25 Ways To Utilise The January Lull

Unless you’re lucky enough to still be jet setting around enjoying all that the summer holidays have to offer, chances are you are currently enjoying the age old January dead zone, experienced by even the most prosperous spas, salons and clinics.

For many businesses, this can be a welcome occasion to relax and recuperate after an intense pre-Christmas manic period. It also presents a fantastic opportunity to tick some vital tasks off your list before returning to an almost-regular pace around February.

So instead of looking at the January lull simply as a major dip in revenue, why not play the optimist and kick yourself and your team back into gear with some of the following:

1. Do a top-to-toe, deep clean – leave no stone unturned.
2. Sit down with your team and assess the year gone by, as well as individual and combined business goals for the year ahead.
3. Review your marketing initiatives from last year, or specifically the holiday period, to see which were successful.
4. Review any leftover Christmas gift stock and decide what you would do with it – you could place them on special for quick sale, or repurpose them for another upcoming occasion, like Chinese New Year or Valentine’s Day.
5. Go over all of this year’s Public Holiday dates and decide what you (and your staff) will be doing accordingly.
6. Update any physical or system/software stocktakes.
7. Update your staff/salon manual.
8. Review your website.
9. Review your prices.
10. If you haven’t already, create this year’s marketing plan.
11. Start implementing it.
12. Sort, review and tidy your client card filing system.
13. Review your client card content.
14. Do a ‘we miss you’ send-out to old clients.
15. Run a treatment offer to encourage more visitors.
16. Run a social media competition.
17. Review and update any job ads/templates if you plan on hiring new staff members this year. Having ready-to-go templates on file will make the process much quicker and smoother if you need to do this in a hurry later on.
18. If you plan on introducing any new systems such as loyalty cards, create them now – particularly if you plan on having physical cards printed, as custom orders and shipping can often take a couple of weeks.
19. Review the quality of your linen, furnishings, robes, etc. If they are worn and need replacing, now is a great time to do so.
20. Have carpets, rugs, lounge chairs and/or covers steamed or laundered.
21. Do a product cupboard cleanout, ensuring no perished products remain.
22. Have a dedicated, in-depth social media session. Assess your social media plan, update your profile, and spend some quality time engaging with others – following accounts, liking photos, and sharing comments.
23. Review your software system and consider shopping around if it is no longer meeting your or your team’s needs.
24. Clean up your client database. Delete redundancies and begin requesting up to date contact details from your existing clients.
25. If your business sends out newsletters, review and update your template.