of the best stress tests of your sales and business development approach. If everything grinds to a halt because you’re away for a week, you’ve probably built a bottleneck rather than a business.
Here are three thoughts before you pack your suitcase. Enjoy.
#1. Your holiday is a leadership test
If your clients only ever speak to you, opportunities only move because you chase them, and every decision lands on your desk, your holiday becomes a risk rather than a reward.
The best sales and business development professionals don’t create dependency. They create confidence.
That means colleagues know what’s happening. Clients know who to contact. Opportunities continue moving even when you’re sipping something cold by the pool.
It’s one of the biggest signs you’ve moved from being an individual contributor to becoming a leader.
Try this: Before you leave, deliberately hand over one client relationship, one live opportunity and one internal responsibility. If they survive without you, you’ve just made your business stronger.
#2. Preparation buys peace of mind
Nobody enjoys spending the last few hours before a holiday writing handover notes and clearing their inbox.
But those two or three hours are probably the highest return on investment you’ll make all month.
Every email you send, every client you brief, every meeting you line up and every task you delegate is buying you something incredibly valuable: the ability to switch off completely and enjoy time with your family, knowing everything is under control.
Just as importantly, you’re doing a favour for the version of you that walks back into the office next week.
Your favourite LLM can provide a massive help here. As you’re flying around trying to pack and find the suncream, plug in the earbuds and ask it to create a comprehensive handover document covering live opportunities, key clients, outstanding actions, deadlines, who’s covering what, potential risks and priorities for the week ahead.
The result? My colleagues have everything they need to keep momentum going, and I don’t spend the first two days back trying to remember where every opportunity had got to.
And while we’re here…
Please stop writing useless out-of-office messages.
“I’m away until 18 August.”
Brilliant. Thanks for that.
Instead, tell people who they should contact. Include names, email addresses and who is covering which areas. A good out-of-office isn’t there to tell people you’re unavailable. It’s there to make sure they can still get exactly what they need.
Try this: Before you close your laptop, ask yourself one question:
“If I came back in a week’s time having completely forgotten everything, have I left enough information for someone else to pick things up without missing a beat?”
#3. Step away to move forward
It sounds backwards, but sometimes the best thing you can do for your business development is stop thinking about it quite so hard.
Some of my best ideas haven’t arrived staring at Outlook or sitting through another Teams meeting. In fact, a lot of the original thinking behind Legal Engine happened a couple of years ago in Ibiza, sitting by the pool with my mate Andy over a couple of beers. No whiteboard. No PowerPoint. Just the time and headspace to ask, “What if we did this differently?”
Distance has a funny habit of creating clarity.
Whether it’s a beach, a campsite or simply a long walk, giving your brain permission to wander often unlocks ideas that never surface when you’re bouncing between meetings.
Don’t feel guilty about that.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do for your business is stop working on it for a little while.
Try this: Pack a notebook (or use the notes app on your phone). Spend twenty minutes asking yourself one question:
“If I was starting my sales strategy from scratch tomorrow, what would I do differently?”
Don’t be surprised if your best idea of the summer arrives when you’re nowhere near your desk.
Chat to Tina by voice, when you’re between meetings, on the commute to/from work, or heading into something you’d rather avoid.
Final thought
Enjoy the break if you’re lucky enough to be taking one over the next few weeks.
Switch off. Recharge. Eat the extra ice cream. With that in mind, there will be no Three Things next week (10 August).
We’re building a team of voice enabled AI assistants to support you with BD activities and allow you to spend more time being human. Interested? We’d love to chat.
