It’s November, and the time of year when we at The Julian Group like to thank all of you for your business, your loyalty, your determination to become good marketers and enrollment builders, and your passion for giving young children an early advantage. We look forward to continuing to serve you, and trust you will look to us for the marketing speaking, training, and consulting services, and training resources we can provide to help you become more successful.

You know you should do some marketing. It’s how to generate more inquiries and stay competitive. Yet, your time is at a premium. Your budget is limited. The many other demands of your position are calling for attention. So what can you do in minutes?

With so many factors at play, it’s understandable that you’re drawn to spend the bulk of your time on center operations or management issues instead of marketing. Yet, even if you only have a few minutes to spare, there is a lot of marketing you can do. Select from these quick marketing action steps and valuable tools to help get your marketing on track in 30 minutes or less.

If You Have 5 Minutes…

Write that thank you note to the prospect who just visited your center. It will make them feel good about you and separate you from your competitors. Be sure you include your business contact information and send it right away.

Give two of your business cards to someone new. It positions you as professional and gives the recipient the opportunity to refer you. EASY marketing.

Coach a teacher on becoming a better marketing partner on your center’s team. This may be a quick reinforcing tip on the importance of smiling, acknowledging each prospect and parent, professional appearance, or shaking hands professionally.

If You Have 15 Minutes…

Role play responding to a prospect’s price objection or another difficult interaction with a parent. The more practiced you are, the more comfortable and confident you will be when face to face with an enrollment prospect or customer, and the more likely you will be to convert the prospect or retain the customer.

Assemble a few enrollment packets you can have ready at hand to customize for parent center visits. This will make your enrollment prospects perceive you as an organized manager and will add to their good feelings about choosing your center.

Check online for parent or prospect emails, reviews, or website inquiries. Respond then or tickler your calendar to do so within the next 24 hours. Be sure to note the inquiry sources in your Inquiry Tracking System.

If You Have 30 Minutes…

Make five follow-up calls to prospects who have not yet visited or enrolled. I like to say, “The fortune is in the follow-up!” Sales statistics prove timely follow-up that offers information of value yields results in converting prospects to customers.

Host a Parent Hot Line offering a half hour when parents can call in and ask questions they did not have time to ask during drop off or pick up. Involve your staff. Promote this weekly hot line time in your newsletter and at your sign-in area.

Make a community marketing visit to a business outside your center. Listen to the newly updated Keys to Marketing a Professional Image CD training program for seven ways to make community marketing easy and worth your time.

Have a few more minutes? Set aside some time every week to practice a conversion skill, shop a competitor, update your marketing action plan, write a new blog post, check reviews on your social media sites, initiate customer contact, review marketing performance expectations in a staff meeting, input the information necessary to track your conversions and best sources of qualified inquiries.

If you can commit to making marketing a part of your everyday activities in little bites of time, you will soon see how th effort of spending even a few minutes regularly marketing pays big dividend in enrollment inquiries, conversions, and retention.

Julie Wassom
“The Speaker Whose Message Means Business”
Marketing and Sales Speaker/Consultant/Author
303-910-3083
julie@juliewassom.com
www.juliewassom.com