Latest / ChildCare Conversations / 364: The Surprising Truth About Vendor Hall Swag, Discounts, and Building Genuine Relationships with Alisha Kriege

Transcript

364: The Surprising Truth About Vendor Hall Swag, Discounts, and Building Genuine Relationships with Alisha Kriege · ChildCare Conversations

0:00
Childcare Conversations: Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support.
0:10
Childcare Conversations: Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity.
0:17
Childcare Conversations: This episode is brought to you by this quarter's sponsor, Playground, the all-in-one child care management software.
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0:41
Childcare Conversations: Now, let's get into today's conversation.
0:44
Childcare Conversations: One we think you're really going to love.
0:47
Kate Woodward Young: Welcome back today's co-host.
0:50
Kate Woodward Young: I'm just making her an unofficial co-host.
0:53
Kate Woodward Young: So Alicia's joining us today because we are about to get into fall conference season.
1:00
Kate Woodward Young: And you guys have heard Carrie and I talk before about the importance of good keynotes, the importance of planning when you go to a conference, to make sure you know that you are getting the training that you need, but also that you're encouraging your staff to get the training they need, not just the workshops they want to go to.
1:18
Kate Woodward Young: Or the free swag.
1:20
Kate Woodward Young: Oh, let's talk about those vendors and that's that that free swag.
1:25
Kate Woodward Young: Let me tell you, folks, just because it's a fall conference does not mean that you need to go trick-or-treating.
1:32
Kate Woodward Young: Vendor halls really are not designed to be the adult version of Trunk or Treat.
1:37
Kate Woodward Young: I'm just saying.
1:38
Kate Woodward Young: I mean, now I, you know, I do like some good candy, and I purposely never keep it at my booth because I'd eat it all, but I know what booths have it.
1:46
Kate Woodward Young: And so today, Alicia and I are going to actually talk about vendors.
1:51
Kate Woodward Young: And so, Alicia, talk to me a little bit about your experience, how many conferences you've done in early childcare, and I don't know, maybe why we're having this conversation.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: Of course.
2:03
SPEAKER_02: Of course.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: Well, as a lot of you have maybe heard one of my previous podcasts, I've been with three different companies in the early childhood space, in the outdoor education space, which means I go to a lot of conferences across the board.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, I've been to your major ones like Macy, Child Care Success Summit, Association for Early Learning Leaders.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: I've been to your small state conferences, I've been to different chapter conferences, and every single one runs a look, looks a little different.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: And your outcomes should always be somewhat the same, right?
2:36
SPEAKER_02: Like you're going to get professional development, you're going to network, you're going to meet people.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: But there's this other piece that helps make that conference run, and that's the vendor or expo hall.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: And we don't just show up because we don't want to be in the office for a week.
2:52
SPEAKER_02: We show up because we want to meet you, we want to talk to you, and we want to tell you what we have.
2:56
SPEAKER_02: But you also hear that story from every single booth in there.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: So, how do you decide who you want to work with, who you want to talk to?
3:04
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's what Kate and I are going to dive into.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: And I'm excited because it is all about finding the people that work for you and that you want to work with.
3:13
Kate Woodward Young: Love that.
3:13
Kate Woodward Young: And so part of the reason why I have Alicia doing the conversation is that you've probably noticed that childcare conversations, we have partners.
3:22
Kate Woodward Young: We have something that we've called the neighborhood.
3:25
Kate Woodward Young: And I kind of like to think of it as maybe the genius bar for early childhood educators, right?
3:30
Kate Woodward Young: We've got folks who we have trusted that were vendors who we wished we had when we own and ran centers.
3:38
Kate Woodward Young: And um, because a lot of times we went with big names because it was a name that we knew, um, not necessarily because it was the best price, not necessarily because it was a local vendor.
3:51
Kate Woodward Young: Um, if you've ever seen any of my um uh little soapbox episodes about uh buying um from people in your state or local vendors or people you know you're truly impacting.
4:04
Kate Woodward Young: Like um there are vendors that come to the vendor halls that are multi-million dollar businesses.
4:11
Kate Woodward Young: They are not small businesses.
4:13
Kate Woodward Young: And they, and and if you aren't sure, like a small business is like under 400 staff, right?
