New Daycare! What to say on phone? NEED HELP ASAP!
Hi all:D,
I run a daycare from home in Brampton, Ontario. I used to care for 2 children(siblings) at my old address, and currently I don't have any children at my new home. I just recently put up ads on Kijiji and various other free sites, and I received my first call a few days ago. I was really nervous and didn't know the right things to say, and I didn't ask good questions. The mother asked me how much my rates were. Basically she wanted care for her son on random days, some days would be 2 hours and other days 6 hours(depending on her schedule). Then she mentioned that her previous daycare provider(which she also badmouthed) charged her $4.00 per hour, which I certainly don't want to do. I told her that I can call her back with a rate after looking over the things she's mentioned, and she asked me why I can't tell her a rate right away. She also let me know that her son has been from one daycare to another. So later I called her with a rate and she basically paused, and asked me why it's so expensive, and told me "my son won't even be coming everyday" to which I replied "its a flat rate to hold your spot and not calculated based on actual attendance" (the reason she said she left last provider was because her son was sick for a whole month and her provider filled her son's spot with another child without even telling her). Then I feel I made the mistake of offering to lower the rate to match what she wanted. She said she will ask around and ended the call.
Today I received calls from two people interested in care. I have not called them back yet. I want to prepare for the call and know what to say.
Can you all give me an example of how your first phone conversations go? It would be helpful if you wrote it in a dialogue format. What do I say when I call them? I'm quite introverted in general but amazing with children, so this aspect of the job can be somewhat challenging for me. What information should I have from a potential client after that first phone call, and how do I ask for this information? How long should the call last? Generally how long after the initial call do you schedule for an interview at your home( same day/few days/week/?)
When do you tell the people your rates? Do you tell on the first call or later? I would like to charge minimum wage per hour but I realize many home daycare providers charge so little (why is this?), so I've been thinking $7-$8 per hour should be more than reasonable. That would equal to approx. $300/per week. How do I answer to a parent who might ask me “why are you charging so much?” when in fact I wouldn't even be making minimum wage, but would be working more than 40 hours a week. Is it a good idea to charge very little first and then increase my rate? :unsure:
I see mentioned around here that most of you speak with your potential clients through email first. How are you able to do this? I am more comfortable through email, and would love to do that too. Where and how do you advertise? Do you not put your phone numbers up on Kijiji and other places?
I know there are so many questions in this post, and I would appreciate any information you can give me about all of this:).
