Screening clients

I’ve had a good routine going with how I screen clients prior to having a home visit.
I found years ago, that I was wasting so much time bringing them in for a visit and then finding out they were trying to bargain with me on policy or contract issues, or hours or fees etc, so I stopped allowing everyone through my door without prescreening.
I refer to my website and ask them to contact me after that for a phone interview. I ask about 15 questions about their child’s development/health etc and clarify hours needed etc. This has really helped me weed out clients that just wouldn’t be suitable for the group( it gives me a sense of the parents and the kids)
I’ve always found this to be a successful method instead of interviewing the whole world.
Lately I’ve found people are refusing to do the phone interviews, and pushing for a tour immediately. I’m not bending on these rules, but it makes me wonder why you wouldn’t agree to speak to a provider before the in house interviews?
My husband guessed that they could be people with something to hide, or people assuming they could just bargain my policies once through the door. I have had people lie in the past about true intentions, and just come to scope out my setup and contract and then go open their own daycare.
Any ideas as to why they wouldn’t want to speak on the phone( assuming language barrier is not the issue)?

I have a similar process.

I require a phone interview first. Most people understand when I explain that it gives us both the chance to see how we communicate before giving up our time. It allows me to ask outright what hours of care they need and stop instantly if they've ignored the business hours on my ad and require longer hours of care. It also allows me to explain about my set up and policies, what my schedule looks like and see how well the communication flows and how open they are.

If and only if I am interested in them as a potential client, I end the call by telling them I am sending my paper work for them to read and review before a face to face meeting and I set up a time to meet. If I'm not interested, I thank them for their interest and let them know I don't think they are a good match for the current client group.

The side advantage is that in having already had the questions and answers in the call, in having been given time to read my policies, etc., the time needed to meet in person, see the day care space and show police checks etc is much shorter.

I end the interview by telling them that I will let them know within 24 hours if I am offering the space to them and that until I have the enrollment fee and signed contract in my hand, I don't consider that they have taken the space.

I am clear that I won't hold an empty space without payment so if they want the space even if they don't need it for a little while, they have to pay for it. If I am interviewing for a space that is occupied by a child whose given notice, then they are expected to pay for it from the time it's empty. I don't double dip on the space but I won't take a drop in pay if they don't need the space for several weeks.

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Lately I’ve found people are refusing to do the phone interviews, and pushing for a tour immediately. I’m not bending on these rules, but it makes me wonder why you wouldn’t agree to speak to a provider before the in house interviews?

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There is no option to refuse a phone call first. If someone is pushing for a tour, I simply explain that having other people's children in my house, I have a responsibility to vet random strangers before giving them access to my home. I clearly state that this is for the safety of the children.
I've never had someone refuse after that and often people reply saying they hadn't thought about that but it made sense. If someone still refused, I would take that as a red flag because if they aren't going to respect your process, they aren't going to respect your home or policies down the line.

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My husband guessed that they could be people with something to hide, or people assuming they could just bargain my policies once through the door.

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Possibly. I tend to think it's more that parent's mistakenly believe that I will be working for them or that they have an input into the program, opening hours. Since that isn't the case, then I don't really care what their belief is because it's not going to happen that way. They might as well get that message strong and clear from the get go.

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Any ideas as to why they wouldn’t want to speak on the phone( assuming language barrier is not the issue)?

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- No true understanding that you are a business and have set hours
- No true understanding that fees and hours are non-negotiable
- Mistakenly thinking they will be able to request special considerations
- Lack of thought about the safety of children and why we don't invite people to tour just because they want to.

I find a lot of people seeking care months in advance who want to come and see the day care before I even know if I will have a space. My biggest challenge is constantly explaining to people that I am not giving up my evenings or weekends to conduct house tours unless I know for sure there is a space to fill. It blows them away that I am not open to showing people around just in case so I'm endlessly explaining that if I did that, I would have most of my weekends and evenings allocated to tours with people I will never have a space for. I also explain that business hours are when I perform business tasks and being one carer for a group of children, I cannot just accomodate tours during the day for the sake of it. I have a job to do, children to supervise, a program to deliver that are all affected each time a potential client wants a tour. Unless there's a space to be filled, I am not willing to disrupt my schedule for this.

I have a 9 pg form on my website that they have to fill out before I will set up an interview. If they don't fill it out they don't get an interview.

once I have received the form - they get one of two emails from me
1) thank you for being interested in my daycare. Unfortunately I don't feel that my daycare will be a good fit for your child care needs. best of luck .......
2) I would love to meet with you and your family ............

Why they might not want to do a phone interview
People can be lazy. they do so many interviews that they simply can't be bothered anymore. They could be hiding something or feel that speaking face to face will be better.
They don't like talking on the phone.

not everyone who I tell to fill out my form will do so. those who don't - while its their loss not mine.

I am not sure on how full you're, in my case I always had a long waiting list so I will kind of set things up to do all showings or tour in one day and then deal with people interested going through policies contracts etc.

Now, that situation have changed for many of us in Ontario, this year I do not have anyone in my waiting list. So, I'm kind of brainstorming in what to do next.

Analizing my competition (kids and Co. Corporation, montessori, and many that just opened in schools) I think I will just have to change my marketing strategy (probably offer an open house like these places do) I kind of have been doing already that but only with my waiting list people.

Now I might go open house for everyone that have a child and is interested to consider my house as an option. You never know these parents might also recommend you to other parents that need care.

I'll see. I'm very open to parents when ever they call I always ask to come over taking or not my services for me it is not a lost time I got many clients that way even some that didn't take my services but, they've referred my services to others.And I usually do not make much effort in advertising.

About policies and contracts (mine are simple not "top secret" or many pages, new parents find it hard as it is, so my contract and policies are few pages point form, clear and consice, easy to understand (do not want to loose my audience in the middle of it or lead to missunderstandings)

I'm very open about that I ask them to please take one and compare (only having seen all their options they will make their best decision and live with it).

My phone is for emergencies, I also tell parents I do not advertise or explain about my daycare during my work hours, my group deserves my attention.

Never had a problem with people coming with seconD intentions, perhaps these people needs guidance, I was once new and I was in need of help to know how this work, I had the warm hands of a wOman to help me and guided me (specially with the papers or regulations) all out of generosity and now we are best friends 20 years later!!

If anyone comes to my house with seconD intension (because you can tell); I guide them I try my best to send them to the proper information websites or regulations or worshops etc.or they can call me. They can also take my contract I'm sure they will do theirs better but, they will remember kindness. Everyone needs to work and survive and we do it for our families (we never know in which kind of situation they are but they need help to start somewhere).