4:19
Kate Woodward Young: So when I say that they aren't that, that means that they are, you know, businesses with over 400 staff, millions and millions a year in sales, and you have no idea who actually like it, they could be a publicly traded company.
4:32
Kate Woodward Young: A lot of the vendors that we meet in your local association probably is local or regional.
4:39
Kate Woodward Young: And so I think it's really important to give them a shot and don't forget to ask.
4:46
Kate Woodward Young: Um, my here's my secret.
4:47
Kate Woodward Young: Alicia, close your ears.
4:50
Kate Woodward Young: Always ask for a discount because if you don't ask, you're never gonna get it.
4:54
Kate Woodward Young: Okay, go ahead.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: So you're totally right.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: But to what Keith's saying is you go to all these conferences and you're in a local, if you go to like your AEYC state conference, ideally those people in the expo hall are your state reps.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: Those are the people that are willing to come to your center, come to your building, walk you through, get on a phone, have a Zoom call, and truly show you what they have to offer.
5:22
SPEAKER_02: But that also doesn't mean that they're the right partner for you just because they're there.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: And so when you start looking for partners, when you start talking to people, first and foremost, when you come to a conference, part of conference preparedness is have questions that you need to answer.
5:38
SPEAKER_02: Things that you aren't going right in your center, have your notepad and your pen, things that you don't like, complications, things you're unhappy about.
5:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, a lot of times conferences end up being this like kind of vent session that we get to do with each other about like what's working and not working.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: But on top of that, you get to network with people who have been in your shoes, have done your thing, and can help aid you.
6:02
SPEAKER_02: And that's what the vendors are there to do as well.
6:04
SPEAKER_02: You might go to a conference and see four CRM companies.
6:09
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty typical, I would say, of a lot of our early childhood conferences.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: You also probably see anywhere from three to five equipment suppliers.
6:17
SPEAKER_02: You probably see an accountant, you probably see the small businesses, the ones that only have, you know, two to five employees that are making resources for you, or the publishers that have the books and the training.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: You have all those different people, but picking which one you want to work with can be difficult.
6:35
SPEAKER_02: So you need to go around, you need to talk to people, you need to say hi, you need to talk about what you're doing, you need to be willing and open to share who you're using and why.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: And if the answer is I don't know, it's just who we inherited, that's great.
6:50
SPEAKER_02: But now it's time to talk to the next person to find out why you would maybe want to work with them.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: Or when I'm at a at a conference, I am always so excited when someone says, Yeah, I buy from X, Y, and Z, who might be my biggest competitor, but I can ask why.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: Why do you do that?
7:09
SPEAKER_02: And they go, That's who we've always bought from.
7:11
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so what do you like or what don't you like?
7:13
SPEAKER_02: Um, I just came off a conference unrelated to early child care, but our biggest competitor was there.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: And everyone tried to shy away that they didn't want to let me know that they were buying from them.
7:27
SPEAKER_02: And then I was simply like, Well, do you like working with them?
7:30
SPEAKER_02: And they said, Well, yeah, we we like it.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: That's what we know, but like, what do you do?
7:34
SPEAKER_02: And it allowed me to tell them what we do differently.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: So give vendors that opportunity to tell them what you do differently, but start building those relationships and ask your pain point questions.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: If you're working with someone and you don't like something that they do, express that and see if this other vendor might be able to solve that problem for you.
7:53
Kate Woodward Young: Okay, so that's like the perfect segue.
7:56
Kate Woodward Young: Thank you so much.
7:56
Kate Woodward Young: I know you didn't take that up for me on purpose, but I'm gonna use it.
7:59
Kate Woodward Young: So when you go to the conferences, in addition to having your questions and your pens, make sure you've got business cards, but do your homework before you leave.
8:09
Kate Woodward Young: Make sure you know what products you are buying.
8:12
Kate Woodward Young: Have a conversation with other folks and leadership about what are things we might be replacing in the next year.
8:19
Kate Woodward Young: Because what a great way to be the steward of the budget of your program than actually shopping and actually, so a lot of large companies do things like request for proposals.
8:32
Kate Woodward Young: So if you're with, you know, a major, major brand and you got a hundred locations, you're doing an RFP for crayons, right?
8:42
Kate Woodward Young: You're gonna try to find the best product you can buy.
8:46
Kate Woodward Young: But if you're a single location or maybe you even have three to seven locations, three to yeah, three to seven.
