Maximising enrolments in 2021 is a priority for everyone – Here are five key areas to focus on to guarantee success

With 2021 just around the corner service managers and owners are well into planning for success with a focus on building or maintaining enrollment levels, especially in an environment that has become increasingly competitive postCOVID-19. 

 

For more clarity on what best practice looks like in the lead management space, The Sector contacted the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector’s largest lead management software provider, ChildcareCRM, to understand what they consider the most important areas of focus and how their product suite can help. 

 

“Managing leads effectively can make or break a centre’s performance,” CEO Matt Amoia said. “At Childcare CRM we are very fortunate to be in the position to have a lot of knowledge around what works, what doesn’t, and all the effective solutions to set centres up for success.” 

 

“There are five key areas where we see well executed lead management practices providing consistently good conversion results. If a centre gets these right, they will succeed in boosting enrolment but also engagement,” he added.

 

• Make sure you are capturing all leads possible

 

“This may sound simple but in reality it’s not. Leads nowadays can come from so many different areas whether it be by phone, by email, by walk in, by text or by messaging and could have been sourced from Google or Facebook or a parent referral or signage. It is essential that all potential leads are captured and secured in one easily accessible space.”

 

The only way to ensure that all leads are captured effectively in a single, easily managed place is to use a comprehensive CRM platform. 

 

Spreadsheets, Mr Amoia said, “just don’t cut it anymore. As lead acquisition gets more sophisticated the way we capture and store leads must also step up.”

 

“Our platform enables a manager to integrate virtually with email systems, phone systems, the web and more to ensure that no lead is missed from these key channels. That’s the most important starting point of any successful CRM system.”

 

• Make sure you have as much information as possible about your enquiring family

 

Making sure that your CRM system is effective at capturing and storing leads is not enough for success in this area. What is also needed is a system that enables you to gather and record as much information as possible about an enquiring family, so future communications can be crafted in a way that ensures maximum engagement and enrolment success. 

 

“Knowing your customer is a key catch phrase in the business space and is incredibly important for the childcare sector. The more a centre manager knows about an enquiring family the more effectively they can coordinate their journey to enrolment,” Mr Amoia said.

 

“That’s why we have created a set of comprehensive templates within ChildcareCRM to enable managers to gather and store as much information about their inquiring families as possible.”

 

• Make sure all communications are positioned to have maximum engagement

 

Once a good understanding of a customer’s profile is recorded the next, and perhaps most important step, is the communication and engagement that will determine the next phase of the customer’s journey. 

 

Whether it be reaching out by phone, email or text, all messaging should be informed by a solid understanding of a customer’s needs and be consistent and regular as possible. 

 

“They say 90 per cent of effective lead management is effective communication, and that is why we have spent so much time investing in a set of tools that facilitate effective communication between prospective families and the centre.” Mr Amoia said. 

 

“We have a range of automated and customisable communication tools and templates that enable centre managers to have 100 per cent confidence that all leads are being engaged with in a way that is efficient and effective.”

 

“Gone are the days when we had to spend hours crafting individual messages and then diarising when we had to send a follow up. It’s all automated now, which makes it much easier for all concerned.”

 

• Make sure that you track a leads journey from enquiry to enrolment

 

It’s all very well having a CRM system that captures, records and communicates with families, Mr Amoia said, but if that system doesn’t have the ability to track the journey in an effective way then it is possible that leads will be lost in future. 

 

“Tracking of a leads progress from enquiry to enrolment is such an important function of a modern CRM system, as it not only provides an audit trail of the journey but also enables the centre manager to see exactly how effective their team is at converting that all important enrolment.”

 

Childcare CRM can produce a range of reports to provide valuable insights into performance in this key area which then creates opportunities for continual improvement as necessary.

 

• Make sure that your CCMS system is correctly updated with a new families details

 

Once a new family has made the important decision to enrol the next step is to ensure that the childcare management system (CCMS) is correctly updated with their details, a step that is made ‘many times easier’  in cases where the CCMS system is integrated with the centre’s CRM system. 

 

“Integrating with a CCMS system is the final link to effective lead management practices, as it ensures that all information on an enrolling family is securely and correctly transferred and removes another manual task from a busy centre manager’s day.”

 

The ChildcareCRM team pride themselves on their partnerships across the CCMS space, knowing that their customers appreciate their efforts to continue to build on their integrations, ensuring that there is real peace of mind about ensuring data transfer is easy and effective. 

 

To learn more about ChildcareCRM please visit their website, here or contact the Australian customer support team on 07 3518 2425.