First Impressions Count

I like to say, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” How true that is for you with the impression you and your center make on an enrollment prospect. That impression contributes to the image in their minds of how their child will adjust and be treated in your care, and it has strong impact on their enrollment choice.

Here are three areas you can impact to make that first impression a positive one:

1.      Answer your telephone professionally.

Your first contact with many prospects will be by telephone. You only get a few seconds on the phone before they have formed a first impression. Answer with a professional- sounding greeting and dialogue used by all who answer anywhere in the center. Remember to use a positive tone, a volume appropriate to the call (versus the class you just left), and to answer with a smile on your face. For years, I have said, “You can hear a smile on the telephone.” And it is true!

2.      Make your center’s entry inviting.

Walk into your center as if you were an apprehensive parent. What about the first six feet inside the door makes you want to come in any further. Does it look clean and welcoming? Does it smell good? Are there materials of interest to parents of young children? Is there information available about your center and its services? And – very important – are you or your assistant right there to welcome them and show them your center (especially if they have a scheduled visit)? If they are not comfortable in the entryway, it is going to be tough to make a good impression anywhere else in the center.

3.      Insist upon a positive greeting from teachers.

Parents know their child will spend most of their center time with the teacher, not the director. When a parent walks into a classroom, it is a must that the teacher looks up, SMILES, and, if possible, says “Hello.” For scheduled visits, the teacher and director may have arranged for the teacher to spend some time talking to the visiting parents. It is also impressive when the teacher invites the visiting child to join in the activities going on in the room. At the very least, the director should introduce the teacher, and the teacher should acknowledge the visitors and, if possible, shake hands. A friendly greeting from the teachers is also important once the parent has enrolled and is bringing their child into the classroom on a daily basis. Though the first impression may help get them there, an ongoing impression will help keep them there.

First impressions count – for enrollment securement and for parent retention. Make yours the best they can be.

Best wishes and happy marketing!

Julie Wassom
“The Speaker Whose Message Means Business”
Marketing and Sales Speaker/Consultant/Author
Call me: 303-693-2306
Fax me: 303-617-6422
E-me: julie@juliewassom.com
See me: www.juliewassom.com

Author of The Enrollment Building Success Library. For a synopsis of these learning programs or your own set, call our office at 1-800-876-0260. Book Julie for your next director meeting or conference, and WATCH YOUR ENROLLMENT GROW!

“If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember,
this whole thing was started by a mouse.”
Walt Disney

What Closing Is Not!

The skill of closing – or asking for a center visit or a commitment to enrollment – is an uncomfortable skill for many directors to master. Because you know it is a critical skill for converting more prospects to enrollees, it is very tempting to dance around actually asking the right questions and still call it closing.

What is closing? Closing is really two things.

1. Helping prospects make a good buying decision
2. Getting your prospects to act on your recommendations.

If you are upholding your desired positioning of being the helpful, professional, knowledgeable resource, your prospects will turn to you for your expertise and help in this important buying decision. They want your recommendations. They want your invitations. But that is not enough and it is NOT closing. Closing is ASKING them to make a buying decision. If you do not ask for the visit or enrollment, you are NOT closing.

What is NOT closing?

1. Making a recommendation without asking for a commitment is NOT closing.

As nice as it may sound, a statement such as, “It looks as though Mike really does not want to leave the soft play area. I think he would really enjoy our center. We would love to have you join our center’s family. Why don’t you give it some thought and let me know,” is NOT closing. It’s a great recommendation, but you had an enrollment bird in hand that you let fly away to another center where the director who asked would get the enrollment.

You can turn this recommendation into a valid closing by asking a question like this…

“…I think he would really enjoy our center. Since he seems so comfortable, would you like to leave him for a free day today?” (This of course assumes you have the room and the policy of free days in your company.) When your prospect answers, “Yes,” you can then take her to your office to fill out necessary paperwork, and arrange a time to call her to tell her how Mike is doing. When she returns to pick him up is when you would ask her to enroll.

Or you could say…

“ … We would love to have you join our center’s family. Do you think you would like to do that?” When the prospect says, “Yes,” perhaps that is the time to ask if Mike would like to stay to enjoy some time with the class while you take her to your office to fill out the paperwork and collect the registration fee.

2. Extending an invitation to an upcoming event at the center is NOT closing for a scheduled center visit or the enrollment.

Is it a good idea to invite prospects to center events? Absolutely! Is this a question that asks for the visit or enrollment? No!

“We are having an open house next Thursday to give our parents a glimpse of what our summer program will be like. You are certainly invited to attend. Would you like to come and bring Samantha?”

This is NOT closing for the scheduled center tour or enrollment. Granted, they might enroll after they attend such an event, but this is not closing for the center visit at the time you originally had them on the phone. Nor would it pass if you extended this invitation during a center visit, but did not also ASK for the enrollment.

It would be a closing question if you said this…

“… You are certainly invited to attend. When you come in for a center visit, I will give you all the details for this upcoming event. Would it be better for you to stop by for your personal visit on Wednesday morning or is Thursday better for your schedule?”

During a center visit, this invitation could lead to actual closing questions by saying…

“…our summer program will be like. It would be an ideal first parent event for you and Samantha to attend once you have enrolled. Would you like to go ahead and give me your registration fee today, and then I’ll make sure you are on the list for those who receive a special invitation to this even, alright?”

