For most UK service businesses January is brutal and August is uneven. Everyone knows this and almost nobody plans for it, so it arrives every year as a surprise and gets treated as a crisis.
Sell the quiet month before it arrives
The money for January is earned in November and December, when people are spending. The work is to convert that spending into commitments that land later.
Gift cards are the obvious one and the most underused. Sold in December, redeemed in January and February, and a meaningful share are never redeemed at all.
Prepaid blocks work even better because they bring the customer back rather than just the money. Five cuts, six sessions, a course of treatments, sold at Christmas and drawn down through the quiet weeks.
Book January appointments in December, at the appointment. A diary with January already in it is a completely different January.
Plan the cash, not just the diary
Look at last January rather than guessing. Your own numbers from twelve months ago are the most accurate forecast you will find.
Set money aside in the strong months deliberately. A percentage of takings moved out of the current account in November is far easier than borrowing in February.
Know which of your fixed costs can flex and which cannot, before you need to know. Rent and insurance will not move. Stock orders and discretionary spend will.
If you are VAT registered, remember the January return lands in the worst possible month. Put that money aside as it is collected rather than finding it later.
What to do with the empty hours
Work the lapsed list. The customers who have not been in for six months are the cheapest bookings available, and a quiet week is exactly when you have time to contact them.
Discount time, not price, if you must discount. An off-peak Tuesday slot at a lower rate does not devalue your Saturday. A blanket twenty per cent off does, and it is very hard to unwind.
Do the jobs the busy months never allow. Photograph your work properly, fix the booking page, write the service descriptions, sort the price list, get the accounts straight.
Reach the customers who only come at Christmas. They are a real segment and a message in mid-January converts a surprising share of them.
What not to do
- Blanket discounting, which trains your regulars to wait for it.
- Cutting your marketing in the quiet month, which makes the next one worse.
- Panic-posting on social media every day for a fortnight.
- Extending your hours before you have filled the ones you have.
- Assuming this year will be different without changing anything.
The plan
- Look at last year's numbers for the same month
- Sell gift cards and prepaid blocks in the busy period
- Book quiet-month appointments while people are in the chair
- Set money aside in the strong months
- Put VAT aside as it is collected
- Work the lapsed customer list
- Discount off-peak time, never price across the board
- Use the hours on the jobs the busy months never allow
Keep reading
- Running your business
How to reduce no shows
What actually cuts no shows in a UK service business: deposits, reminder timing, cancellation windows and waitlists. With the rules on charging a no show fee legally.
- Money
Taking deposits for appointments
How UK service businesses should take appointment deposits: how much, refund rules, consumer law, VAT treatment and how to handle disputes and chargebacks.
- Choosing software
Switching booking software without losing clients
A step by step plan for moving to new booking software: what to export, how to run both systems in parallel, when to switch your links and how to tell your regulars.