8:51
Kate Woodward Young: You've got more than you've got more than one.
8:54
Kate Woodward Young: You probably aren't doing an RFP.
8:57
Kate Woodward Young: You aren't putting it out for bid.
8:59
Kate Woodward Young: But I'm gonna challenge you to make sure you know where are you spending your money.
9:03
Kate Woodward Young: You have, you know, more than a profit and loss statement.
9:06
Kate Woodward Young: Actually, look at who gets your money.
9:08
Kate Woodward Young: So we know the number one expenses payroll.
9:11
Kate Woodward Young: The second one is probably all things related to your building.
9:14
Kate Woodward Young: But let's talk about even those things related to your building.
9:18
Kate Woodward Young: Sometimes, especially if you're in a local community, you might find other vendors that you could use that do what you need done in your community.
9:28
Kate Woodward Young: So don't rule out pest control.
9:32
Kate Woodward Young: Don't rule out banking.
9:33
Kate Woodward Young: I've seen banking, I've seen pest control.
9:36
Kate Woodward Young: Um, you know, yes, a lot of times we think of equipment vendors, bus vendors, um, accounting services, right?
9:43
Kate Woodward Young: But again, just because you have a local accountant doesn't make it the best option for you.
9:49
Kate Woodward Young: It may just be the the convenient option.
9:52
Kate Woodward Young: If you're not sure, check with those at that conference and say, well, this is what I've been doing, and this is how much I paid in taxes, or this is what I did.
10:02
Kate Woodward Young: Have a conversation with other people because you don't know what you don't know.
10:06
Kate Woodward Young: Exactly.
10:07
Kate Woodward Young: Right?
10:08
Kate Woodward Young: So, Alicia, what so in addition to people giving you an opportunity, other than people coming by and grabbing your swag and your chocolate, what might be a great first thing for them to say other than maybe hello and smile?
10:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean, those are always great.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's always good to know, you know, where where you're from, what your ages you're servicing, and again, pain points that you have.
10:34
SPEAKER_02: You know, when you're looking, if you're in a showroom, I've worked for multiple equipment companies.
10:38
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty much what we saw.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: Outside, indoor tables, chairs, all the things, carpets.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: But, you know, if you have, you're like, I got rid of all the carpets in my classroom because I don't like them.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: I don't, they're they are stinky, they never get washed.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: COVID, I think everyone threw them out.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: And now we're getting them all back in because they bring color and they live in a space.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: But is a carpet a carpet?
11:00
SPEAKER_02: Like you want to start talking and asking, like, what do you have that's new?
11:05
SPEAKER_02: What do you have that's unique?
11:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that's the big thing too with vendors.
11:08
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's that question?
11:10
SPEAKER_02: What is new and what is unique?
11:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what's coming to the industry that can be beneficial?
11:15
SPEAKER_02: And I wanted to circle back quick, Kate, when you were talking about like looking at who you do business with, should also look at how often you do business with them.
11:23
SPEAKER_02: And that could be on your equipment side of things or food supply or you know, any of your and the volume, because let's say you buy trikes, all right?
11:34
SPEAKER_02: Almost every center has a trike or something outside, some kind of gross motor, playground ball, hula hoop.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: If you're buying those items every six months to a year, it might be time to reevaluate who you're buying them from.
11:47
SPEAKER_02: How many times does Amazon show up as someone you're spending money with?
11:52
SPEAKER_02: I know from experience Amazon is like a once-month, once-a-week, sometimes everyday purchase over here for various things because it's convenient.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: Convenience doesn't always mean quality, though, either.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: And that's even too when it comes to your CRMs, it comes to your banking, it comes to your pest control, who's driving your bus, where are you getting your food, but paying attention to how often those transactions and how much you're spending with certain companies, because that could also add more questions for do you need to switch, do you need to look at something else?
12:24
Kate Woodward Young: I love that um, that, that, that decision piece, right?
12:27
Kate Woodward Young: So it's not just who's the cheapest, it's how often.
12:32
Kate Woodward Young: So looking at some of that stuff across uh at least a year, uh, but maybe even two or three years.
12:39
Kate Woodward Young: And so um, if you don't have an in-house inventory of all of the equipment you have per room, when was it purchased?
12:47
Kate Woodward Young: Or, or, you know, did you get it through a workforce grant?
