Enrollment is the lifeblood of every daycare center. Having a steady stream of customers means being able to grow efficiently and create the kind of daycare you’ve set out to run.

We’ve previously written about leadership, staffing and insurance – all important for running your daycare, but if you want to boost daycare enrollment fast, we’ve prepared tips for achieving it with Hopping In.

Fill your daycare’s unused spots and attract new customers by…

1) Offering flexibility

Everyone’s schedule is hectic these days – especially parents’. Every bit of flexibility helps.

The best way to boost daycare enrollment is to give the parents the flexibility they need. Instead of having them rush to drop-off and pick-up at your daycare, why not give them a chance to book extra care?

You can do it with:

1) Booking extra hours

Give parents the option to book extra hours of care for their child in case something pops up.

2) Drop-in care

You have a tuition plan in place, but to boost daycare enrollment you can offer drop-in care for other parents whose regular daycare doesn’t give them the ability to book extra hours. It’s also a great way to attract new clients and make your daycare different by showing that you go the extra mile to satisfy your customers.

Since we’re aware that work hours and flexibility are major pain points for daycare owners, we’ve created Hopping In to help.

Instead of juggling spreadsheets or dropping the idea of daycare-on-demand completely, you can use Hopping In and fully utilize your spots. By giving parents the flexibility they need and earning extra revenue, you can grow your daycare without worrying about scheduling.

For what do parents use Hopping In’s flexibility features?

  1. I’ve been using it lately to pick up extra days while I’ve needed to finish up a project. (Eleanor R.)
  2. I tell all the Moms at the parks if they tell me they are stay at home moms and need a break from their kid(s). (Yvonne T.)

2) Showing your daycare’s availability

In order for the parents to book empty spots at your daycare, they need to know about them first.

Keeping a booking calendar in your computer works great – for you. Parents, on the other hand, have to jump through hoops to get info about your availability. Spending a lot of time on the phone wastes everyone’s time, so we made sure that Hopping In streamlines the process.

It displays your daycare’s availability to all interested parents. It’s also a great way to attract new customers because the integrated search function integrated allows parents to find nearby daycares with vacancies.

The parents can get the child care they need when they need it, and you boost daycare enrollment while boosting customer satisfaction at the same time.

3) Boost daycare enrollment by motivating parents to help you grow

If parents love your daycare for all the extra steps you take (even when it’s not easy), they will want to help.

However, offering them an additional incentive is a great idea. With Hopping In, parents can drop the spots and allow other parents to book them so you’re earning extra revenue.

It’s very simple:

  1. Parents report their child’s absence through Hopping In and drop the spots they won’t be using.
  2. Other customers choose the dropped spots.
  3. You get paid, and give partial tuition credit to the parents who dropped the spots.

The partial tuition credit feature is optional so you don’t have to use it, but it’s a good way to boost daycare enrollment with (financial) flexibility.

How are you going to boost daycare enrollment?

In general, if you want to boost daycare enrollment, the first thing to look at are your customers. What do they need? What can you offer?

And flexibility works like a charm. It may mean changing your work hours permanently, or just making the booking process easier for all the overworked parents who need some time for themselves.

In return, you boost daycare enrollment and revenue at the same time.

You can use these strategies even without additional software, but Hopping In is risk-free. There’s no charge if you’re not using it to fill your vacant spots, and it makes flexibility a piece of cake instead of spreadsheet juggling.

Stop worrying about September, and start boosting your daycare enrollment right now.

Try Hopping In.

Author: Hopping In Blog

Sholom Strick is an expert on the business of running daycare centers and founder of Hopping In, a tool that helps childcare centers and family daycare providers fill unused spots.

To contact him or for media inquiries email s.strick@daycareteam.com

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