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200: October Enrollment Strategy: Fill Winter and Spring Spots Now · Early Childhood Business Made Easy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: The families who will fill your winter and your spring spots, well, they're not waiting until January to start looking.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: They, my friend, are looking now in October, while their kiddos are settled into fall routines.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: And the question of what comes next, and that starts to form.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: So the operators and the CEOs who have full rosters through the spring, they don't always fill them in February.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: They often have them filled by October before anyone else in their market was thinking about winter enrollment.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now, proactive enrollment, it's not a marketing technique.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: It is a mindset, a CEO mindset that treats your program's future availability as an asset to protect and communicate rather than a gap to eventually address.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: This episode is your October Enrollment Plan.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Kelly Peake.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've spent the past 26 years growing multiple million dollar early childhood businesses.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here to help you navigate both the messy and magical seasons of your early childhood business with simple, actionable strategies.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is my goal to make your life a little easier working with our most prized possessions in life.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you're ready to control the chaos, ditch the exhausting overwhelm, and keep the joy, then be sure to join us at kellypeak.com.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, hey there, CEOs.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Early Childhood Business Made Easy podcast.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Kelly Peake.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, and I love to help you find more of that time freedom lifestyle that you so deserve.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, today is special, and I have been sitting with the number 200 for a few weeks now.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: When I recorded the first episode of the Early Childhood Business Made Easy podcast, I had one intention.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted early childhood operators, owners, managers, directors, I wanted you to have access to the kind of business support that I had spent years trying to piece together for myself.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: The books that did not account for the specific realities of an early childhood business with working with kids, with caring and servicing families.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the coaches who were generically encouraging but did not give me the framework that fit my actual program, they were wonderful, but I didn't get everything that I needed.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I had this feeling that nobody out there had built a map for this particular industry.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I believe then, and I believe even more now, that the early childhood CEOs who listen to this show are doing some of the most important work that exists.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: They are shaping the brains, the hearts, and the foundational experiences of the children who will build the next generation.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that work, it deserves better business support than it has historically received.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that belief is what kept me showing up for 200 episodes.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So to be here with you at episode 200, with more than 17,000 listeners tuning in each week, with CEOs across this country and beyond building more profitable, more sustainable, more joy-giving businesses, this is one of the greatest professional privileges of my working career.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for being here.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you most of all for doing this most important work that matters.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now, because this is the 200th episode of the Early Childhood Business Made Easy podcast, and not 200 episodes of Kelly's feelings about early childhood business, I'm going to do what I do every week.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give you something genuinely useful for your business right now.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: So at the end of today's episode, I'm going to share a free gift that I've been building for this milestone.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's a complete pre-recorded coaching week that's going to be available for every podcast subscriber.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: It is a complete free resource.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's my thank you to this community for 200 episodes of showing up, of supporting me, of being part of this team.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: But first, let's dive into our October enrollment strategy because the families who will fill your winter and spring spots, they are making decisions right now.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And most early childhood directors and managers, well, they don't think about winter enrollment until they have those open winter spots.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And by then, the families who would fill those spots have already made their decisions.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: So this episode is about closing that gap permanently, changing your mindset, following a CEO mindset.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you're going to do it with a proactive enrollment approach that keeps your pipeline full before that gap even appears.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: So our three strategies today: the mindset shift from reactive to proactive enrollment, your specific October campaign for filling winter and spring spots.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, the year-round enrollment system that ends that scramble for good.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the families who are going to fill your winter and spring spots, they're not waiting until January.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: If they are looking, they are deciding now in October.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the CEOs who have full rosters through the spring, they filled them in the fall when the decisions were still being made, not in the winter, when it was already done.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, don't forget about our free resource for today.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's the one-liner formula.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to find it at KellyPeak.com.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to find information on podcast episode 200.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Download it because we're going to be using it in strategy number two.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is one of the most effective enrollment tools you will ever build.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it takes about 30 minutes to create once you have the framework.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, my friend, here's to 200 episodes.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you all for being a part of it.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, here is the way to think about enrollment this fall with a CEO mindset.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Your marketing should exist six weeks ahead of your enrollment need, not six weeks behind it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And most operators, directors, managers, many will market when they have those open spots.