As the owner of a small daycare with a capacity for 33 kids I know what it’s like when there’s a gap in attendance, and how detrimental that can be when you want to make your daycare center a success.
Sometimes kids can’t make it in or your classrooms are simply not full.These empty slots can become more of a problem with time, if you don’t have a good plan for filling them.
The good news is that there’s a solution which works and which has paid off big-time for me. If you want to make your daycare center more prosperous there’s a simple step you can take right now to get on that path.
Booking, Re-booking and Full Calendar
This past month I earned $1,552 from bookings for spots that opened up unexpectedly. Parents whose kids needed some extra days were able to book spots the other kids didn’t need anymore using Hopping In. This has enabled me to earn extra revenue, while giving the parents who emptied out the spots some of their money back.
Scheduling errors and long hours are a given in this day and age, and Hopping In gets it. It allows one set of parents to drop spots they don’t need, while giving the others the opportunity to book them.
As an owner, you know your empty spots, but your customers don’t. Hopping In shows your daycare’s availability. To make the most of it, explain how it works to parents. Partial refund is a good incentive to make sure they drop spots in the program (not just verbally) and allow other part time or drop-in customers to book added spots at your daycare.
Here’s a breakdown of how it worked: my daycare center had 15 bookings by parents who wanted more days of childcare for their kids. Of those bookings, 7 had been dropped by parents who reported their kid would be absent on the free Hopping In app. Also, the parents who dropped spots received 30% of those sales towards next month’s tuition, making it really beneficial for everyone in the equation.
Benefits for Parents
As with everything to do with daycare, what matters is educating and communicating with parents.
My daycare center’s parents consistently tell me that they love Hopping In’s system of booking and dropping spots online or from their phone. It’s more convenient than having to call or send emails.
You can use the “Invite Parents” button at the bottom of the Hopping In cloud-based app to get parents on board. This option will also give them a walk through the features so they learn the best way to use it.
Our Numbers with Hopping In
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the activity produced on Hopping In at our small childcare center just in January, 2018:
Total booked: $1552.50
Total Add-On Bookings: 15
Spots that were reported absent by parents & bought by other parents: 7
Times parents reported themselves absent and listed the spot for sale to other parents: 16
Times Parents wait-listed certain dates they wanted additional care: 20
Use Hopping In to Make Your Daycare Center a Success
It’s really a relief to be able to go from a lot of empty spots in the calendar to it being almost full. It didn’t even take a lot of work – we simply presented the parents with the options Hopping In gave them, and it was easy to get them on board.
In turn, we got extra revenue we could spend on making our daycare even better. Hopping In lets you motivate your employees with a bonus or a celebration, or refurbish your daycare so the kids enjoy it even more.
So, how do you make your daycare center a success? There are many ways to approach it, but utilizing it to its fullest potential while serving the needs of parents is the best one.
After all, a daycare center works best when everyone is happy. Fun isn’t just for the kids.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.
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
