Should I Lower My Rates??

[vaughn40]

Business is super slow right now. I was wondering your opinion on lowering rates to attract clients. Also, do anyone give discounts to family members (like your sister etc) and how much if so.

Thanks

[Holiday Park]

There are typical times of the ywar where business is always going to be slow/busy . If I'm correct, this is just one of the bad times of the year . I personally wouldn't lower my rates unless for some reason your still having trouble during a busier time.

[clep]

I wouldn't lower my rates but if I felt there was too much competition in the area, I would up the caliber of my program and offer things the others aren't.

[ashleyh]

I wouldn't. Generally this time of year slows down for a lot of different businesses. This is a great time to re-evaluate your program, update any policies or handbooks, etc.... Plus once businesses lower their rates it can be hard to raise them again. I would stick with what you have and just ride out the season.

[CozyHome]

No, I would definitely not lower my rates once I was established with great clients as references. However, I started out with really low rates when my daycare was new to get started. Once I had some good clients signed on I raised my rates and they were happy with me so didn't have any problems with it. But I started out charging too low a rate.

[KEG123]

What I've been trying to do is just offer a sign on bonus type thing. I know some ladies have thought not to do it, but I really really need income to start coming in. I only care for 2 kids right now and 1 has her last day on friday. I will be screwed if I don't get a child in here asap. I was licensed Jan of 10 and didn't get any families in until May of 10. I can NOT wait that long.

[CozyHome]

You will get a lot of judgement on some daycare websites but do what you have to do! Once you get started with great clients and you learn how to run the daycare with a great outside/indoor program, crafting, learning, getting the routine under control, the parents will love you.

I started out with all babies so the parents were sending all the food and my expenses were low because of it. Then when I started feeding the children when they were a little older I raised my rates. The parents saw the great crafts coming home, heard about the quality food they were served daily and our trips to parks, libraries, firehalls, etc. and realized I'm good at this. I wasn't shy about bragging about my great ideas and all of the fun we had. Also, I put the pics on my website which I highly recommend. The parents could see for themselves all the fun we had.

So whenever I raised my rates at my annual contract re-signing nobody ever complained. Sometimes it's worth it to **** up the loss in the first year to get a great reputation going. Good luck!

[allsmiles]

You will get a lot of judgement on some daycare websites but do what you have to do! Once you get started with great clients and you learn how to run the daycare with a great outside/indoor program, crafting, learning, getting the routine under control, the parents will love you.

I started out with all babies so the parents were sending all the food and my expenses were low because of it. Then when I started feeding the children when they were a little older I raised my rates. The parents saw the great crafts coming home, heard about the quality food they were served daily and our trips to parks, libraries, firehalls, etc. and realized I'm good at this. I wasn't shy about bragging about my great ideas and all of the fun we had. Also, I put the pics on my website which I highly recommend. The parents could see for themselves all the fun we had.

So whenever I raised my rates at my annual contract re-signing nobody ever complained. Sometimes it's worth it to **** up the loss in the first year to get a great reputation going. Good luck!

thats exactly what im hoping will happen for me come this august.. right now we are gonna bite the bullet with the low rates and build up our program
glad it really worked out for you!!!

[CozyHome]

It really did work out for me and I wish you as much success LadyQ. My rates are $12 higher/day now than they were 5 years ago when I started out. I just raised them $2/day this year so for the past 3 years they were $10/day higher than the first 2 years. If you put your rates up slowly like that as you go and as you add clients and gain a good reputation in works. Get a great website in place with lots of pictures, by the way, that's the best way to sell your daycare and yourself before clients even meet you.