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195: Back-to-School Parent Communication That Builds Confidence · Early Childhood Business Made Easy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Most early childhood directors and managers will they experience the same phenomenon every fall.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: The closer the first day gets, the fuller the inbox becomes.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Questions that could have been answered weeks ago, will they arrive in a flood?
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Parents who were calm in enrollment show up at drop-off, nervous, slow to leave, and difficult to transition.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: That anxiety, it is real, but is almost entirely predictable and almost entirely preventable.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: When you build a proactive parent communication system that fills the gap between enrollment and the first day, you address parent anxiety before it becomes your problem.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So this episode is going to give you the layered communication framework that reduces questions, improves first day transitions, and turns new families into loyal advocates before September ever begins.
• 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.
• 0:58
  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_00: Well, hey there, CEO.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Early Childhood Business Made Easy Podcast.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I am Kelly Peak, and I'm super excited to talk to you today because I just love helping you find more of that time freedom lifestyle you so deserve, my friend.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me ask you a question.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: How many parent messages did you receive in the last week of August last year?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to actually think about that number because for most early childhood operators, the last week of school, the last week before school starts, usually you're running some sort of a camp.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And even if you're not right before school starts, it can be one of the most in-box heavy weeks of the entire year.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Questions about drop-off procedures, supply lists, what the first day is going to look like, what to do if their child cries, whether the teacher knows about the allergy, what time pickup is, even though it's a literally in the handbook they signed months ago.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing: every single one of those questions is completely understandable.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: These are the parents who love their children deeply and are entrusting them to you for a significant portion of their most important years.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they have questions.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they are anxious.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they want reassurance.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the other thing almost none of those questions need to land in your inbox on August 25th.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Almost all of them could have been answered in July in a way that made families feel cared for and confident rather than like they were bothering you with some last-minute inquiry.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that inbox flood before school starts, it's not a parent problem.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a communication gap.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that gap is almost entirely preventable with a proactive layered communication system that's gonna fill the space between enrollment and the first day with exactly the right information at exactly the right time.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So today I'm gonna give you the framework for building that system.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna cover number one, why the anxiety gap exists and what it costs you.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, the layered communication system that fills it before it fills your inbox.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And number three, how to turn your parent communication from a reactive problem-solving task into a proactive relationship-building strategy that's gonna drive retention and referral for years.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the inbox flood that most directors and managers experience right before school starts, it's not a parent problem.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is a communication gap.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: When you fill the space between enrollment and the first day with proactive, intentional communication, you, my friend, reduce parent anxiety before it even reaches you.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you build the kind of family trust that turns a new enrollment into a multi-year relationship.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, your free resource for this episode is the Layer Parent Communication Guide.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: You will find it at KellyPeak.com where you'll find information about podcast episode number 195.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And download it before we get to strategy number two because we're gonna reference it there.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that back to school challenge, it is live right now, my friend.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's at KellyPeak.com.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Go check it out under free resources.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Parent communication, new family experiences, those are two of the most important components of your back to school fall.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So everything we covered today, it's gonna connect to some of the work that you are doing in the challenge.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So be sure to check that out.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing that changes everything about how you approach parent communication.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Every question a family asks you the week before school, that's a question you did not answer at the moment they needed it.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a criticism, it's a design insight.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Parents ask questions at the moment their anxiety peaks, not at the moment you send information.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you send the handbook in June and a parent's anxiety about drop-off peaks around August 25th, they're gonna text you on August 25th, regardless of what that handbook says.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So the solution is not to send the handbook again, it's to deliver the right information at the right moment, right around when anxiety is likely to spike.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is what a proactive communication practice means.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's not more communication, it's timed communication.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So a text three days before school starts showing a child's cubby is ready does not require the parent to read the handbook.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: It meets them exactly where anxiety lives and replaces it with something warm and specific.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is a completely different experience than any amount of documentation can create.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: The confident early childhood operator, well, they don't wait for parent anxiety to arrive in the inbox.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: She anticipates it, she addresses it proactively, and she builds a relationship in the process.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: According to a Bain and company study, a 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I repeated myself.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because retained customers, well, they spend more, they refer more, and they cost significantly less over time.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So in an early childhood business, family retention is even more valuable because it spans years, not months.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And because retained families, well, they refer new families who enroll with a higher baseline of trust than families who found you through advertising.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Bright Horizons Family Solutions Annual Modern Family Index consistently finds the parent confidence in their child care program is the single strongest predictor of long-term enrollment, more than cost, more than convenience, and significantly more than program features.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And parent confidence is built not through curriculum materials or facility quality, but through the quality and consistency of communication, interactions that they have with you and your team.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Families stay with programs that make them feel like they matter.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And making them feel like they matter starts before the first day of school.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's a preschool director that I work with, and she described her August as feeling like customer service triage every year for the first six years of her program.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: She would spend the last two weeks of August responding to the same set of questions from different families, reassuring parents that she had already given complete information to back in June, and arriving at that first day of school already depleted.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the year that she implemented our layered communication system, something shifted that she described as almost disorienting.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: She sent the week minus seven welcome packet, the day minus three classroom photo text from each teacher, and the day minus one check-in call.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: On the first day of school, she had three parent messages in her inbox.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Three instead of 30 plus she had fielded the previous year.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the bigger change was not the inbox count.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was how families arrived on the first day.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: They were not searching for reassurance.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: They had already had it.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Drop-offs were faster, calmer, and more confident.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: One parent told her at pickup that the classroom photo text from the teacher three days before was the moment she stopped being nervous about leaving her daughter.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: It took the teacher four minutes to send.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It replaced 30 minutes of parent anxiety management on the first day of school.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: That is what I want for you, my friend.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what we're going to cover in today's three CEO strategies.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into strategy number one: understand the anxiety gap.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before you can fix the communication problem, you need to understand exactly where it comes from.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because the inbox flood, well, that's not random.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: It follows a very predictable emotional pattern that most early childhood operators have never had named for them.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: When a family enrolls in your program, their emotional state is positive and forward-looking.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: They chose you.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're excited.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: They signed the paperwork.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: They paid the deposit.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: They told their family and friends.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: In that moment, they felt certain.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Then time passes.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Summer happens.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: The first day of school is approaching.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: The reality of leaving their child with people they maybe have met once or twice in a setting they only visited briefly.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's going to start to become concrete.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So they might lie awake late at night thinking about whether their child will cry, whether the teacher knows about the dairy allergy, whether the drop-off procedure is clear enough that they will not hold up the entire line while they figure out where to park.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: That, my friend, is the anxiety gap.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: The space between confidence that they felt when they enrolled with you and the nervousness that's arriving as the first day approaches.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's completely normal.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a sign that they made the wrong choice.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's the natural emotional response of a parent who loves their child more than anything in this world and is doing something new.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: What fills the anxiety gap is not more information.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Most programs have already given their families plenty of information.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: What fills it is timely, personal, specific reassurance that feels like it comes from a person who knows their child, knows their family, and cares about them both.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So the administrative email with a reminder of drop-off procedures does not fill the anxiety gap.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: The text from the teacher three days before school that says Emma's cubby is decorated and ready for her, that, my friend, is what's going to fill the anxiety gap.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Both of them are important.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Both of them need to be done.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the difference, it's not the content, it's the tone, the timing, the specificity.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: One feels like a system, which is important, and the other feels like a relationship, which is even more important.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So at Peak Academy, we figured this out years after August inbox floods.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we finally asked ourselves, at what moments does the parent anxiety peak between that enrollment and the first day?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then we built communication touch points for each of those moments.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the result, well, it wasn't more communication, it was smarter communication.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then the inbox changed accordingly.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So your two action steps here, my friend.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Map your current family communication timeline from enrollment through the first week of school.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Write down every touch point, every email, call, packet, text, and in-person interaction.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Then identify the gaps, the moments where the parent is likely thinking about school but receiving nothing from you.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Those gaps are where the August questions are gonna come from.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Action step number two, survey your current enrolled families this week and ask one question.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Was there a moment between when you've enrolled your child to their child's first day when you felt uncertain or you wished you had heard from us?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Those answers are gonna tell you exactly where your specific program's anxiety gap lives and what it would take to fill it.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So again, you could send an email or just stop a couple or a few of your families that you trust and check in with them.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now on to strategy number two: build the layered communication system.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the layered communication system is a series of intentional touch points that move a new family from enrolled to emotionally anchored before they ever arrive on the first day.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is organized in three phases before the first day, the first day experience, and the first week follow-up.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now each phase has specific touch points with specific purposes.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the before the first day phase, that has three layers.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: The first is the welcome packet delivered seven days before school starts or earlier, but at least seven.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is not the enrollment paperwork, which should have gone out weeks earlier.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is the forward-looking document, what to expect on the first day, what the first week will look like, how communication works in your program, a warm personal note from your CEO or director.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: So again, this can include that policy procedure type paperwork if you haven't done it yet, but really that should be separate.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is more that relationship building.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: But again, if you need to do them both at the same time, that's great too.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: But just make sure this part gets done.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's practical, it's personable.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is so wonderful that it gives families a clear picture of what is coming rather than a review of what they already agreed to.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you can't do a packet, you can do this in an email, but a nice packet is wonderful.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can always do an email with most of the basics and then send a postcard from the teacher.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's always lovely too and costs less than a packet.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the second layer is the classroom connection message three days before school.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is the most important individual touch point of the entire system.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: It takes one of your team members minutes to send.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Do a text or a short video from the child's teacher showing the classroom setup, the child's cupby with her name on it, an activity ready for this the first day.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Something like, Hi, this is Miss Sarah, and I'm so excited to meet Emma on Thursday.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Her space is all ready for her.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: The whole message.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: It replaces hours of pre-first day parent anxiety management because it makes the abstract concrete.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: The room is real, the teacher is real, the child's name is on a cubby.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Anxiety has nowhere to live after that.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't have time to do one for each individual child, you could take a picture, have the teacher do a video, walking through the classroom, describing a few things, and then you send it to each family.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just the same video or the same picture that goes to each family.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, ideally, if you can personalize each one, that's even better.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But if you can't, at least send one.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now remember, you're going to send that postcard.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know I said teacher, it's actually from your director, manager, or CEO.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Send that one to the family.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then this one comes specifically from your teacher.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, a third layer is the check-in call or the message to the day before school.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So you could do a brief and specific.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're so ready for you tomorrow.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything you need for us before the first day?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, most families are going to say no, and the ones who have a question will get it answered now, not early in the morning.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: But every family who receives that call is going to feel valued, noticed, and ready.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the first day experience layer is what happens at drop-off and ends with that same day check-in after school.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: So your drop-off protocol should be choreographed so that every family is greeted warmly, every child is transitioned smoothly, every parent feels that the needs in that moment of reassurance is taken care of.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's no bottleneck.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: A photo, again, of each child is sent to the parent within the first day.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Again, for us, we have each kiddo decorate a frame and send it home with them as well.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: These are some of the most powerful things you can do to build that family confidence.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's visible evidence the child is not only okay, but the child is thriving in your program.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: It answers the question every parent is silently asking themselves as they drive away.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that first week follow-up layer, that's going to close the loop.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to be a letter that goes home talking about how great the first week was.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can reconfirm some of the specific things that parents need to know about their child's mailbox or their take-home folder, things that they need to know about signing up for lunch or a snack, whatever that might be.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: But that is something that ends the week.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: It can be an email, it can be a newsletter, it could be a phone call from you, however you want to do it, but have that first week close the loop.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So your two action steps here.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Action step number one, download that layer parent communication resource.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to find it at KellyPeak.com, where you're going to find information about episode 195 and build your specific communication calendar for those new fall families this week.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Use the resource to identify those exact touch points you're going to implement.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Who on your team is going to be responsible for each one and what each message will say.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: A communication plan that exists in a document can be executed by your team.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: One that exists in your head cannot.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Action step number two, assign the day minus three classroom connection message to each classroom teacher right now.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them what the message should contain.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Give them a template to personalize and put it on the team's schedule as a required task three days before the first day of school.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: This single touch point is going to have more impact on parent confidence than any other communication you could send this fall.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure it happens.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, my friend, we are on to our final CEO strategy.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, turn communication into a retention and referral engine.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: So the layered communication system, that's gonna get families through that first week with confidence.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: What keeps them enrolled for years later, all the way through until they go to kindergarten or pass on your programming, what makes them refer their friends and what makes them write the kind of review that attracts new families without any advertising is what happens in the communication rhythm after that first weekends.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: So most early child programs had a first-week communication plan and then a vague intention to communicate regularly after that.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: The confident early childhood operator, well, she builds a communication rhythm that is consistent, intentional, and layered at all four different levels: daily, weekly, monthly, and milestone-based.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: So daily communication, simplest layer.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is a warm greeting at drop-off, a warm greeting at pickup that is specific rather than generic.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not just good morning, but good morning.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Emma was so excited about the art project from yesterday.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: She was asking about it before I even had my shoes, and I'm so excited to share it with her.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: That moment takes 10 seconds and it communicates something specific that no newsletter can newsletter can.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: That you know this child.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: You notice something specific about their experience.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: You thought about them outside the program hours.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: So our CEO, it is extremely important.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're there in the morning to greet every family, and they're there in the afternoon when each family gets picked up.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that time they are away from their desk.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Their whole goal is relationship building.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: They are not doing billing, they are not doing emails, they are relationship building.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Then you have your weekly communication.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is another rhythm layer.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: This could be a classroom snapshot, a brief notes at home, a short video of something that happened.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: It could be something that goes in the child's take-home cubby.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is work that they've done.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be anything long or polished, just something simple that shows that the child was really engaged during the week and that they are excited about the things that they've been working on.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: The consistency of this weekly communication, it's going to build that sense of ongoing relationship that makes families feel embedded in your community rather than just enrolled in your program.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then you have your monthly communication.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is your engagement layer.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: So a family engagement event, a parent spotlight in your newsletter, a theme project that comes home with a note about what the child said or did.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Monthly touch points, this is going to give your family something to look forward to and you a predictable structure for deeper engagement that does not require improvising every time.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I talk about this in much more detail in previous podcasts, but we create a family event every month that gives us a reason to communicate and meet with each and every family at our specific event.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a family movie night, maybe it's family picnic in the park, maybe it's a play date in the playground, but we do something every month.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then we do our newsletter.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: We now do a newsletter twice a month.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: So again, we used to do it weekly and we realized it was a lot of work and not everybody was reading it.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So now we do it twice a month.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then you have your milestone communication.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: That is going to be your loyalty layer.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is a child's first day without tears, a skill mastered, a kindness shown, a birthday, a graduation from one room to the next.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, these are the moments that parents carry with them for years.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: We call them magical moments.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: When you notice and celebrate them specifically, you build a kind of emotional loyalty that no competitor can replicate by offering a lower tuition rate.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Families do not leave programs that they feel are witnessing their child's life.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: They stay, they refer, they write reviews that build your reputation for years after that their child has graduated.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: So again, magical moments.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have so many other podcast episodes.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: I talk a lot about your magical moments, creating these meaningful memories.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to check that out.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the layer parent communication resource, that's gonna be at KellyPeak.com, episode number 195.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna give you the complete rhythm structure, daily, weekly, monthly, and milestone layers with specific ideas for each.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's your template for building a communication system that's gonna generate retention and referrals as a natural byproduct of genuine relationship.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to go deeper on the complete family experience system, be sure to check out our back to school challenge at KellyPeak.com.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna find it where it says free resources.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Your two action steps here.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, choose one layer of the ongoing communication rhythm to implement this fall and document it as a system.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Pick the layer that is most currently missing in your program.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you have no weekly communication, start there.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: If your weekly is strong, but you have no milestone system, no magical moment system, build that.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: One layer, document it, assigned to a team member, and consistently execute it.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is worth more than four layers that live in your intentions.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Action step number two, this week, identify one enrolled family and send them a specific personal message about something you noticed about their child this week.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not a newsletter, not a classroom update, a direct message to them specifically.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Notice how it lands.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: That experience, that's the baseline for what the milestone communication layer creates at a scale when it is systematized.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the three strategies: understanding the anxiety gap, why it fills your inbox, building the layered pre-first day communication system, and turning ongoing communication into a retention and referral engine.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is your complete framework for a family experience this fall that's going to reduce stress and it's gonna build your business simultaneously.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: So here are your CEO action steps this week.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, map your current communication timeline and identify your anxiety gap.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, download that layer parent communication resource from KellyPeak.com and build your specific fall communication calendar for your new families.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, assign the day minus three classroom connection text to each team member right now, put it on the team schedule.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And number four, choose one layer of your ongoing communication rhythm to document and implement this fall.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the Back to School Challenge, it is live.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And this week we are going deep into all that family communication.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to join us at KellyPeak.com.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, it is six weeks, but it's delivered to you over six days.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: So even though you're joining late in the season, you're still gonna get a lot of great information and a lot of training to help ensure that you're back to school this fall is one of the best ever.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: So here is what I want to close with.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Every parent who walks into your program on the first day of school, they have made a significant act of trust.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: They are leaving someone they love with people that they are just getting to know.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: The communication you build before that moment, it does not just reduce your inbox.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: It honors that trust.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: It says, we thought about you before you needed us to.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: We made space for your anxiety before it arrived.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: We want you to feel confident about your decision to be here.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: That is what great early childhood programs do.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: That is what you are continuing to work on week after week.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Lead this fall like the confident early childhood operator, the CEO that you are.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I, my friend, will see you next week.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning into our podcast.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready to take your early childhood business to the next level?
• 24:41
  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.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to see you there.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.