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the problem is that family enrollment decisions, well, they often take six to eight weeks from first awareness to commitment, which means that if you start marketing in January for a January opening, you are starting your marketing campaign exactly the moment families are finishing that decision process that your competitor, who may have started marketing in November, may have already won.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: So proactive enrollment is not about marketing more aggressively, it's about marketing at the right time, which is always six to eight weeks before you actually need the enrollment, not the day that you notice the gap.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: So in October, you have two enrollment windows to fill, winter and spring.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: So the families who need winter enrollment are thinking about it now.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: So these might be families who, for whatever reason, are looking to make a change, or they could be families whose kiddos are turning one or turning two or turning three, who are aging into your program, depending on where that age starts for you.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the families who need spring enrollment, they're beginning to formulate the question.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Neither group is going to wait for you to reach out for them.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: They are going to choose the program that is already visible, already warm, and already clearly communicating that they have availability for the dates that they are looking for.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the CEO, the Conference Early Childhood Operator, well, she does not manage enrollment reactively.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: She plans her enrollment marketing quarterly, starting each campaign six to eight weeks before the target enrollment date.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: She treats her future availability as an asset that deserves as much attention as her current programming.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the research on consumer decision timing in service purchases, well, it's consistent.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: A Harvard Business Review analysis of service businesses' purchasing behavior found that prospective customers typically began researching alternatives six to 10 weeks before their intended purchase date, and that they are significantly more likely to choose the provider who was visible during the early research phase than the one who reached out closer to the decision.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: So in an early child enrollment situation, a Childcare Aware of America report found that families seeking childcare contact an average of three to five programs before enrolling.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that the programs that they contact first, they have a statistically higher enrollment conversion rate than those that are contacted later in the search process.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, what this means for your October enrollment strategy is that the families you want for your winter and spring programs, if you have openings, well, they're researching you now.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: They are not researching randomly.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: They are searching in the places where you are either appearing or you're not.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: So your October marketing is not about being pushy, it's about being findable at the moment that these families are actively looking.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now there's a Play Cafe owner that I worked with, and she had spent three consecutive winters starting December and January with open spots, launching marketing in panic mode and filling them by mid-February at her best.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: So her programs were genuinely excellent, and her current families were enthusiastic advocates for her business, but she had never really marketed for winter availability before January because it really hadn't occurred to her that there were families looking that early.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: So the year she shifted to a proactive enrollment calendar and launched her winter marketing campaign in October, well, two things surprised her.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: First, she actually had inquiries within the first week.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Families who told her that they had been looking sick since September and had not found anything that they felt confident about until they found her.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then, second, her winter program was fully enrolled by mid-November.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: For the first time in three years, she spent December entirely focused on delivering excellent programming, especially these fun holiday programs she was excited about, rather than filling spots.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, her assessment afterward, well, it was simple.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: The families were always looking in October, just as much as those families that were looking in the summer.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: They were just different families looking at different times for different reasons.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: She just was not there when they were looking because she didn't think they would be there.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So being there first, it wasn't complicated.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: It just required deciding in September that October actually was an enrollment season for some families and that she could fill her winter programming if she had open spots.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And she executed that accordingly.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: That, my friend, is exactly what I want for you if you still have open spots right now.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to be thinking with the CEO mindset.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: So let's dive into strategy number one.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Stop waiting for empty spots.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the proactive enrollment mindset.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now the reactive enrollment cycle works like this: you run a program at capacity, enrollment is steady, the pipeline feels manageable, then a few spots open up.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe a family moves, a child ages out, a situation changes.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: You notice the openings and you start marketing.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: But the lead time from marketing to enrollment is six to eight weeks.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: So two or three weeks that you waited for families to notice the opening plus the six to eight weeks of the decision cycle, well, that means you're looking at two to three months before the opening is filled.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So multiply that by every enrollment gap across a year, and you spend a significant amount of your operating year with spots sitting open that were always going to be sitting open because the marketing to fill them started too late.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now the proactive enrollment mindset, well, it relooks at this.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of what do I do when I have an open spot, it asks, what enrollment openings will exist in 12 to 16 weeks?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And what marketing do I need to be doing right now to ensure those spots are spoken for before they open?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: So this is not a prediction.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: It truly is planning.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know which families are likely to transition out and when.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know when your program naturally has availability.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know what your seasonal enrollment patterns look like.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So the proactive operator uses that knowledge to plan marketing campaigns in advance rather than responding to vacancies after the fact.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this October, that month is a specific month where this mindset can pay a big dividend for the rest of the year.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because October is a time when decisions about winter and spring enrollment are being made by the families you want to serve.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Again, these are kiddos who are starting to age into your program.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: These are families who maybe started somewhere and for whatever reason were unhappy.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: These are families that maybe moved due to work, career, or any other specific family reasons they had to move into your neighborhood.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the early childhood operator who is actively visible and communicating availability in October, well, she's going to fill her winter and spring programs before her competitors start thinking about them.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is a season that's always been very real in our community.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: We have found over the years that actually September and October are two of our slower months, believe it or not.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: We find that we have more kiddos aging into our program, October, November, December, and January.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we start our program at one.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be one to be part of our program.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we tend to get more one-year-olds in December and January than we do in September.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, after asking several families about this, it usually is a lot of new families, first-time parents, for whatever reason, they don't really know yet about that September back to school date.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: So in their mind, the beginning of the year is January.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that is why we tend to get a lot of new families in January.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So this is something that is real for us.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we've been in business for, again, celebrating our 20th year this year.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: So this is something that a lot of early childhood operators and programs will face.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, here is the shift in concrete terms.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Your October marketing, well, it's not about fall programming, it's about winter and spring.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: So again, you've already got a lot of your families for September who were looking for specifically for fall.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're looking at families who might be making a shift.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yes, that's wonderful.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: They're wonderful if they want to start in October and November, but it's October, so you might have missed that.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So let's get focused on doing our marketing for the winter.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: And this is where your social media content is going to mention those winter spots, that they're limited.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to invite families to inquire now, your October email and your inquiry list.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to update them on what the winter and spring availability is, what your November, December holiday special events are.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Get them excited, get them wanting to come in.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Your October outreach to those past inquiries and your waitlist families, that's going to reactivate that relationship that might have gone quiet, maybe not.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: But if it has, this is a great way for you to market it right now.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're marketing for what's coming and you're doing it right now.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: So your two action steps here.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, this week, map out your next 12 weeks of enrollment availability.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: What spots do you currently have open this winter?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: What spots do you have open for the spring?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: What transitions do you anticipate?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Any spots you anticipate opening?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Families that you know might age out, families who might be moving, anything that you might know from a family that's going to create a change, any programs that might have limited enrollment capacity for the new year.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Write all this down.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Your wait list, who's planning on starting in the new year?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: This document is gonna be your October enrollment map, and it's gonna be the starting point for your marketing decisions that you make this month.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Action step number two, add a quarterly enrollment planning appointment to your annual calendar right now.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So the first week of January, you're gonna market spring and summer.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: First week of April, you're gonna market summer and fall.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: First week of July, marketing fall and winter.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: First week of October, marketing winter and spring.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: These are four appointments.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Just book out an hour to build your enrollment campaigns that are gonna start six to eight weeks before you need the enrollment.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: This one calendar change, it's gonna change that reactive scramble permanently.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And there are gonna be some years maybe you don't even need to do it.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: But if you have a plan in place and two spots unexpectedly open up, you can be ready to fill those spots.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, on to strategy number two, your October enrollment campaign.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is four specific actions.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: So once you've made that CEO mindset shift and you are ready to go, the October enrollment campaign has four specific actions that work reliably for both preschools and play cafes.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to walk you through each one in enough detail that you can start executing this week.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: You can also use these for enrichment programs as well.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the first action is the reenrollment conversation with your current families.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: So your current families, they're enrolled.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Those are your most reliable winter and spring enrollment source.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, you may not even have to have a conversation with them.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you are a program and you book out for a year, great, you don't really need to say anything.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're a program, maybe an enrichment program, maybe you're a play cafe and you are running quarterly programming, then this would be your first brief personal conversation.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: It could be a phone call, a note home, even a direct direct message.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: It says something like, We're beginning to plan our winter and spring programming and wanted to reach out to our current families about availability.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is gonna accomplish two things simultaneously.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna give your current families the first opportunity to secure their spot if they haven't already, which they appreciate and which builds loyalty.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna fill the spots before they actually technically open, which means your winter enrollment is partially secured before your marketing even starts, before you even have to reach out to prospective families.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: So again, if you are a year-round preschool, you probably don't have to do this.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you are a childcare center and you operate with families who maybe have some sort of seasonal enrollment, or maybe you're a play cafe and you do seasonal enrollment or an enrichment program with seasonal enrollment, this is something that you'd want to do.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the second action is a referral campaign launch.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a great time for referral season.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And some managers and directors, well, they let it pass without deliberately activating it.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: But here's why October is uniquely powerful for referrals.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Your current families, they've just had some fall programming with you.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: They know what their experience with your program is like.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: They've had the first day of school with you and they are enthusiastic about your program.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: And they're even more enthusiastic, probably right now.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: So October is about the perfect time to ask for a referral.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So a personal specific request to maybe five or 10 of your most engaged families.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: So capture that enthusiasm, enthusiasm at its peak, and convert it into winter and spring enrollment before it fades naturally.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: What's so great about these referrals, it's not always about enrollment.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: You can use those referrals, those comments in all of your social media all year long.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a great way to get those that feedback, get those comments out there, and use that in your marketing.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: So the third action, that's your one-liner deployed everywhere.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is where today's episode resource comes in.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: The one-liner formula.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: You find it at KellyPeak.com where you find information about podcast episode number 200.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to give you the framework for a single clear but memorable sentence that's going to describe what your program does and for whom and what transformation it creates.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: So the formula is straightforward.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Parents struggle with an internal problem because of an external problem.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you provide a solution that families experience a positive result.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, when every piece of your October enrollment marketing leads with a clear, confident one-liner rather than a description of your program features, well, that's when families can immediately understand whether you're the right fit for them.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Families who are confused about what makes you different from the program down to this the street they chose based on price or convenience.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, those families are making different choices.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Families who have a clear, specific articulation of the transformation your program provides, will they choose based on fit.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so one-liner is what creates the fit conversation.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the fourth action is a digital visibility sprint for winter and spring enrollment.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: So spend 90 minutes this week updating four specific touch points.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Your website homepage.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to update the hero message or add a banner that mentions your winter availability, your social media bios on every platform.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Add a line about winter enrollment and a link to your inquiry form, your Google Business profile, post an update specifically about your winter enrollment openings if you have any.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: And your voicemail greeting.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Add a line mentioning that you have limited winter availability and invite those families to call or text to learn more.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So families that are searching right now in October, they are looking in exactly these places.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: So if your digital presence was updated for fall and has not been refreshed for winter, well, you might be invisible at the moment your families are actively looking.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: So action step number one, complete that one-liner formula this week.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: You'll find it at KellyPeak.com, episode 200.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you have a week left that's gonna give you plenty of time to deploy this in October in at least three spaces: your social media bio, your email signature, and the first paragraph of your inquiry response.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the formula, it's gonna take a little bit of time to work through, but it's gonna create so much clarity in your marketing communication.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that is what's gonna compound over every enrollment conversation you have for the rest of this year.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is truly one of the highest leverage 30 minute investments you can make in your enrollment marketing.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Action step number two this week make five personal re enrollment or referral contacts.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you have openings, reach out to five current families specifically.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Three to check in.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Ask if they're going to re-enroll.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they have a friend that they can refer to you.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Ask for specific referrals by name.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Do that with five contacts this week before October even gets started.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the families you do not reach out to, they're not going to reach out to you when they have a question or problem.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So the families you reach out to proactively, well, they feel valued and they become your most reliable source of these referrals in the future.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, on to strategy number three, our final strategy.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to build the year-round enrollment pipeline that's going to end the scramble.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: So the October campaign that's coming up, it's going to fill your immediate and winter and spring need if you have them.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then your year-round pipeline, well, that eliminates the enrollment scramble across your entire business for as long as you operate it.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: So let me walk you through the three components of a year-round enrollment pipeline and how that works.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: The first component is the four-quarter enrollment calendar.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: So again, every quarter, your marketing is focused on the enrollment availability of two quarters ahead.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you want to get yourself to where you are looking ahead instead of reacting in the moment.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: So October, well, you're going to market for winter and spring.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: January, you're marketing for spring and summer.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: April, you're marketing for summer and fall.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And July, you're marketing for fall and winter.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this sounds simple because it is simple.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason most directors and managers do not do this is because the system can feel complicated.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is a quarterly marketing appointment that often doesn't exist on your calendar.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so then the operational demands of the current quarter, well, that absorbs all the time that you might have given to those next quarter's marketing responsibilities.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: So put the four appointments on your calendar today.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's the system, my friend.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Just invest in the time.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's four hours every year.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: So one hour once a quarter.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now the content of each appointment comes from your enrollment map, and the four October campaign actions are going to be applied to each appropriate season.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: So the first component, put it on your calendar.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: The second component is your active wait list.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: So a wait list, it's not just a list of names that you keep in a drawer.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's an active relationship with families who have expressed interest in your program and who are most likely the source of an immediate enrollment when a spot opens up.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: So every family on your wait list should have and should receive a brief personal touch at least once every six weeks.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe a newsletter, a program update, a personal message from you or a team member, an invitation to one of your events.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's why having a monthly event is so important.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: It gives you a reason to reach out.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Families on a wait list who hear from you regularly, well, they're going to enroll when that spot is open.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: Families on a wait list who hear from you only when the spot opens, they may have already looked elsewhere.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: So an active wait list converts reliably when families know your program, trust your communication, and they feel like they're part of a community.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: They're just waiting to join rather than on a list that they're just waiting on.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the third component is the inquiry nurture sequence.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: So every family who contacts you about enrollment, whether they tour, they ask for information, they send an inquiry, a text, they go into the seven touchpoint follow-up sequence that keeps them warm through that decision window.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the sequence includes a same-day personal response, a 24-hour follow-up after the first contact, a three-day invitation to tour or ask something of value, continued inclusion on your weekly or bi-weekly communication or maybe monthly, and a reactivation outreach at the four to six week mark if they have not yet committed.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: So this sequence, it's going to keep your program in front of the families who have expressed interest through the entire window of their decision process rather than making one attempt at waiting.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: So when the four-quarter calendar, the active wait list, and the inquiry nurtury sequence are all in place, enrollment stops feeling like a crisis that arrives periodically and starts feeling like a system that operates in the background of your business all year long.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: So again, when that unexpected disenrollment arises, the family moves out of town.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, dad or mom may lose their job, or maybe they just decide they want the grandparents to spend time with them.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: That is a time when you need to be able to fill it immediately.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a luxury reserve for large programs with marketing teams.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: This system is a documented, systemized approach available to any early childhood operator willing to build it once and maintain it with consistent quarterly attention.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, as I've always said, a little bit of investment time now is going to save you so much headache and time later on.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now for what I promised at the beginning of this episode, what I've been promising all throughout the month of September.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: This is our 200th episode.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Over 17,000 listeners, programs all over the country, operators of every kind of early tribal business, many, many working moms who chose this work because they believed in it and are now building the sustainable, profitable, joy-filled business that their mission deserves.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: So the free pre-recorded coaching week that I have for this milestone is now available to every podcast subscriber.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: It covers all six profit boosters: purposeful profits, empower your team, and traction nurture marketing, key services and sales strategies, efficient operations, and cash flow management.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: There are training sessions that you can access whenever you need them, take as long as you need.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is the equivalent of a live coaching event, but it's available on demand at no cost, as my thank you to this community for 200 episodes of showing up.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: So subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast if you haven't already.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Send us an email and an image showing that you are subscribed, and we will send you all of the coaching week materials.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Send it to hello at pcreative.com.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then go ahead and access that coaching week.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: My friend, it is waiting there for you.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, your two final action steps.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Build your year-round enrollment calendar this week, open your calendar, add those four quarterly enrollment planning appointments, the first week of January, the first week of April, the first week of July, and the first week of October.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: So every year from now, moving forward, then use the enrollment map you're gonna build you built in strategy one.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Create the first version of your active wait list.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Every family who's expressed interest in your program in the last year who has not yet enrolled.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Those names entered into a simple contact list with the date of their last contact or the beginning of your enrollment pipeline.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Action step number two, build your inquiry nurture sequence this week.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Write seven short messages, one for each touch point, and then save them in a document where your team can access them and personalize them so you aren't the one having to do this every time.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: The messages do not need to be long.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: They just need to be warm, specific, and consistent.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: The template exists in your team shared files.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: The execution is a matter of just putting each new inquiry family into that sequence the day they first contact you.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Once you have that in place, your system is running consistently.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to become a very reliable enrollment conversion tool that you are going to use over and over again.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: All right, my friend, those are the three strategies: the proactive enrollment CEO mindset, your October campaign, and the year-round pipeline.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: These are your complete enrollment framework for the rest of the year and every year that follows.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, I talk about rinse and repeat.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Rinse and repeat.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is your goal.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Here is your action plan this week.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, complete your one-liner formula.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: You'll find it at KellyPeak.com, episode 200, and deploy it three places.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, make five personal reenrollment referral contacts.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: Number three, add your four quarterly enrollment planning appointments to your annual calendar.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Number four, update your four digital touch points for winter and spring enrollment.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Number five, build your active wait list from your inquiry history.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: And number six, write your seven touchpoint nurture sequence.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you want deeper support, building the marketing system that makes proactive enrollment feel sustainable rather than overwhelming.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: The Shine Membership at KellyPeak.com slash Shine Membership is the ongoing coaching environment where we do this work together.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: It is a do-it-yourself approach and it's our lower cost model.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to make it affordable for everyone and anyone who needed support.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: It is a pre-recorded training with me.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: It is a new resource every month.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: It is a library filled with different resources based on our six-profit boosters.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: So go check that out.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you are looking at tools and resources you can do on your own.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are ready for more intensive one-on-one support with me, the Clarity Collective, that is our one-on-one group coaching as well, that we build this together.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it's again direct coaching from me.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the free pre-recorded coaching week, it's available right now.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to go get it, subscribe to the podcast, access the coaching week, experience all six profit boosters in one complete on-demand coaching experience.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is my gift to you for our 200 episodes.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, my friend, here's what I want to say as we close out episode 200.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: You chose an early childhood business because something in you believe that what happens in those early years, well, it matters.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it matters a lot.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: The relationships, the environments, the experience, the adults who show up with care and intention every single day, whether it is a classroom, a birthday party, a dance studio, wherever and whatever, they matter in ways that outlast the programs themselves.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe that too.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe that when you build a business that is financially sustainable, operationally strong, and genuinely joyful to lead, you have more to give to every child, to every family, and to every team member who walks through your door.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why these 200 episodes exist.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why I keep showing up and I will be here for episode 201 and beyond.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, my friend, for being here.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: You are such a confident early childhood operator.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot wait to see how things continue to grow for you.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Keep going, my friends.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning into our podcast.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready to take your early childhood business to the next level?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Then head over to KellyPeak.com to join a community of other early childhood professionals who are ditching the chaos and the overwhelm and creating a business they love.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to see you there.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.