The waiting list... it works!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I have done the waiting list thing both ways ~ when I started out I did the whole interview and tour in order to go on the waiting list so that I knew that everyone on it was 'seriously' interested in my program and I wanted that 'pool' cause being new to self employed I was in that 'fear mode' of what if current clients all terminate on me ~ so my first year I interviewed anyone and everyone who contacted me even though I did not NEED to ~ just in case .... but the reality is that I was NEVER able to help any of those people out cause none of my first clients turned over for well over a year and by the time I had space their kid was already settled in a program somewhere else.... so all those hours of after hours unpaid work was wasted.

So I switched to if someone contacts me and I am full I offer to keep their info and if something 'changed' I would contact them .... I was able to get 'one person' this way who had not found alternative care when I finally had a space to offer them and that was because the kid was home with 'grandma' and did not really NEED childcare mom just wanted some extra stimulation a few days a week and she had not found anything that she 'liked' so she came interviewed and signed on .... I have had others who contacted me every month 'asking' how things were even though they had never met me ..... but for the most part all the majority of others who had needed care for X date had gone off and found care and I just take them off the list anyway ~ with only a few minutes of my time wasted with a phone call or email.

Ultimately ~ even if someone has met you and really liked your program if they have found care elsewhere unless it is 'really bad' they are going to just accept the status quo and stay where they are.

I will also admit that if I interviewed someone 6 months or a year ago for a spot and put them on my waiting list I would want to 'interview' them AGAIN because clients priorities and thinking can often CHANGE over that time and we might no longer be an ideal match for care ... aka the ideals a parent holds for an infant might not be the 'reality of practice' with their now 2 year old.