Seasonal business: what to do in winter

A surf school in November looks nothing like it does in August. Same beach, same boards, and suddenly the phone is quiet. The same happens to SUP rentals, summer workshops for kids and any activity that depends on the weather or the long school holiday.

Winter doesn't have to be a black hole. You can use it to rest, tidy up what you didn't get to during the season and set up next summer so it starts full. Here is what's worth doing, in the order it actually happens.

1. Close the season properly

Before you switch off the lights, go over a few small things. After two quiet months you won't remember what was left open.

• Open payments: go through the registrations list and check who hasn't paid. If someone paid by Bit and it isn't marked, mark it now. See Payments and the payment connection.
• Credits: if you cancelled sessions because of the sea and credits are still open, decide what happens to them. Book a make-up session before you close, or tell parents the credit waits for next season. See Cancel a session and make-up credits.
• Finished activities: unpublish what's no longer relevant, so your page doesn't show a July course in December.
• Notes to yourself: what worked, what was too crowded, which age group filled up first. This is the most useful input for planning next summer.

2. Freeze instead of shutting down

The natural urge at the end of the season is to cancel everything: the subscription, the page, the number. But a seasonal business comes back every year, and whoever looks for you in February should find something. That's why freezing is better.

In Classo Club, the freeze lives in Settings, on the "Seasonal freeze" card. Freeze the business, and from that moment:

• Your public page stays up, with a "registration closed for the season" banner and no register button.
• No new registrations are accepted and reminders are paused.
• All your data is kept: parents, participants, past registrations and settings.

You can freeze for up to 5 months a year. A month counts if the business was frozen on any day of it, so it's better to freeze at the start of a month than at the end. The card shows how many months you've used this year. When you're ready to come back, cancel the freeze and registration opens again.

On the price list, the seasonal freeze is ₪19 a month instead of the full plan price. For now a freeze costs nothing; its price switches on together with subscription billing. Details in Seasonal freeze.

3. Why the page should stay up

A parent whose child surfed with you in the summer will think of you in January, while planning the next holiday. They'll search for your name, or open the old link from the confirmation email. If they land on an empty page or an error, they'll assume you closed and look for someone else.

A frozen page says the opposite: we're here, we're coming back, registration is closed only for the season. Your details, photos, instructors and WhatsApp button stay. Anyone with a question can still get in touch.

Note that a frozen business is left out of the sitemap we offer search engines, so Google doesn't send people to a page where they can't register. The address itself keeps working, and anyone with the link reaches you.

Winter is also the time to refresh the page. It's quiet, and there's time for the things that get pushed aside in season: a new cover photo, an updated description, a clearer cancellation policy. See Your business page and branding.

4. A little activity in winter, if it suits you

Not every seasonal business has to sleep all winter. Some choose to rest, and that's completely fine. Others prefer a small activity that covers part of the costs and keeps them in touch with customers. A few ideas:

• Private lessons: experienced surfers go out in winter too, and some will be glad of a one-on-one lesson on good days. See Private lessons and availability.
• Short workshops: sea safety, reading a swell forecast, looking after your gear. One evening, indoors, in a small group.
• Holiday activities: Hanukkah and Passover are a chance for a few days of kids' activities, even without summer.
• Pre-season fitness: a weekly dry-land session, in a rented hall or a park, for people who want to arrive ready for summer.

Keep in mind: while you're frozen, nobody can register. If you plan a winter activity, don't freeze the months it runs. You can freeze December and January, open for a workshop in February and freeze again, as long as you stay within 5 months a year.

5. Don't disappear on your customers

Customers of a seasonal business forget fast. Not because they didn't enjoy it, but because eight months went by. A few simple ways to stay on their mind:

• One personal message at the end of the season: thank you, and a rough date for next summer's opening.
• Instagram at a slow pace: photos from the season, a clip of a good winter swell, a peek at the preparations.
• A message before registration opens: the people who came this year should hear first.

Today you send these from your own phone or email, as usual. WhatsApp reminders from Classo Club are coming soon; for now, session reminders go out by email.

6. Open early registration for next season

The most useful thing you can do in winter is prepare summer registration. Parents who register in February are parents you won't be chasing in June. This is how it works in practice:

1. Set up next season's activities: dates, times, price, ages, health declaration and what to bring. You can build them while the business is frozen. See Create an activity and its sessions.
2. Create an early-bird coupon with "valid from" and "valid until" dates. For example, 10% off until the end of March. You can also cap the number of uses, so the discount runs out after a first group. See Coupons and the sibling discount.
3. Cancel the freeze on the day you open registration, and publish the activity.
4. Send last year's customers the link and the discount code.

For a weekly class, as long as you haven't set an end date for the term, parents see "Registration opens soon" and can't sign up. That's handy: you can publish the class early so people know it exists, and open it once the dates are settled.

A parent who registered with you before can verify their email with a code and pick the children already on file, so coming back is quicker. If you offer a sibling discount, it applies automatically, and the coupon comes on top of it.

7. Plan your winter money

A seasonal business earns in summer and spends all year. Insurance, gear storage, repairs and subscriptions don't stop in November. So at the end of the season, go over your monthly costs and ask of each one: do I need this in winter too?

Software and subscriptions are usually the easiest place to save. A subscription charged at full price in the months you're closed is money down the drain. Check in advance whether you can freeze, what it costs and what happens to your data. If you're comparing systems, see How much does class management software cost? Pricing models and what to check.

Early registration isn't just peace of mind. It's also money coming in sooner. Today payment in Classo Club is by Bit: the parent pays you directly and you mark the registration as paid. Card payment through the system is coming soon.

In short

• Close the season: open payments, credits, old activities.
• Freeze, don't delete. The page stays, the data is kept.
• Decide whether you want a small winter activity, and don't freeze its months.
• Stay in touch with customers without flooding them.
• Prepare summer early, with an early-bird coupon.

Winter isn't a break from the business. It's the part of the business where there's time to think. Take a deep breath, and see you next season.