How To Sign Up Preschool Parents: Step #1 – Marketing

One of the biggest struggles any preschool owner has is figuring out how to sign up preschool parents.  I’ve created a 3-step process designed to help you increase your sign-up conversions and lower your need to be “sales-y.”  So follow along over the next 3 articles where I teach you my Preschool Marketing Plan in three steps:

1. Include 7 Key Points In Your Marketing Materials To Generate Viable Leads
2. Convert a Phone Call Into a Commitment to Tour Your Preschool
3. Answer 10 Top Questions During A Tour To Result In A Signup

WHAT’S THE PRICE?

To teach you the first part of our preschool marketing plan (Include 7 Key Points In Your Marketing Materials To Generate Viable Leads) let’s first start with a story to illustrate a very important point.

This past week I’ve done quite a lot of window shopping for a bigger car, now that our 5th addition is on its way this summer!  After doing my research on the safest, most cost effective, and rewarding car that could fit my family, we finally decided on a Honda Odyssey.  And while doing my research, I came to find out that low mileage was my first priority, and low price was right behind.  And that’s when I discovered my biggest pet peeve in the car shopping experience:

Finding the right car, with the right mileage…  BUT NOT KNOWING WHAT THE PRICE WAS!

You see, I did all my shopping online because I didn’t want to actually come face-to-face with a salesman.  And sometimes I would click on a link from a dealer, look at all the pictures of the car, check out the mileage and the features, and then scroll around for about 30 seconds trying to find the price.  But all I would find was “Please contact the dealer for price.”

How frustrating!  I didn’t want to call the dealer, who inevitably would then have my name and number and call me back, trying to sell me a car in the future.  What if I had to call 3 dealers to find prices?  Then I would have 3 dealerships hounding me for the next few weeks!

I had found the perfect car, but I still didn’t know if I could afford it.

BUYING A CAR IS LIKE CHOOSING A PRESCHOOL

So what does buying a Honda Odyssey have to do with learning how to sign up preschool parents and creating your preschool marketing plan?

A lot, actually.

THE BIGGEST MYTH IN MARKETING

One of the biggest myths in marketing is that if a company can make their product/service irresistible enough to customers, then price isn’t really an issue; but if it becomes an issue, in the end at least they’ll be talking to the customer and can try to convince them that their product/service is worth it.  Sounds a little “sales-y” to you, doesn’t it?  I don’t know about you, but when I created my preschool marketing plan, I made sure it required as little “selling” on my end as possible!

But what these companies forget is that customers make decisions EVERY DAY based on quality -and- price.  I mean, how many times do you walk into a store to go shopping and end up looking at a price tag?  Or hundreds of price tags?  Every time you consider buying an item, you weigh the benefits to the cost.  And if it has enough benefits to warrant the cost, then you buy that item.  You’re constantly weighing your budget to how many items can fit into that budget, and choosing a preschool is no different.

So what’s a prospective preschool parent supposed to do when they receive a flyer about your preschool, and after they get so excited about it, realize they can’t find a price anywhere on your materials.  What’s going on in their heads?  “Can I afford this?”  “Maybe they didn’t list the price because it’s expensive.”

Do you really think they’re going to call you to find out how much it costs?  They’re not even ready to make that commitment to take the first step of communication with you, let alone be led down some path where they might be asked to come take a tour.  Because as much as they might love your preschool, they don’t want to be let down later on by knowing they can’t afford it.

7 KEY POINTS TO INCLUDE ON YOUR MARKETING

Your preschool marketing plan extends way beyond just including pricing.  You should include as much as you possibly can about your preschool.  Post these 7 key points (plus lots more!) on your website and every flyer, postcard, and brochure you hand out.

Need help with your marketing materials?  Get our Instant Preschool Marketing CD here.

