The annual summer slowdown is upon us. Between Christmas and mid-January, transaction activity decreases, enquiries slow, and agencies operate with reduced capacity.

Smart agencies use this period for technology maintenance and strategic planning that’s impossible during busy seasons. Here’s your summer checklist.

CRM Maintenance

Your CRM has accumulated a year’s worth of data quality issues. Now’s the time to address them.

Contact cleanup:

• Merge duplicate contacts
• Update stale information
• Re-segment contacts based on current status
• Archive inactive contacts properly

Pipeline review:

• Clear completed transactions
• Update stalled opportunity statuses
• Review lost opportunities for patterns
• Set January follow-up tasks

Automation audit:

• Test all automated sequences
• Update time-sensitive template content
• Review trigger conditions
• Check integration connections

If your CRM emerges from January cleaner than it entered December, you’ve used the time well.

Subscription Review

December is ideal for evaluating technology subscriptions.

Usage assessment:

• What tools are you actually using?
• What subscriptions are paid but unused?
• What capabilities are you missing?

Contract timing:

• When do subscriptions renew?
• Should you negotiate better terms?
• Are you on appropriate pricing tiers?

Consolidation opportunities:

• Can fewer tools do the same job?
• Are there integration benefits to platform consolidation?
• Would switching vendors improve capabilities or costs?

Make decisions before January so changes can be implemented before busy season returns.

Marketing Asset Refresh

Marketing materials drift out of date during busy periods. Summer offers time to restore coherence.

Templates and collateral:

• Update listing presentation templates with current statistics
• Refresh brochure templates
• Check that social media templates match current branding
• Update email signatures across the team

Content audit:

• Review existing blog content for outdated information
• Plan first-quarter content calendar
• Prepare market update content in advance
• Archive or update stale website content

Photography and media:

• Update team headshots if needed
• Review stock imagery for freshness
• Ensure all media rights are current

Team Development

Staff have more capacity for learning when they’re not managing active transactions.

Training sessions:

• Refresh CRM skills
• Train on underutilised platform features
• Review best practices that have drifted
• Address identified skill gaps

Process documentation:

• Update procedures for changed processes
• Document tribal knowledge before it’s lost
• Create checklists for complex workflows
• Establish standards for the new year

Performance review:

• Assess individual technology competency
• Identify training needs for 2026
• Recognise strong performers
• Plan development paths

Planning for 2026

Use reflection time to prepare for the year ahead.

Technology budget:

• What investments did 2025’s technology deliver?
• What should 2026’s technology budget include?
• Are there major purchases or projects to plan?

Capability development:

• What technology capabilities do you need to build?
• How will you develop team competency?
• What training or consultants might help?

Market preparation:

• What market conditions should you prepare for?
• How does technology support different scenarios?
• What flexibility do you need?

The Opportunity Cost of Neglect

Agencies that view December-January as “quiet time” miss the opportunity. Those that return to February with messy systems, outdated materials, and unprepared teams spend the busy season catching up rather than performing.

The work you do now directly impacts first-half 2026 results. The investment is time that would otherwise be semi-productive; the return is competitive advantage when the market accelerates.

Use the quiet weeks wisely.

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Linda Powers consults with agencies on technology optimisation and planning. The summer period is ideal for the strategic work that busy seasons don’t accommodate.