Your January members are made in November.

Every studio owner knows January is the big one. The phone rings more, intro offers sell themselves and the 7am classes fill up with people who promised themselves this would be the year.

What fewer owners do is the work in November that decides how much of that rush is still booking in March. By the time January arrives, you're too busy running classes to build anything new. Whatever you have in place on 1 January is what your new members will get.

So this week we looked at what the fastest-growing studios have sorted before December even starts. It comes down to three things: an intro offer that's priced and ready to go, a January timetable that's already published, and a plan for every new member's first three weeks.

1. Price your intro offer now

If you're still deciding what your January offer is in the last week of December, you've already lost the people who were ready to buy before Christmas.

Decide three things this month:

• What it is. Three classes for a set price, two weeks unlimited, or a first month at a reduced rate. Pick one and keep it simple.
• What happens after. Every intro offer should lead somewhere obvious. Know which membership or class pack you'll offer when it ends, and at what price.
• When it goes on sale. Gift cards from 1 December let people buy January for someone else. That's new members booked in before the year has even started.

One thing to avoid: discounting so heavily that the jump to full price feels like a shock. The people who join on a deep discount are usually the first to leave when it runs out.

2. Publish your January timetable early

People make their January plans over Christmas. If they can't see when your classes are, they can't picture fitting you into their week, and they'll book somewhere that shows them.

Get the full January timetable live by mid-December. While you're at it:

• Add capacity where demand will be. Early mornings, lunchtimes and the first few evenings after work fill fastest in January. Extra sessions at those times are worth more than a spread across the whole week.
• Lock in your instructors. Confirm cover now, before people start booking their own January breaks.
• Make beginner-friendly classes obvious. A newcomer looking at your timetable should know straight away which classes are right for them.

A full class is great. A class that's full for three weeks and then half empty by February isn't. That's what the next part is about.

3. Plan every new member's first three weeks

This is where most of the January rush is won or lost. New members come in excited, but they don't have a habit yet. If they miss a week, the most likely next step is that they stop coming altogether.

The studios that keep their January members don't leave this to chance. They map out what happens after someone books, so every new member gets the same welcome whether it's a quiet Tuesday or the busiest Monday of the year.

1. Week one: make the first class easy. Send a message before their first visit with what to bring, where to park and what to expect. Have someone greet them by name. Afterwards, ask how it went.
2. Week two: get the second and third booking. The jump from one class to three is the big one. Nudge anyone who hasn't booked again within a few days, and suggest a class that suits them.
3. Week three: help them see the routine. By now you want them booking the same slots each week. Point out what they've done so far, and before the intro offer ends, show them the membership that makes sense next.

None of this works if it depends on someone remembering to do it in January. Write the messages and set them up in the automator now, while you have time to make them sound like you.

Where the CodexFit Automator comes in

If you're on CodexFit, you can build that whole three-week journey once and let it run all year. The CodexFit Automator sends the right message when something happens, or when something doesn't.

A few you could set up this month:

• A welcome message when someone books their first class, with everything they need to know before they arrive.
• A check-in the day after their first visit, asking how it went.
• A nudge if a new member hasn't booked their second class within a few days.
• A heads-up before their intro offer ends, with the membership you'd recommend next.
• A personal note if a regular goes quiet for 14 days, so January joiners don't slip away unnoticed in February.

Set them up in November and they're working from the first booking of the year. Your team can spend January on the people in the room.

Your November checklist

• Decide your January intro offer and what it leads to
• Get gift cards ready to go on sale on 1 December
• Publish the full January timetable by mid-December
• Add extra sessions at your busiest times
• Confirm instructor cover for January
• Write the messages for each new member's first three weeks
• Set up the automations so they run without anyone remembering

January will be busier whatever you do. What you get done now decides how many of those new faces are still booking in March.

Got something that works at your studio every January? Tell us. We'd love to share it with the rest of the Collective.