Making a Great First Impression - CareforKids.com.au®

Making A Great First Impression
First impressions matter most when parents visit your service

You only have three seconds to make a first impression, so make sure you do everything in your power to ensure prospective clients have a great experience when they walk in to your service.

First impressions are formed by the physical environment and the atmosphere of a service as well as the staff.

Ask yourself the following questions to learn whether you are selling your service to its greatest potential:

Is your child care service visible? Can prospective parents see the name of your service from the street? Do the street views make the service look safe, attractive and appealing?

What happens at the entrance of your service? Is the waiting area bright and filled with photos of the kids and/or examples of their art? Is your accreditation information on display? How about menus, operational policies and anything else prospective customers might find helpful while waiting for a tour?

Think about the ambient noise, does it sound happy and positive filled with kids laughing, chatting and music?

Does your service look professional? Do staff maintain a professional demeanor at all times? Are the toys clean, displayed attractively and well maintained? Is everything in its place?

Do all your staff know the correct protocol for handling first meetings with prospective parents? Many parents make a judgement on a service within the first few moments of entering so it is important to do everything you can to ensure that first impression is a positive one.

Checklist Preparation
Parents looking for child care are always advised to prepare a list of questions to ask service providers when they visit.

As a child care provider it's very important that you and your staff are ready to answer these questions as you take parents on an initial tour of your facility.

Staff should also be prepared to answer questions in the first few weeks when the child is settling in and over the course of the child care arrangement.

Well considered answers will ensure your service appears professional at that all important first meeting and will make certain parents have all the information they require to make the right decision about your service.

Adopting an open and helpful approach should also help you build a strong line of communication with families.

The questions below will give you some idea of what parents might ask when they visit your service, not all questions will apply to your service but reading through them and thinking about your answers will help you make a great first impression.

Click here for example questions parents may ask when they visit your service.

This list of questions is used by many parents. To date it has been printed out over 100,000 times.