12:51
Kate Woodward Young: Like how did the how did that product come to be?
12:53
Kate Woodward Young: Um, you know, it's definitely worth taking a look at.
12:57
Kate Woodward Young: And do you have some hiding somewhere?
12:59
Kate Woodward Young: There's always, there's always that closet that somewhere has caught the it's been donated.
13:05
Kate Woodward Young: Or um, you know, I mean, I've met one director, one, in a really, really long time.
13:12
Kate Woodward Young: And so um, who actually has um in one of their buildings, they have a third floor.
13:20
Kate Woodward Young: Um, it might remind you of an attic, but they have it's got finished floors and they've got rows and rows of shelving.
13:27
Kate Woodward Young: The shelving has all of the products labeled by age group and type.
13:32
Kate Woodward Young: So you can go in and find infant math in their booked in their shelves, right?
13:37
Kate Woodward Young: So they don't keep everything out on the shelf all the time.
13:39
Kate Woodward Young: They they do a really good job rotating, it's all curriculum aligned, but they've spent a long time curating that content.
13:47
Kate Woodward Young: And so, but you know what they don't have?
13:50
Kate Woodward Young: They don't have it written, they don't have it digital.
13:54
Kate Woodward Young: It's it's you gotta go up and you know, it's still pretty simple, right?
13:57
Kate Woodward Young: You know where all the infant stuff is, like, you know, it's all divided, but you still have to have it.
14:02
Kate Woodward Young: So um, if you don't already have something like that, we've now given you some homework.
14:07
Kate Woodward Young: Ooh, we were not very nice to folks today.
14:09
Kate Woodward Young: So we've told you you've got to come to the conferences with the list of questions.
14:12
Kate Woodward Young: You've already heard me tell you you need to know what trainings you're actually going to.
14:16
Kate Woodward Young: But now we're telling you to go look at your budget and figure out where you're spending your money.
14:21
Kate Woodward Young: What are you spending your money on?
14:22
Kate Woodward Young: And then I gave you a fourth one of you need to know your supply inventory and when you bought it.
14:27
Kate Woodward Young: Because again, if you've got a bye-bye buggy and that bye-bye buggy is 10 years old, then it might be time to make sure that you have at least planned to budget for a bye-bye buggy.
14:38
Kate Woodward Young: And if for some reason it's actually still held up because it comes inside all the time and because you have a place to park it inside.
14:46
Kate Woodward Young: But if you're like most of us, that didn't happen and it got, you know, it looks like it's been bah bah bah, right?
14:52
Kate Woodward Young: It's like it's been bed pool.
14:53
Kate Woodward Young: And so you need to come up with kind of a plan to replace.
14:57
Kate Woodward Young: And I think that is one of those things that often gets people.
15:01
Kate Woodward Young: Um, they don't really think about how often they're replacing the inventory, but they're forgetting just general maintenance on their equipment, right?
15:11
Kate Woodward Young: So, like we'll clean a room, we will vacuum a rug, but we will forget to clean well and dry equipment, right?
15:23
Kate Woodward Young: Or if we've got those trikes and they've been raining, did we dry them?
15:28
Kate Woodward Young: Or are we just hoping that they don't rust?
15:31
Kate Woodward Young: Are we are we catching the scrapes and the cracks and painting and repairing?
15:35
Kate Woodward Young: Are we doing the things to make that equipment last longer?
15:39
Kate Woodward Young: And one of the things that I thought was interesting in a side conversation you and I had one time was that a lot of times folks will get rid of a piece of equipment because they didn't realize they could get replacement parts from a vendor.
15:52
Kate Woodward Young: Correct.
15:53
Kate Woodward Young: Yep.
15:53
Kate Woodward Young: Because they didn't buy the equipment from a vendor, they bought, they got it as a grant from, you know, a like a workforce board or a CCNR.
16:02
Kate Woodward Young: And if that's the case, make sure you know who manufactured whatever you have so that if you can't find that bolt or that that nut or that screw or whatever it is, don't toss that piece of equipment because you can't find one.
16:18
Kate Woodward Young: Either reach out to the manufacturer, God forbid, go to Lowe's Home Depot, or even better, go to your ACE local hardware store, because the local hardware store is probably going to have what you need.
16:29
Kate Woodward Young: But if not, call the manufacturer.
16:32
unknown: Yep.
