How to be the 'Best thing Since Sliced Bread'
Are you the ‘best thing since sliced bread’? Hopefully this article will help you persuade prospective customers that yours is the best childminding service on offer and, if they are undecided which type of childcare they are looking for, that childminding is best. Parents looking for a registered childminder may not have experience of selecting childcare and may need guiding through the various forms of care available and the benefits of each.
If possible, allow prospective customers plenty of time for their visits, don't rush them. Meeting prospective customers when other minded children are present has both advantages and disadvantages. It can give a good indication of how you interact with them and, hopefully, how contented they are. However, the danger is that the demands of giving attention to existing children may act as a distraction.
Parents will be looking for a variety of points and first impressions are very important, after all they are proposing to leave their most treasured possession with what to all intents and purposes is almost a complete stranger. Expect them to inspect those areas where their child might eat, sleep and play both indoors and outdoors to ensure that they are clean and safe. This does not mean they are nosey, they are just being good parents. They should be checking that there are plenty of toys appropriate to the children present and sufficient equipment if their child was to come.
Some parents may have difficulties asking questions, they may feel they are intruding on you. Help them overcome this by having a chat over coffee, and tell them what you have to offer. They may find it helpful to know how long you have been childminding and what experience and qualifications you have. Describe the activities you can provide and, if you take the children out during the day, the type of places you visit. Providing information on the other children their child will have to play and socialise with can be very important (remember not to breech confidentiality). The prospective customer will need to know who is to provide meals and snacks and if you are providing these then give details, home made cooking can be a deciding factor. Explain your behaviour management policy to them, they will often be looking for someone with similar house rules, you may need to be flexible. The information you have provided will help them form a picture of you and the service you offer. It is up to you how you paint this picture but it will influence their choice of childcare.
Remember, this is also an opportunity to size up both the child and parents as well. Will the child’s behaviour fit in with your existing children, do the parents appear reliable, will they turn up on time, will they pay on time?
If you can offer references this may also sway a parent in your favour, to know someone else is happy with you and your services can be very reassuring, An existing customers may provide references for you. If your existing customers are too busy to write references, then ask if they mind if prospective customers phone them for a chat about your childcare services.
If you have encouraged a parent to take notes, or provided them with written information you have prepared yourself, it will help them to choose their childminder and help them remember you. Don't forget when your prospective customer leaves to thank them for coming and give them your phone number in case they think of any thing else they would like to know (or have lost it as happens some times). This gives the parent an image of professional childminding at its best, helping the parent to choose you.
One final challenge remains, having convinced a parent that you are the best thing since sliced bread and got their custom, now you have to provide the service that lives up to the sales pitch.
You may also like to visit our pages of childminders with vacancies to see how they advertise themselves as the 'best thing since sliced bread'.
Article also featured in the LBCMA's March 2001 Newsletter.
