Why industry agnostic lead management systems don’t work in ECEC settings

In the ultra competitive early childhood education and care (ECEC) environment that can currently be found across suburbs in Australia, keeping one step ahead of the competition is a must if an approved provider is going to sustain their business and prosper. 

A great place to start in this pursuit is to ensure that your centre is providing a terrific early learning program that is delivered by capable and engaged team members from environments and premises that are welcoming and fresh. 

However, in this day and age success in the early learning space requires more than delivering quality alone, it requires the ability to meet and exceed family’s expectations every step of the way, as well as attract, convert and retain those families in the process. 

That is why more and more approved providers are turning to specialised digital lead management solutions, rather than generic industry agnostic solutions, that are configured to help in these important areas and why lead management is becoming the new battleground for success in ECEC. 

A new generation of families expect more 

As reported in LineLeader by ChildcareCRM’s most recent benchmarking report “60% of the millennial parent demographic say they’re more likely to hang up if a business doesn’t answer their call in under 45 seconds and 80% expect an immediate response when contacting a company.”

Expectations for quick and efficient enquiry responses are just one area where family expectations have unequivocally evolved over time and approved providers who are not able to respond accordingly run the risk of losing potential leads to their competitors. 

Other such areas include tour booking management, pre and post visit communications and onboarding processes as well as ongoing engagement. 

With the list expanding, and so much at stake, it is unsurprising therefore that providers are turning to lead management systems to meet the needs of the moment and offer their families the seamless experience they have now come to expect.

Choosing the best system for your ECEC business 

The ideal lead management solution for approved providers looking to keep one step ahead will include a wide range of features that optimise enquiry conversion, underwrite family engagement and maintain a clear line of site on performance through data and analytics. 

These solutions will speak directly to early learning professionals by providing a tailored solution that reflects the nuances of the childcare sector, its needs, terminology and processes. 

“As the early learning sector’s largest lead management and enrollment operations platform, we have spent nearly 15 years tailoring our solution to the unique needs of the early learning community,” LineLeader by ChildcareCRM CEO Brett Neller said.

“In partnership with our customer base, which makes up thousands of centre settings across Australia, we have received excellent feedback and insights to help us specialise the software for early learning operators and executives.”

Generic CRM systems fall well short of the ECEC communities needs

Many of the generic lead management systems available in the marketplace have been designed to meet everyone’s needs, ie: are not specialised. 

These may be a great option for companies like Amazon that are involved in dozens of industries, across scores of countries, but will fall well short for professionals focused entirely on the ECEC sector.   

“Our previous database system, Salesforce, was clunky and industry agnostic. It was not easily understood by our centre directors, and it was difficult to customise,” Sara S, VP of  Sales and Marketing said. 

“Our organisation switched from Salesforce to LineLeader by ChildcareCRM and we will never go back. In a survey of our users, 95% of our team said they liked it as much, more than, or much more than the alternative which signals strongly to us that we made the right decision.” 

To learn more about how LineLeader by ChildcareCRM became the ECEC sector’s number one choice for their lead management and operations platforms and why it consistently outperforms generic platforms click here.