Traditionally regarded as a quiet time in many businesses, the summer provides an ideal opportunity for valuable business planning. In my experience the opportunity is twofold:

With the pressure to close business before year end, using July and August to workshop your sales opportunities and fix a clear strategy of what is needed to close them during 'Quarter 4' will reap benefit.
2015 may seem a long way off if you haven't yet managed your fortnight on the beach, but as Autumn will be consumed in closing out 2014 and fixing budgets for next year, July-August is also the ideal time to review your clients, your portfolio and how you go to market, so as to lock down some tangible, well thought-out plans for next year and underpin target setting with real context.

Of course, nothing should get in the way in the way of that fortnight on the beach, but whether done in-house, or with the services of an external facilitator, making time to plan effectively will always be a really good use of your time.