The first of three keys to getting enrollment prospects to seriously consider your center is your initial response to their inquiry. Your attention to these three elements of your response make the difference as to whether you hold the prospect long enough to convert their inquiry into a center visit, or whether you lose them to your competition.
Factors in your initial response that will enhance your chances for conversion…
- Be timely. The sooner you respond, the better. Within the first hour is optimal, and within 24 hours is your window. If you cannot make personal contact within that time frame, send a text or email indicating that you will do so on the next business day. Quick response is simply a must. You snooze, you lose.
- Method of response. Send inquiry responses in the way most of your young families like to receive communication. Monster.com recently reported a far higher open rate for Millennials to text messages than emails. Have you surveyed your current families to see their preferred method of communication? What they prefer is likely the same for your prospects.An important note here – Because the child care decision is far more personal than many other buying decisions, I strongly recommend you follow your initial response with a call to the inquiring family.
- Beware of too much content in your initial response. Most young parents will read your response on a mobile device, and will not read anything too lengthy or inaccessible. Remember your goal is to convert this prospect into a center visit, where you can thoroughly discuss their needs and the benefits of your school that meet those needs. An ideal initial response gives your prospect professional, friendly acknowledgement of their inquiry, a short answer to their specific question or helpful link to a page on your website, and an indication of when you will reach out to them personally.
Contact me for a sample of content for an initial inquiry response.
So as a busy director, how can you keep up with responding to initial inquiries? One of the best supports you can learn, invest in, and use is a customer relationship management system. Such a system will send out auto-responses, alert you when the prospect communicates back to you, and tickler you when you need to initiate further action. One to check out that is customized to early care and education industry is Child Care CRM.
Do you want to learn the other two keys to converting more inquiries into center visits? Register for this FREE webinar:
Julie Wassom
“The Speaker Whose Message Means Business”
Marketing and Sales Speaker/Consultant/Author
303-910-3083
julie@juliewassom.com
www.juliewassom.com
