Busy/Slow Times for Advertising

[spud912]

I was just wondering when everyone has busy and slow times. I am all of a sudden finding myself with 3 out of 4 vacancies and am a little worried as I have had no REAL interest in the past 2 weeks. One of my spots is filled already with a younger sibling, but I really need a steady income right now! Agh...when it rains, it pours! Please tell me it picks up towards the end of July/August!! I have postings on Craigslist, Sittercity, yellowpages.com, Yelp and Care.com (which is the only one that is a total waste IMO). I have a website, Facebook page and a good set-up. The only thing I can think of is that my prices are ~$10 higher than the average, which I am NOT willing to drop because I need that income to continue to provide the quality of care.

I attached a poll to see what everyone thinks. Vote on your busiest time for getting inquiries.

[Blackcat31]

For me it's the Fall or beginning of the school year.

Parents use inexpensive or family options in the summer time and then need care in the beginning of the school year.

Sometimes whatever arrangements parents make over the summer for Fall, don't always work out so the number of inquires for care is higher in the Fall for all those reasons.



.....as I am typing this I got a phone call for infant care for next May ....I can't even think past this week and they want to know about care NEXT year! :confused: ::

[daycarediva]

It's dry around here, (last year at this time I was getting 5+ calls a DAY, now I am lucky to get that per MONTH) but my busy call times are spring and fall. I got around 10-12 calls in May, 2 interviewed and are on my waiting list. I hope to add more in fall or replace clients if need be.

[WImom]

I've been worrying too. I have two full time spots (teacher kids) and then three more leaving for school this fall. I've been advertising for 2 months without a single response which is odd for me. This is the first time I'm advertising this early though since I normally don't need spots until September. I really hope it picks up soon!!!

[Patches]

I just opened in November of last year so I can't really vote on this but I did want to say that I am having almost NO interest right now. I need it to start picking up SOON! Hopefully, at the end of the month I will start getting more calls and some that actually lead to interviews

[Sereetta]

It's dry around here, (last year at this time I was getting 5+ calls a DAY, now I am lucky to get that per MONTH) but my busy call times are spring and fall. I got around 10-12 calls in May, 2 interviewed and are on my waiting list. I hope to add more in fall or replace clients if need be.

How do you advertise because I have yet to receive that many phone calls. That is awesome and I need to do what you do. I have a banner out front, I place flyers in local business as well as posting in the community. I have a website. I post on Facebook, and craisglist. I don't know what I am not doing.

[EchoMom]

I didn't answer the poll because I don't totally have it figured out myself. But I know the inquiries STOP around holidays. People are too busy I guess. I also have empty spots I need to fill asap and was really freaking out not getting interest in June. And then you know what? Crazy...

As soon as it hit July 1st, I got a TON of emails flood in!!!!! Between July 1st and 2nd ONLY I got 16 inquiries in 48 hours! OMG! Then I did EIGHT interviews in 2 days!!!!!! Holy moly! And they were ALL people looking for August/September starts.

[melilley]

I opened this past January and was full by the middle of March. I have 3 full time and 2 part time dck's. I also have 3 infants on my waiting list. I get calls every once in a while. I have no idea how they find my name as I am not advertising right now and the state says I haven't had any inquiries from them. I do have a website so maybe from there?
I do have one child leaving when school starts so we'll see how long it takes to fill his spot (they have to be 30+mo. to stay in ratio) when the time comes.

[spud912]

Yeah I get inquiries almost every day or about 5 times per week and I've been getting a lot of likes on Facebook lately. However, 99% of the inquiries are this:

1. 
   Them: I have an infant.
   Me: No, I don't take infants.
2. 
   Them: I need care one time per week, variable each week.
   Me: I have a full-time spot. You can bring your child part-time, but I would need to charge you full-time.
   Them: No thank you.
3. 
   Them: Can you watch my child on weekends or until midnight on weekdays?
   Me: No.
4. 
   Them: My child needs transportation to and from school/preschool.
   Me: Nope.
5. 
   Them: I have 3 children....one is an infant [no], one is a preschooler, and one is school ager...can you transport [no]?
   Me: Besides all the no's above, I don't have that many vacancies.
6. 
   Them: Do you accept DES payments?
   Me: No.
7. 
   Them: Are you hiring?
   Me: No.
8. 
   And then there is always someone who is completely rude or I can't understand a word they are saying or I have no idea what they are talking about.
   Me: No.

[Blackcat31]

Well, on the bright side at least you KNOW your name/info is out there and people are seeing it.

It could be more like this:

Phone: (sits silently)






That'd be much worse.



Have faith....the right client WILL come along soon.

[LoraJenkins]

Honestly, I don't have a dry time. I also have never advertised. I get all of my DCF from recommendations from current clients, past clients, or my children. I just started a new family this week...the Father works with my daughter. That makes 2 of her coworkers that use me.

[spud912]

Soo weird..... All of a sudden, I have 5 interviews scheduled in the next week . On top of that, one of my parents is keeping one of her daycare kids with me and another is sending her younger child to me (she is just the right age), so I am really only down to one vacancy. Now I'm going to have to choose between all of these interviews .... ack!

Ok enough before I jinx myself!