Get your gym or studio ready for January: a six-week plan

January is won before it starts

January is the busiest month of the year for new members. Figures from the industry association IHRSA, reported by Newsweek (opens in a new tab), put it at about 12% of the year's new memberships, against under 7% in July.

But most owners meet January the way they met last January: busy, stretched, and replying to enquiries between sessions. Messages wait until the evening. Some wait until the weekend. A few are never answered at all.

That isn't for lack of effort. When you're coaching, leading the team and keeping the doors open, follow-up is the first thing to slip.

It shouldn't be that way. The people who enquire in January have decided to do something about their health. They deserve a quick, friendly reply, whoever's on shift.

I've seen what happens when they don't get one. At Manx Boot Camps, I ran promotions that brought in a stack of enquiries, put the list on my desk, and forgot about it.

Weeks later, I found it: somewhere between 30 and 50 people who'd put their hand up, and nobody had called them. I still got five or six of them to join.

The lesson stuck: good marketing gets people interested, but you have to stay on top of it, especially when you're running every session yourself.

So this plan is about getting ready before the rush, not catching up during it.

The plan at a glance

Start six weeks before Christmas if you can. If you're starting later, do weeks 2 and 6 first: they protect the enquiries you're already getting.

Week 1: Look at last January

Before you change anything, find out where people dropped off last time. Pull these numbers from your software or your inbox:

• Enquiries in January and February.
• Booked a first session or call.
• Turned up.
• Joined.
• Still members today.

The biggest gap between two numbers is your biggest leak. If half your enquiries never booked, fix follow-up first. If people joined but left by March, fix the first 30 days.

Not sure? Try the enquiry-to-member checker, then enquire at your own gym or studio as if you were a new member. Time the reply. Notice how it feels.

Week 2: Fix your follow-up

Speed matters most. A Harvard Business Review study (opens in a new tab) of over a million sales enquiries found firms that replied within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to have a meaningful conversation as those that waited even an hour longer.

In January, an hour can be too long. People often enquire at several places at once, and the first friendly reply often wins.

• Reply within five minutes, with a text and an email that come from a real person and include a link to book.
• Call the same day, during opening hours.
• Keep going if they don't reply: a message on day 1, day 3 and day 7, then a final, friendly "Shall I close your file?"
• Remind them the day before and the morning of their first session.

Set it up once in HighLevel or your gym software, so it runs whoever is on shift. Lead follow-up mistakes covers what to avoid.

Week 3: Choose one January offer

One clear offer beats three half-promoted ones. Pick something that gets new people started well, with a start date, a limit and a price:

• A starter program of two to six weeks, for a group starting on the same date.
• A first-month package with a goal-setting session and a 30-day review.
• A challenge that builds habits rather than chasing weight loss.

Charge for it, and avoid deep discounts. People who've paid are more likely to turn up, and you don't train them to wait for a sale. See intro offer ideas.

Give the offer one page, with a booking link, and name a real end date. The January campaign in the marketing calendar is one you can borrow.

Week 4: Warm up the people who already know you

Your best January members are often people who already know you: past enquiries who never joined, and former members who drifted away. Contact them in December, before your competitors' January ads start.

• Past enquiries: a short, personal message asking if they're still thinking about it. See how to follow up old enquiries.
• Former members: a no-pressure "we'd love to see you back", with your January start date. See member reactivation.
• Current members: "Who do you know who'd like to start the year with us?" See referral programs.

Ask people who say yes in December to book their start date now. A full first week in January is far easier to manage than a scramble.

Week 5: Plan the first 30 days

January sign-ups only help if people stay. The first few weeks, before training becomes a habit, are when new members are easiest to lose.

• Before the first session: a welcome message, what to bring, and who they'll meet.
• The first session: learn their name and their goal, and introduce them to two members.
• The first week: a check-in call or message, and help booking their next sessions.
• Day 30: a short review of how they're getting on, and the next goal.

Check your timetable can cope, too. Add sessions or group start dates now, rather than turning people away in January. Member onboarding covers the first 90 days in detail.

Week 6: Brief your team and cover the holidays

Some of your first January enquiries will arrive between Christmas and New Year, while you're closed or short-staffed. Decide now who replies, and when.

• Name one person each day to check and answer enquiries, holidays included.
• Set an automatic reply that says when you'll be in touch, and includes your booking link.
• Write down what to say: the offer, the price, the start dates, and the answers to common questions.
• Practise the first call with your team, so everyone sounds the same.

Then send your January offer to your list before Christmas, so people can book over the holidays.

In January: check five numbers every week

Once January starts, look at the same numbers as week 1, every Monday:

• Enquiries: how many came in, and from where.
• Reply time: how fast the first reply went out.
• Booked and showed: how many booked a first session, and how many turned up.
• Joined: how many became members.
• Still coming: how many new members trained this week.

If one number drops, you'll see it in a week, not in March. The gym growth metrics article has more on what to track.

What success looks like

Picture the first Monday in January. Overnight enquiries have already had a reply, and three have booked. Your first starter group is half full with people you contacted in December.

Your team knows what to say. New members know what happens next. And you're on the gym floor, coaching, instead of catching up on messages at midnight.

Or picture another January like the last one, with good people going quiet because nobody had time to reply.

Mistakes to avoid

• Starting in January. By then, you're too busy to fix anything.
• Spending on ads before fixing follow-up. More enquiries into a leaky system means more people lost.
• Deep discounts. They often bring in people who leave when the price goes up.
• Forgetting the people who already know you. Past enquiries and former members are often your quickest yeses.
• Celebrating sign-ups, then going quiet. January members need the most help in February.

Questions owners ask

Sources

Checked in October 2026.

• Newsweek: New year, new gym, new you (January 2016) (opens in a new tab), reporting IHRSA figures on January sign-ups. An older figure: treat it as a guide.
• Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, Harvard Business Review: The short life of online sales leads (March 2011) (opens in a new tab)