16:33
SPEAKER_02: And that's another thing, too, to call what else you could bring to conferences is pictures of the things you like or don't like.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: Because I guarantee if you talk to an equipment supplier, if you talk to someone and you have a picture, someone in that room is gonna be able to pinpoint where that came from, who sold it, when they last saw it.
16:53
SPEAKER_02: You're going to conferences and there's a wealth of knowledge from the attendees to the speakers to the people in the exhibit hall, to those vendors that are there to help you.
17:02
SPEAKER_02: And maybe they would tell you, yep, that is so old, you're not gonna find a replacement piece.
17:07
SPEAKER_02: But here's that piece of equipment that is newer, better, and X, Y, and Z that's gonna fix your problem.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: Here is something else, or two, if you can't find the manufacturer, you can ask.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: I know I put my earmuffs on, but I I still heard, you can ask vendors for discounts, or can they offer you a discount to replace the broken thing?
17:28
SPEAKER_02: Vendors want to work with you, they want to earn your trust, and they want to build relationships.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: We're that's why we're there.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: We're there to build relationships with you.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: And so lean on us, lean on those relationships to get your building, your classroom, your program where you want it to be.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: And again, it doesn't happen overnight.
17:46
Kate Woodward Young: These guys are just like salespeople, you're like vultures, you're like, you know, like I just feel like I come back from a conference and I got three million emails from all of you.
17:55
Kate Woodward Young: What do I do with all of this?
17:57
Kate Woodward Young: Like, I don't have time to build a relationship with all y'all.
18:00
Kate Woodward Young: And you can't, and you shouldn't, right?
18:03
SPEAKER_02: You have to find the people, you know.
18:05
SPEAKER_02: First question to ask, you know, do you travel or will you come on my site?
18:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, if you're a director and you're overwhelmed in all the things you have to do, is there a partner who is willing to sit down with you, make a plan, walk your site?
18:18
SPEAKER_02: That might be who you need.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: If you need a little bit more hand holding, you might have to spend a little bit more to get that coverage.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: If you are like one of the chains, one of the big locations, like Kate mentioned, where you have to go to an RFP, you might not have a choice.
18:32
SPEAKER_02: So you can block out all the other noise and you've got your list if you have to work with.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: But start talking to the people on that list that you have to work with so that they know your name and they know who you are and you know them.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: So when you're calling, you're not going into a general queue at this giant company.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: You're going to your exact rep, the person who you spent time talking to, and going from there.
18:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, again, yes, you get all the handouts and all the things, and how do you how do you decide?
18:59
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't happen overnight.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: It happens going to a conference here, going to a conference there, having your list of questions.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: And also join Facebook groups.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: Join, you know, we've childcare conversations has an email, weekly newsletter.
19:13
SPEAKER_02: Join the newsletters, you can get things.
19:16
SPEAKER_02: Join and listen to podcasts, you can hear from other people and start whittling down your list that way.
19:21
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't happen in one conference, it happens over time and pulling in from different resources.
19:27
Kate Woodward Young: Absolutely.
19:28
Kate Woodward Young: And if you do have vendors you like, ask those vendors for referrals of the other products and services you need.
19:35
Kate Woodward Young: Believe it or not, the vendors all talk to each other.
19:38
Kate Woodward Young: Because while you guys are in session, guess what we're doing?
19:41
Kate Woodward Young: We're racing trikes around the vendor hall and we're getting to know each other.
19:45
Kate Woodward Young: And um, so so we all know each other.
19:49
Kate Woodward Young: We all know each other and we know each other, and there are vendors we trust that we think are people you need to know.
19:58
Kate Woodward Young: Um, there are also vendors who maybe we don't trust the same, not because they were necessarily bad, or maybe they were.
20:05
Kate Woodward Young: Maybe we watched them after hours and we're like, I'm not going there.
20:08
Kate Woodward Young: Um, but it could just be personality-wise, right?
20:11
Kate Woodward Young: So you've got to find those people you connect with.
20:14
Kate Woodward Young: Um, and so if you really, if you found a vendor you really, really liked and you have a supplier and you're like, wow, they really gave me personalized service.
20:22
Kate Woodward Young: Like they went through and they helped me prioritize that I should start with a rug and that then I should do this.
20:28
Kate Woodward Young: And now we're buying a playground and we're buying it for them because we got to know them over time.
