Referrals - love em or hate em?

[Judy Trickett]

I have had tons of referrals and some have panned out and others haven't. I truly appreciate them but I don't reward the referring parent. In this business especially, word of mouth is extremely important.

I think it really depends on where you live. If you live in a big city the word of mouth is not really that important. I rarely get families in care who know each other. If anything other providers are a better referral source than past or present dcfamilies.

I have had two different incidences wherein one family left all on their own due to a change of circumstance and then another family I had to terminate and both times another dcfamily (who was either friends or family if the client leaving care) ended up leaving too. It's just too risky to me to have people in care who know eachother.

Heck, I don't even like to take on siblings because of the financial risk. If you are only allowed five kids in care then siblings are 40% of my income. When they up and leave that is A LOT of money lost per week until I fill that spot. The same goes for clients who are friends with each other outside of my daycare.

I can honestly say that it took me a long time to become business savvy. And, also being brutally honest here, but in the last year I lost a bit of my savvy and it was one of the worst years for turnover I have EVER had. And I know deep down that it was my own fault. I broke my OWN rules about siblings, taking people you know or who know eachother, taking on people in your neighbourhood, or, on the other hand, taking families who live far away (the drive gets old).

You only have to get hit by the swing, yet again, for not following your own wisdom to remind you of how business always has to be first and foremost in your mind in the field of daycare.