Celebrating 16 Years of Inspiring and Empowering Child Care Business Owners

Posts tagged ‘Building Enrollment’

Finish Your Tours With a Bang

Photo Credit: Link Child Care Center

According to Jon Gordan, a best-selling author and keynote speaker, “Whatever your job or business add some fireworks to your work. Think of ways you can create a grand finale and leave a lasting impression. Finish your speech or sales presentation with a bang and give your audience a reason to clap at the end. Give your customers something positive to talk about as they walk out the door.”

“Fireworks don’t have to occur just on the 4th of July. You can create a fireworks experience every day by finishing strong and making people say… “Wow.”

I shared this excerpt from Jon’s ( July 2, 2012) weekly e-newsletter with you to inspire you to (intentionally) finish your tours with a bang.

Prior to reading Jon’s e-newsletter, I noticed that when I end my tours by giving parents  a “Free” gift (Law of Reciprocity) for visiting the program or by simply having a great conversation at the end of the tour; it usually resulted in the child enrolling in my program.

However,  I found that if I was tired while conducting a tour and not really focused on closing the sale or not focused on ending the tour with a bang, I wondered if the parent would even call me after the tour. Parents choose your program based on how you present yourself to them and your business.

Tip: If you are tired, go outside to get some fresh air, listen to something motivational or do not give the tour.

Today, I hope that you have been inspired to end your tours with a bang and continue to strive to develop that salesperson within you. Moreover,  Conducting tours is all about being  a great sales person and if you want to build enrollment, it is vital that you end your tours with a BANG!

Think about how you feel after watching the grand finale of a firework show….that’s the feeling you want parents to get as you wrap up your tour with them. View Jon’s e-Newsletter, Fireworks and Finishing with a Bang!

With Your Enrollment in Mind,

Shiketa Morgan

Ready to Improve your Business Management Skills? Grow as a Leader? Develop a Mindset to Expand Your Business? Check out the Art of Owning a Center Audio Coaching Series

Category:

Enrollment Building, Marketing

Tagged with:

A “Marketing” Plan That Builds Enrollment

When I first moved into my childcare center, I discovered that Marketing never stops.  According to Milan Kundera, Business has only two functions – marketing and innovation!

Are you ready to develop a plan to Market your childcare business on a scale that attracts parents to you? I’m sure you do, because Marketing builds enrollment and being filled to capacity assures that there is a strong cash flow in your business.

Are you happy with your enrollment right now? In a recent Guerilla Marketing newsletter, Jay Conrad Levinson wrote: Did you know that 70% of your marketing could be missing the mark?

In Jay’s January 16, 2012 e-newsletter, Jay shares 2 reasons why people purchase products or services and they are as follows:

  1. People buy to increase pleasure and decrease pain. Are you marketing a pleasurable experience for children and parents?
  2. Other reasons people buy are to increase or improve their condition, seize an opportunity, and make life better. They buy to preserve what they’ve got, avoid risk, and keep themselves from becoming worse off. In other words, if they choose you, it’s because your program will make their life better.

Jay also wrote: “The Internet is the best way for advertisers to market to business decision-makers, according to a poll. A survey of nearly 1,000 people by Minnesota Opinion Research found 60% agreeing the Web was persuasive. Fifty percent said it influenced them to make a purchase. “Business decision-makers have told us that the Web is the best place to reach them,” said Chris Schroeder, CEO of Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive. “Most importantly, they’ve made it clear that what they’re seeing on the Web is leading directly to purchases.”

I hope that you have been inspired to find out how you can create a plan to attract parents to you or how you can make your program a pleasurable experience for their child. For example, I recently gave a parent a tour of my center. She was driving too many miles a day to take her son to preschool. Choosing my facility saved her gas and her son would now be in a program that was prepping her son for school success. In fact, her decision to choose my program improved her life.

If you are wondering how you can improve a parents life, ask questions when the parent calls you. Here are two examples of questions that you can ask parents that inquire about enrollment:

  1. Where are your children currently enrolled?
  2. How is that working for you?
  3. What are you looking for in a childcare program? If you can meet that need, invite the parent to stop by!

Finally, as Jay mentioned, the internet is becoming  a more persuasive way to attract customers. I challenge you to review your website and develop a website that inspire parents to choose you. If you do not have a website, set-up a blog. Whatever you do, get a website.

A parent completed a Free Trial day form on my website and I called her back in December 2011. She told me that she loved my website and she just wanted to see the program. In fact, she told me that she had already made her decision to choose my program after looking at the website. Wow!! Just when I thought I needed to update my website.

In summary, take some time today to organize a 3-step marketing plan that includes questions that you will ask parents that contact you and a plan to develop a website that inspires parents to call or contact you.

What do you think about the marketing tips in this post? I look forward to your thoughts.

Shiketa

Category:

Enrollment Building, Marketing

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud