Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Posts tagged ‘communication with parents in your daycare’

A Key Part of Building Enrollment Is In the Follow-Up Process

I arrive at my center on August 22, 2011 and I checked my telephone message log.  As I scanned the message log, I noticed that several parents called the center to inquire about  enrolling their children.

After checking the message log, I went to the talk with the  Assistant Director about the enrollment inquiries. As we began to discuss the telephone message, she also informed me that a mother of a School-age child had stopped by the center shortly before I arrived to pick-up enrollment information.

I was thinking to myself…Wow! I love it when parents inquire about enrollment.  After our conversation, I immediately wrote down the mother’s phone number that stopped by the center and went to my office to call her.  

When the mother answered the phone, I introduced myself and  thanked her for visiting my center.  I asked her if she had any questions in regards to enrolling her child. She said, ” I would like to schedule a tour to get started on the process of enrolling my child and what is your registration fee?

After my phone call with the mother, I realized the importance of follow-up with parents. When parents are visiting your program, they may forget to ask you something, however,  if you follow-up with them, they may have more questions.

Several days, prior to writing this blog post, I decided to contact all the families that had recently visited my center, to see if they were still interested in enrolling their children.

I was quite surprise to discover that many of the parents that recently stopped by center, had already enrolled their children in the program. 

One of the parents on the visitor log had already found a center for her two-year old child. She seemed so excited when I called her and she thanked me for following up with her. In addition to me calling her, she assured me that if her current baby sitter did not work out, that she will keep my center in mind.

Here are six ways to follow-up with parents and help to build enrollment :

  1. Create a visitor log that ask for the parent’s name, phone number and email address
  2. Collect contact information from parents when they call your home or center.
  3. Follow-up within parent 24-48 hours of calling or visiting your program
  4. Send an email  or e-newsletter to potential customers every week so that they won’t forget you.
  5. Invite parents to follow your program on social media. This allows the parent to check our your program.
  6. Send a post card in the mail to the family and consider offering a “Free Day”

With Your Child Care Business in Mind,

Shiketa

Category:

Enrollment Building, parent communication

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Top 3 Ways to Communicate With Parents

Effective Parent Communication Tips That Works

 

Parents are so busy today and we must find effective ways of communicating with them. Have you ever reminded a parent that a child needed supplies such as: wipes, extra clothes or diapers and the next day the parent arrived without the supplies? I know….it drives you crazy!

Now remember, parents are very busy and they will forget those verbal reminders. This is why it is vital that we communicate with parents in a manner that will help them to remember supplies and remember important events.

There are many ways to communicate with parents including: daily notes, bulletin boards, phone calls, face-to-face conversations, emails, website, social media, newsletters and so many other ways. However, I have found that there are 3 ways to effectively communicate with parents and they are as follows:

Text Messages

Several months ago there were many snow days in St. Louis and I was forced to close the center several days. Many of the parents requested that I send them a text message in the event of an emergency closing. I thought this was a great idea.

Cell Phones are a great way to send parents very important reminders and I think  that parents will really appreciate you for it. I do not suggest that you remind parents to pay tuition, because they may get offended. Keep your text messages fun and friendly!

Parent Mailboxes

 

* Photo of my parent mailbox

Having a mailbox for each individual family is a great way to assure that important notes are sent home daily, along with school work. I borrowed this idea from the Creative Curriculum when I was operating as a home daycare  in 2002 and I still utilize mailboxes today to communicate with parents.

When the parents arrive and pick-up their children, the first thing that they do is check their child’s mailbox. I also find that parents will ask me or the teachers questions about the information that is placed in the mailbox. If you do not already have a parent mailbox, you can pick-up a mailbox from your local office supply store.

Door Signs

Your front Door is a great place to post very important reminders. My tuition is due on monday and every week I post a reminder on the door that reads: ” Welcome back….If you have not already paid your tuition for this week, please note that tuition is due upon the arrival of your child.”

When I check my payment mailbox, 95% of the parents drop their tuition in the box upon arrival. The week’s that I forget to post a reminder on the door, many of the parents forget to pay tuition and they accrue a late fee on Tuesday morning.

One week after sending home a newsletter about an upcoming event;  I will  post  a festive sign on the door that includes info about the upcoming event. Moreover, I find that many parents seem to remember the event when they see a sign for 7 days prior to the event.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the parent communication tips listed in this blog post.  Do you plan to implement any of the above tips?

Category:

Administration, Family Connections, parent communication

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