Checklist: How to Fill Your Schedule in January

Última modificación: hace 1 día

December in business means maximum workload, nonstop operations, and clients who need everything “yesterday.” In this rush, it’s easy to miss one important question: what happens after the holidays? 🤔🎄

📉 January traditionally brings a slowdown: clients recover from holiday spending, daily routines change, and bookings become less frequent. But an empty schedule in January is not about seasonality ❌ Most often, it’s the result of not having prepared offers in advance.

Go through this checklist to see whether your salon is ready for January — and where you might be losing revenue.

The Checklist That Saves You from an Empty January Schedule

1️⃣ Do you have bookings after January 10–15?

If your calendar is empty after the holidays, this is the first warning sign. Most clients don’t plan visits far ahead. If a booking didn’t appear in December, it rarely appears on its own in January.

2️⃣ Does the client have a clear reason to return specifically to you?

After New Year’s, clients become more cautious: they spend less impulsively and compare options more carefully. If there’s no clear reason to come back, the visit is postponed — or the client chooses another specialist.

3️⃣ Is it clear how to use your offer without messaging back and forth?

In January, clients are not ready to clarify details for a long time. If they need to message an administrator, wait for a reply, and figure things out, the likelihood of booking drops sharply.

💡 The simpler the path from interest to booking, the higher the conversion.

4️⃣ Do you have an offer for new clients after the holidays?

After New Year’s, many people are looking for:

A new specialist
Better conditions
A chance to “start fresh”

If the salon doesn’t have a clear first-visit offer, this flow passes by.

5️⃣ Do your offers have a clear expiration date?

An offer without a deadline doesn’t motivate action. A short timeframe helps clients make a decision and avoid postponing the visit. The optimal period is 10–14 days.

Result

If you answered “no” to two or more questions, January is very likely to be slow.

What You Can Do About It

There are several solutions, but one of the simplest and most effective tools is promotions. They create a strong reason for clients to visit and help direct bookings to specific dates.

💡 To make a promotion truly effective for January, it’s important to choose the right period type.
If your goal is not just activity but actual post-holiday bookings, use promotions with the “Visit time” period type.

In this case, clients can book only within the selected dates — for example, January 10 to January 31. This way, you don’t stimulate abstract interest but fill your January schedule directly.