1. Your tuition
   As explained in the story above, price rules most spending decisions, so be sure to include your tuition.
2. Your class times
   Have multiple classes? Post them all!  What may not work for one parent might work for another.
3. The fact that they need to call to reserve their spot and take a tour
   You don’t want random strangers showing up to find out more information.  Your time is valuable; they need to call for a tour.
4. The fact that you’re strictly a preschool, not a daycare
   Don’t compromise.  You chose to start a preschool, so refer any daycare calls to reputable daycares in the area.
5. Your location
   Even if you live in a small town, parents want to know how far they’ll have to drive to get to you.  List an address, or if you prefer, cross-streets or general area (i.e. “Next to the city park!” or “Inside the Brentwood subdivision!” etc.)
6. Ages Accepted
   Usually you’ll teach 3-5 year olds, but if you also teach “Independent Almost 3-year-olds” be sure to put that too.
7. Your website address
   We live in a social world, so either include your Facebook page, your blog, or your website so parents can learn more about you.

WHY INCLUDE SO MUCH?

Why must you give SO MUCH information about your preschool, you ask?  Isn’t it better to just give a little, get them interested, and sell them on the rest later?  Sorry, folks, but “selling” and “convincing” them in the future is just a huge hassle, and we’re not in the sales business.  We’re in the preschool business, where you need to be straight-forward about how you run your preschool, and if they don’t like it, who cares?  You shouldn’t be talking to them in the first place.

I know that’s a bit dramatic, but I’m thinking of a fellow student who mentioned to me that she’s super nervous about pleasing every parent, and often will change a policy to accommodate that parent’s wishes.  Don’t discount her just yet… because she was a lot like ME before I finally grew myself a backbone and decided how to run my preschool like a business.

Now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t ask for parent feedback and try to IMPROVE your preschool (on the contrary: please please please always make your preschool better every year and use parent feedback to help you grow), but it certainly does mean that if you were planning your preschool to be a certain way because you felt strongly enough about it, then stick to your guns!  It’s called a preschool marketing plan, isn’t it?  So plan for it and put into action.  Parents will see your confidence and believe me, they need to feel that you’re capable enough as a business owner -and- preschool teacher to take care of their child.

BUT…

Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, “But if I post everything about my preschool (including prices), then parents might not call me.”  Then I would probably reply: “If they don’t call you, then there’s some reason why they would never sign up their child in the first place.  And why waste your time trying to convince someone who will never sign up their child?”

I don’t mean to be rude by saying that your time is valuable, but isn’t it?  You have a family to love, preschoolers to teach, and a business to run.  Not to mention anything you want to do in your spare time.  So make your time you spend on the business as productive as possible, instead of wasting your time trying to convince people why they should sign up in your preschool.

For instance, up until last fall, by using my preschool marketing plan, I had a 99% rate of parents calling me about my preschool and then taking an interview.  From that point, I had a 99% rate that they would sign up.  So you can see that I had done a great job of weeding out non-interested parents way before they even called me.  And that’s because I followed my preschool marketing plan of putting all my preschool’s information on our flyers and website, so I only received calls from viable leads.

But when we opened our second preschool location and put a huge sign in the front yard advertising our preschool, my conversions fell WAY down.  All of a sudden I had 3x as many calls, but only 75% of them converted into an interview.  Why the difference, you ask?  Because so many passersby thought we were a daycare–all they saw was the sign and the children–so after I found out on the phone they needed childcare, I didn’t ask them in to interview.  Thankfully, my rate of parents signing up after having an interview stayed at 99%, because I was able to weed them out during the phone call.

So while you may have a random parent call you out of the blue and not know much about your preschool, try to have the majority of those prospective parents be as well-informed as possible so when they call you, they’ll be ready to set up a time to take a tour.

Calling you is the next step to creating your preschool marketing plan, so stay tuned for my next article that teaches you EXACTLY how to handle that phone conversation to get 99% of parents to commit to an interview.

NEXT: How To Sign Up Preschool Parents: #2 – Phone Call

YOUR TURN!

To help make sure I answer all your questions about how to handle that phone conversation, what are your biggest questions about talking to a prospective parent on the phone?