How would you respond?

[Wonderwiper]

Hi! I am re opening my daycare in a new house and have just started advertising. In the past, people have responded to my ads with emails full of questions. Today I received my first response to my ad with an email saying " I need care for my son, my number is xxx xxxx" . Has anyone had really vague responses like this and where do I even start to reply??? Thanks!

[Littledragon]

Hmm it is strange but maybe they're no bull**it people. Call them and see what happens.

[country girl]

I had one response to my ad that simply stated..."I would like to have a conversation with you"
I honestly would have written it off as spam but I didn't want to take the chance as I was just starting to advertise. I think if people have lots of questions, they just figure it's better not to get into it on an email but in my case she didn't even leave a number???? Anyway, I emailed her back, asked for a number & she turned out really nice. So it all worked out ok!

[Sandbox Sally]

I've had many inquiries like this...

I get responses like, "I have a 2 yo that needs care", and that's it...or, "we need a full time space in October" with no other information.

I think that a lot of people are just inept at electronic communication. I very nearly passed on an interview because the mother was so abrupt with our email correspondence that she wasn't even answering my questions. They honestly turned out to be an amazing family, and the mom was so much like me that I could have been friends with her. She just sucked at text and emails.

I would totally call.

[monkeymama]

I would call. What can it hurt? Maybe she was really busy that day and just quickly wrote it. The strangest inquiry I ever got has turned into my favorite DCK!

[Crayola kiddies]

The weirdest one I got was " please email me your contract" .... They ended up being in my care for a year. I'd call and just start asking questions .... You know how many children? Ages? When do you need care to start ? Full time ? What hours per day? And then just go from there ... You got nothing to lose

[Inspired by Reggio]

It is so hard today because so many younger parents TEXT from their phone or browse ads from their phones ~ so this is 'short blunt inquiries'.

I had been going back and forth with someone via email wanting to set up an interview and I kept ending the email 'please call me @ XXX-XXXX and we can discuss booking a tour time' and she kept trying to do it via the email and I had to finally say look I do not mean to be rude but I will NOT book an interview over the internet for safety reasons ~ if you are interested in coming for a tour you MUST call me so that I can put a voice to the person behind the screen and so that I have a return phone number for safety reasons' and that was the last I heard from her ..... seriously is it too much to ask you to CALL instead of emailing? Makes ya wonder why the refusal to CALL?

[Lou]

Those emails always catch me off guard too- like, don't you want to know more about the person you're looking to care for your children? And in my personal experience, they were the families that didn't make the cut! First impressions work both ways! It doesn't hurt to contact them and feel them out first, you never know!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I hear ya Lou ~ when there are options for clients to pick from I generally opt to follow up on the ones who've done more 'research' into their inquiry!

I will admit that I do generally just 'delete' any inquiry that asks me any questions CLEARLY answered in either my ad or on my website ~ interviewing is time consuming enough please do not WASTE my time with easily answered questions on my website! Take a minute read it over and if my hours, fees, general location work for you than we can discuss moving forward after I ask YOU some questions on your parenting philosophy around nutrition, behavior and guidance and SLEEP .... if we are a match on those than yup lets move forward with a face to face tour

[sunnydays]

Reggio...I had one like that too who refused to call me! Plus I would tell her things like, I book interviews only on evenings and weekends and then she would request a daytime interview to see the daycare in action. In the end she finally did call as I told her I had other interviews lined up and if she wanted one she had better call. I interviewd her and it was a waste of time..she tried to negotiate my contract etc. If you can't follow simple instructions, like please call me, then I wouldn't bother with an interview. however, in this case, I would likely call and see as short emails are not necessarily bad. I actually hate it when people ask a million questions throgh email as I would rather talk on the phone and get the basics ironed out and then save the rest for the interview.