Closing is asking a question the answer to which is a commitment for your goal achievement, which is either a center visit or an enrollment commitment. If you have not asked for this specifically, you are not yet really closing, and your conversion ratios will reflect it.

Here’s a little trick to help you remember to ask a closing question, not just to invite or recommend. Put five pennies in one pocket at the beginning of the day. Every time you talk to a parent or give a tour of your center and you REALLY ASK A CLOSING QUESTION, move one penny from that pocket to the pocket on the other side of your skirt or slacks. Be honest about this. Don’t move the penny unless you asked a question that will give you an answer directed at your goals of center visit or enrollment. When you have all five pennies moved over, give yourself a point on a chart. Then move the pennies to the other side the same way, always giving yourself a point for every five closing questions you ask correctly. Even if the prospect’s answer is not yet “Yes,” you still ASKED a closing question, so you get the point. Once you have ten points (for 50 closing questions), reward yourself! You deserve it.

No matter what your personal reward, the reward that will really make your center shine is that you will see your conversion ratios gradually getting better, your follow up calls reducing, and your enrollments climbing like a rocket!

Best wishes and happy marketing!

Ten Tips for Using Newsletters as a Marketing Tool – Part 1

Newsletters can be a very effective method of communicating with prospects, customers, and opinion influencers. However, to be an effective marketing strategy, there are several factors you must consider. Before sitting down at your computer to type out an article or calendar of events, have firm answers to the following:

1.      Intent – What do you want your newsletter to do? Do you want it to educate, generate inquiries, build image, create positioning? List everything you want it to do.

2.      Frequency – How often will you publish it? A minimum of quarterly gives you repeat exposure without the perception of overwhelming intrusion, though many centers find  a monthly newsletter more effective for parents.

3.      Format – What will your newsletter look like? Think about the number of pages, page size, graphic design, ink colors, photos or drawings, location of regular columns. Will it be a self-mailer, inserted in an envelope, handed out at the center, or an e-letter?

4.      Title/Masthead – What will be the name of your newsletter? Make your masthead unique but consistent with the rest of your marketing materials. If you have regular columns, what will you call them that describes content and entices readers to linger there long enough to read it?

5.      Content – What will be included in the content of your newsletter. Keep it simple and valuable to the recipient. Most of us already have too much to read. If you regularly give your recipients information of value in your newsletter (versus primarily advertising for your center), you will create what’s called “ready readership,” meaning a target of readers waiting for each new issue. That’s what you want, because it creates a positioning for you as the helpful, knowledgeable expert.

Best wishes and happy marketing,

-Julie Wassom
http://JulieWassom.com

Do You Know Where Your Customers Are?

It’s now 2011. Do you know where your customers are?

Today’s prospects seeking early care and education services are looking in ways you may not realize. And you may be trying to reach them by marketing in all the wrong places. Though attracting qualified prospects is still most successful by layering your marketing activities amongst several methods of marketing communications, knowing where you customers go to find you is crucial to generating a high rate of inquiries for your efforts.

There’s more investigation online, you say. That’s an understatement. It’s not just about searching. It’s about what brand they follow and ultimately buy. Research firm, Digital Surgeons, reports via i-librarian that of the nearly 500 million users of FaceBook worldwide, 29% of 18 to 25 year olds and 23% of 26- 34 year olds use it. Of all ages on Facebook, 41% log in daily, 40% follow a brand, and 51% will purchase the brand they follow over another brand. Interestingly, some 30% log in via a mobile device.

So prospects are not only using key words to search for websites, they are significantly influenced by the public opinion they find online. Though face to face referrals are still very powerful, this kind of information gives the term, “word-of-mouth” a whole new meaning.

What are important action steps for you to take to connect with your key target audiences?

Have a good website. Make it easy to find, easy to navigate, and full of opportunities for prospects to learn about your unique attributes and to contact you.

Maximize your ranking on search engines. Search Engine Optimization is critical for your site, since most web visitors will not look past the first several listings. One technique to help increase your ranking is to use very specific keywords on every page of your website. Programs such as Google Analytics are a good place to start.

Explore social media. This wave is not going away anytime soon. If you are not riding it, you are missing an opportunity to engage with potential and existing customers. For professional assistance in this arena, I recommend a firm I use called New Media Fluent. Check them out at http://www.newmediafluent.com.

Track online mentions of your company name. This is one way to remain aware of what’s being said about you, to rapidly respond to any negative comments, and to help shape public opinion into what you want your prospects, customers, and opinion influencers to have.

Train your directors and managers in successful conversion skills. Of course, I am biased on this one, but it’s true. If you use superb marketing to generate qualified inquiries, but your managers do not have the skills and confidence to convert them, you have not succeeded in maximizing the return on your marketing investment. Whether it’s my on-site seminars, teleseminars, forthcoming webinars, or resources from my Enrollment Building Success Library, the training IS available to you for the taking. Do it.

Knowing who your customers are, where they look for child care choices, how to find you, and how they make the decision to put you on the list of programs they contact are all important steps in building enrollment. Base your marketing action plan on this knowledge and you will be off to a year of maximizing your enrollment.

More on Julie’s Enrollment Conversion Training

Julie Wassom
“The Speaker Whose Message Means Business”
Marketing and Sales Speaker/Consultant/Author
http://JulieWassom.com