As coaches, we have to understand that the fitness industry has a yearly cyclical nature. People tend to sign up for new gym memberships and coaching services at the end and beginning of each year. Since many businesses offer special sales on Black Friday, for example, many people will wait for this time to get the best deal. Knowing this, you should offer promotions during these times as well.

Learn how to structure these holiday promotions, from timing (Black Friday, pre-Christmas, and post-New Year’s), types of incentives and discounts you might offer, and the cyclical nature of the fitness business.

The lead-up to Thanksgiving and Christmas is a time when people spend more money. Because you believe in your product or service—and in the case of fitness, your service is clearly helping improve your clients’ quality of life—it is better they spend money on your service than something they don’t truly need.

This is a great time to offer things such as annual subscriptions, gift subscriptions or gift cards, and limited-time or urgent sign-ups (e.g., only 5 spots left at a reduced rate).

People are looking to spend money and give gifts, so encourage them to spend money on physical fitness and quality of life. These promotions can also help you end the year with more revenue.

Also, avoid those times when your message will likely be drowned out. On Black Friday, and that entire weekend of American Thanksgiving, your potential clients will be inundated with offers. Ideally, you should deliver your promotions early in the Thanksgiving week. Pre-Christmas sales need to be out after Thanksgiving.

You will see sales dry up around a week before Christmas. This calls for a change in strategy.

People tend to let their healthy habits go during the Christmas season. Many will make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get into better shape, but they also tend to have less money to spend. Now is the time to make signing up as frictionless and painless as possible.

You might consider offering the first month free (or some other type of free opportunity) where you can deliver value and have them see how their life could be better with your service.

This is also a great time for referrals, as clients can secure free or reduced coaching as they bring their friends or family to enjoy what they have already found value in.

Another time people are more fitness-minded is mid-to-late-Spring, when people begin to think about wearing swimsuits and how they’ll look with the fewer clothes people tend to wear in the summer.

Consider the timing of sales, what people are looking for, and the hurdles they’ll likely face.