You loved caring for children, so you built a business around it. But it isn't enough to just love caring for kids; you are running a business that requires care, too, so it can grow to provide services to more parents and their families.
Below are some tips on growing your business by leveraging your childcare management software and other technology to promote and expand your childcare business.
Communication Is Job #1
A childcare business that does not communicate well will not attract customers or keep them. Poor communication is a common complaint about businesses, and the childcare industry is no exception. If you can communicate clearly and often, you will set yourself apart from many of your competitors.
Childcare management software contains multiple methods of communicating with parents and prospective customers if leveraged properly.
- Build an email list of parents who have contacted you about your services and send follow up communications to them as they consider their options.
- Use the parent portal to ask your current customers for referrals.
- Promote your text messaging capability as a valuable part of your service.
These are three simple ways to use applications that are part of your childcare management system to attract new customers and grow your business.
Build custom email lists to send appropriately targeted messages to parents according to the stage of their research and decision-making process.
- Notification of open house dates
- Reminders of online registration
- Messages about a child’s progress up the wait list
- Promote special programs and incentives
Add a field to your online registration form to ask where the parent heard about you:
- Driving by
- Referral from friend or coworker
- Open house
- Online search
- Advertisement in newspaper
Track how your customers are finding you so you can put your marketing resources in the best place. Add an “office use only” type field where you can record the customer’s progress through the enrollment process, from “Took the tour,” and “Pre-registration complete” to “On the wait list.”
Expand Your Services with Childcare Management Software
Listen to the community to learn about opportunities for services that are not currently available from a local competitor. Also, monitor what your current customers talk about, you may discover that a few changes are necessary to provide continuing care.
- Focus on an age group. If you currently serve infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, maybe you would provide better service if you limited enrollment to one of those groups.
- Alternatively, if you only provide care for the pre-kindergarten set, you might consider adding a toddler group that will move into the pre-K group as they get older. (Instant pipeline!)
- Model your center around a particular type of activity such as music, art, or sports.
- Promote the special skills of your staff to add variety to the activities.
Another area for expanding service is by expanding the hours or days the center is open, or providing care for specific occasions, such as parent’s night out on Fridays or drop-off care for those only requiring occasional care. Perhaps there is a market for part-time care that is going unmet.
Optimize the mix of services and ages you serve to meet the community needs and be prepared to make changes as new opportunities arise or as the community changes. Your childcare management software can help you take on new clients and new activities without much additional administrative work.
Run custom reports on attendance and billing that may show trends in attendance and payment that indicate needed changes or provide encouragement towards new offerings.
Market Your Business Locally
For a business to grow, you need to market it. As we mentioned above, use the parent portal to ask your current customers for testimonials to put on your website and referrals to friends, families, and coworkers.
Offer incentives for referrals as well as for enrollment. For example, you might waive registration fees in exchange for a one year care commitment paid up front. Or you can offer a price break for multiple children from the same family.
Speaking of your website, place the parent testimonials, including photos or video if possible, in a dedicated space. Don’t forget to leverage social media as well. Create a business profile on Facebook where you can post availability, promotions, or even employment ads. Link all social media messages back to your website where you can provide further information on the services you provide.
Increase your local exposure through a team sponsorship and appearances at charity events. Get involved in services for the community where you can rub shoulders with parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles who may know someone looking for childcare.
Work with local businesses to get childcare prospects from among the employees. If someone just had a baby or is new to the area, the business owner will have your information to pass along. Register with online business registries as these are common sites for people looking for local services.
Promote Your Technology Advantage
Most of today’s parents are heavy users of technology like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. They are used to online banking and access to information from anywhere. Promote your ability to provide a secure channel for online activity from registration and enrollment to filling out immunization forms.
- Ask each parent for their preferred method of communicating so you can send notifications via email, text, or on the parent portal.
- Advertise all the ways you notify parents and staff about closures due to weather or other problem.
- List the ways you help parents make payments and avoid late fees because your childcare management software provides invoicing, payment processing, and late payment notifications.
- Show everyone how you can track meals and provide for dietary restrictions while maintaining a healthy menu.
Starting a business is hard work. Growing a business doesn’t have to be as difficult if you make the time to make the appropriate changes and take advantage of opportunities that you find through your childcare management software.
Promote the fact that childcare software benefits parents through accessible features and multiple communication methods to ease the stress of leaving their child with your staff, knowing they are as connected to their child as possible while still earning a living or taking a break.
