How to Achieve Better Childcare Management from A to Z

The problem: leads and revenue are slipping through the cracks.

Between caring for children, communicating with families, and pulling manual reports — your staff has a lot on their plates. With so many competing priorities, it’s no wonder 90% of childcare professionals don’t respond to leads right away.

But with 80% of Millennials expecting immediate responses and 60% of Gen Z more likely to hang up if their call isn’t answered in 45 seconds, fast follow-up is crucial to seizing every revenue opportunity for your center.

In our Annual Benchmark Report, we reviewed data from over 6,000 childcare centers and found that 83% of top-performing centers contact leads within 24 hours to schedule a tour (using a little help from automated lead management).

And the best-converting centers respond to leads even faster - within just 5 minutes of a family’s initial inquiry. In short, you need a streamlined enrollment process.

In fact, 41% of Gen Z will provide their data for a more personalized experience so don’t be afraid to ask for information about their care needs and concerns up front, in your ‘contact us’ form.

Here is an example of how your optimized enrollment process could look:

• All incoming leads from phone calls, emails, Facebook, online directories, and your website are stored in one central place - organized by location, region, or corporate brands.
• Staff can easily access their daily to-do list and receive automated reminders for upcoming or incomplete tasks, keeping them on task and in constant communication with families that want to learn more about your programs.
• Families can self-serve (using features like tour scheduling and digital registration forms), reducing the manual administrative tasks required of staff and saving valuable time so they can focus on other important areas of the center.
• Once an inquiry is sent or a tour is scheduled, they receive an automated follow-up via email or text message to confirm. 
• Automated, personalized reminders help your team keep in touch with families and guide them through the enrollment journey until their start date.
• When a family decides to register, the location’s digital enrollment packet (plus state forms) is automatically sent out via email for families to complete digitally, e-sign, and submit - reducing data entry errors and printing costs.

Keeping consistent standards - simplifying center management.

Your staff is crucial to your success. But if they’re not supported with strong resources and clear business processes, it’s going to be hard for them to succeed no matter how talented they are.

The right digital platform gives you a window into backend operations across teams and centers while simplifying the number of tools you and your team use.

You could always schedule a classic “meeting that could have been an email” meeting. Or try a Zoom call if everyone’s schedule lines up. Of course, you could ask your directors to perform the room-to-room rounds, popping into classrooms and sending you email recaps so you can manually piece together the information you need.

If this sounds messy, that’s because it is.

With the right digital platform, you can centralize family and staff records without complicated user permissions or multiple sign-ins. With one simple login and one simple search, team members can access the records, reports, and insights they need anytime, anywhere.