When I was asked to write a blog on enrollment I thought that it should be more of a novel. With so many different aspects to enrolling a family into your center i.e. getting their information, sending the e-packet, scheduling and rocking the tour and asking for the sale, where do you begin?
So, I took a step back and thought about myself as a parent when I enrolled my son into preschool. Many of these important aspects of marketing and enrollment were not used (at the center I now run and currently use), so why did I choose this school for my son? As Kris has said, simply put, child care programs are in the TRUST business.
Parents are looking for a place where they can leave their child, many for the first time, knowing that they can TRUST the individuals caring for their child. I chose my center because I trusted them caring for my son. As in any relationship, trust must be earned, so how do we as child care center owners earn trust with someone who we have yet to meet?
Building trust must be embedded in every action that you take. Trust must be a living and breathing part of your organization. Start with every new employee, giving that new hire the perspective of how important building trust is in your organization. Meaning, that in everything we do, we are either building or diminishing trust with our families. At my center, Paradise Place, everyone in our organization knows that their actions affect our families’ level of trust and thus the success of our business. From the janitor making sure the school is clean daily, the bookkeeper making sure billing and payments are accurate & punctual, to the warm welcome parents and children get every time they enter the building. Every aspect of how we operate must be thought of as whether or not we are working to build a high level of trust with our families.
By making decisions and actions with the mindset of building trust, it will become obvious to any prospective family why they should choose to send their child to your center over another. Don’t get me wrong, getting their information, sending the e-packet, scheduling and rocking the tour and asking for the sale are all very important aspects of enrollment building, but they must all come from a mindset of building trust if you want make a new family a part of yours.
Please comment below and let me know what you think! I look forward to hearing your feedback!
Ben Poswalk is a Child Care Business Coach with The Child Care Success Company and is the Executive Director of Paradise Place Preschool.
