Tony D'Agostino, CEO and Founder of Inspire Care 360 recently joined ChildcareCRM: The Podcast to discuss how to build and grow a sustainable childcare business for the short-term and long-term futures.
In particular, Tony shares how to:
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build a strong foundation
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retain staff and keep them excited about coming to work
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create a growth-minded business
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differentiate your center
Listen to the full episode here:
Focusing on differentiating your center, here are 4 ways Tony suggests you can stay competitive in this evolving and growing market:
1) Build a Positive Culture
“To differentiate yourself in this marketplace, culture is critical.”
Your culture is essential not just in the way you recruit and retain staff. But a positive company culture also helps families realize that your center is where they want their child to learn, play, and grow.
Tony likens this to what he’s coined as ‘the Toddler Birthday Party’. He explains it as parents attending other children’s birthday parties on the weekend, where they mingle with fellow community members and people in their parenting circles. While at the party, they’re going to be discussing where they’ve enrolled their children for care. Essentially, there are two ends of the spectrum as far as how they describe your center:
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They barely have any spots left! It’s an amazing program. We’ve got to get you guys in there!
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Where do you take your child? I want to get mine out of our current program as fast as possible.
2) Rely on Sophistication
“Sophistication, as we also talked about is critical. Are you using tools that get things in a much quicker way to the parents, to the staff, and let the community know.”
For example, what tools are you using in your center to streamline administrative and enrollment processes? Maybe you utilize a parent communication app so families can stay up to date on what’s going on at your center or in the classroom throughout the day. Or perhaps you use a CRM to help enroll parents faster, in a more organized and thoughtful way.
The technology you use to sophisticate and scale your business is a huge differentiator in today’s market.
3) Communicate your Brand
Your brand is also really important. But most importantly, how are you communicating that brand to the public?
In past years, your brand used to be word of mouth. According to Tony, that is still the most important form of advertising and marketing for your center.
“Quite often, I have seen hundreds if not thousands of schools that invest very little in their digital footprint.”
Do you have a website, a Google business listing, a Facebook page, and/or a company Instagram account?
“Your marketing and [showcasing] what your brand really is starts in a few areas. But first, it starts in showing a positive image to your enrolled families and a positive image to your staff. Then get that image out to your community through a digital footprint.”
4) Advertise Your Expectations
“Realize that your service is for other people. Advertise what your expectations are.”
Include messaging in your marketing efforts that showcase the type of values you want your enrolled families to have. This will help you attract highly qualified leads, leading not only to greater enrollment rates but higher retention rates, as well.
Listen to the full podcast episode with Tony for details on how to accomplish these differentiating tasks and for insight on what he sees for the future of childcare as a childcare business owner, himself.
Learn more about Inspire Care 360 by clicking here.