20:34
Kate Woodward Young: And ask that vendor, who do you think I should use for?
20:38
Kate Woodward Young: Or do you know anybody?
20:40
Kate Woodward Young: My state just lost half my insurance companies, right?
20:43
Kate Woodward Young: You know, ask them because they chances are they know somebody.
20:46
Kate Woodward Young: Same with all those CRMs that Alicia was talking about, right?
20:50
Kate Woodward Young: Like, is there is there a CRM that somebody likes?
20:55
Kate Woodward Young: Right.
20:56
Kate Woodward Young: And as you're building your own little vendor network, make sure you're building your other tribe as well.
21:02
Kate Woodward Young: So a lot of times we come to child care conferences with people we work with.
21:07
Kate Woodward Young: Make sure you've brought business cards and that you are getting the contact information for other people with the same type of job title that you have in other places around the country, around your state, because there are going to be days where you're gonna call and you're gonna want to talk to Carly and go, Carly, I heard you on a podcast, and I know that you've recently changed your CRM software.
21:32
Kate Woodward Young: Tell me why.
21:33
Kate Woodward Young: Who did you go with?
21:35
Kate Woodward Young: What do I need to know?
21:37
Kate Woodward Young: Because now you have a peer in the industry who can also validate for you whether or not the vendors you're looking at are worth looking at because they might have a secret story to tell you.
21:50
Kate Woodward Young: Um, but always, anytime somebody has a secret story, ask when.
21:55
Kate Woodward Young: When did that happen?
21:57
Kate Woodward Young: Right?
21:58
Kate Woodward Young: Because that's always a big doozy, right?
21:59
Kate Woodward Young: Like if it was two weeks ago, that's one thing.
22:01
Kate Woodward Young: If it was four years ago, yeah, take it with a grain of salt, because hopefully maybe the organization and the company learned from it, right?
22:10
Kate Woodward Young: But ask how it was resolved.
22:13
Kate Woodward Young: Because most of the time when we have issues, the the vendor's gonna try really, really hard to resolve it.
22:19
Kate Woodward Young: And if they can't, because they're like, oh, I don't have the ability to do that, and that person can't make a decision.
22:24
Kate Woodward Young: That's a big clue that maybe you're like, okay, so you might be a great regional salesperson, but if you can't make the decision to help fix something for me, that may not work for me.
22:35
Kate Woodward Young: I may have to go with a smaller something.
22:37
Kate Woodward Young: Well, I just went on, boy, that was a little so that's so great.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: It was, but it's fine, but it's true.
22:44
Kate Woodward Young: You didn't get to go as much.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: I just like things happen, people transition, people move companies, people work in this industry because they like this industry, which means that if you like working with a specific person, it's okay to follow them to wherever they end up going.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: But again, you have to believe in the services and get the quality out of the services that you're paying for.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't, speaking from a vendor, it I don't take hardship if someone says, Hey, what you do now and where you work doesn't service me anymore.
23:17
SPEAKER_02: Do you know someone else that I can go to and I can work with?
23:21
SPEAKER_02: I think that's really big to remember too, is you don't have to just follow someone or follow your predecessor because that's what's in place.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: You have to do what is right for you and for your center and for your children and what makes the most financial sense quality-wise, and it's okay to switch around.
23:41
Kate Woodward Young: Absolutely.
23:42
Kate Woodward Young: Find exactly what you need.
23:43
Kate Woodward Young: And hopefully, we have given you some food for thought.
23:47
Kate Woodward Young: So as you start planning out your October, November, and December conferences, because we know how many there are happening across the country, like it's insane.
23:56
Kate Woodward Young: So um, we know that from August to December, well, really August to January, you start running into a whole bunch, and then you they come back again in March and April.
24:05
Kate Woodward Young: And it's always, always, always, right?
24:08
Kate Woodward Young: So uh, but with that, hopefully you will come back in a few days, listen to our next episode.
24:15
Kate Woodward Young: And if you don't already follow the newsletter, what should they do, Alicia?
24:19
SPEAKER_02: They need to follow the newsletter, they need to get on it.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: There's lots of beneficial tidbits all the time.
24:25
Kate Woodward Young: Sounds great.
24:26
Kate Woodward Young: Childcareconversations.com, and we will see you in a few days.
24:31
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24:32
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