Independent Article

Are you ready to expand your business?

Conny Schmidt

Childcare Sales Australia delivers the final article for this series by well known Childcare Consultant Conny Schmidt. Conny is the owner and operator of the very reputable childcare management consultancy firm- Maximise Childcare Consultancy. In her four part series Conny has written an array of very informative childcare industry articles. In her final one for this series, Conny shares with us some tips and tricks to help you know if your ready to own more than one childcare centre. She also shares her expertise on gaining greater efficiencies when owning more than one centre.

Are you ready to expand your business ?

Purchasing more than one childcare centre can be a very good way to gain greater efficiencies and profit in your overall business, but it can also double your work load and drain you financially if you don’t have a well thought out plan and do it at the right time.

It can be a daunting proposition to consider purchasing another childcare centre, when the one you are currently operating keeps you busy, however many operators have enjoyed the luxury of greater efficiencies of sharing resources, saving on consumables and saving on staff costs by owning more than one centre.
Owning more than one centre is not for everyone, but if you have a reliable well systemized approach to your business, owning a second or third one can often be as easy as owning a single one! With some great financial gains. I have listed below some key issues you may like to consider in determining if you are ready to own more than one centre-

Get your existing centre in order first !

Systemizing your existing centre will not only allow you to operate more efficiently but it will also allow you to easily transfer information to another centre should you decide to expand and purchase another one.

When developing systems, start from the perspective of the how the customer (Family) is engaged with your service. What do they see? How are they greeted? Where are the staff positioned? How do your staff develop a relationship with the customer? Whilst we need to ensure our practices meet legislative requirements- Far too often , systems are designed to regulate staff without thinking about how the customer enjoys the experience. Your systems/operational manual is not there to collect dust. Train your team members on all the systems that are relevant to them, and retrain them if they are not adhering to the system.

Risk managing your business is critical and it is not only about having great systems, its also about recruitment and retention of good staff, in particular your Centre Director. Succession planning is essential, you would be wise to identify team members capable of advancing and desiring further training and than set up supportive training plans to ensure they gain the skills to continue to add value to your business. Every centre should have an Assistant Director (even if you don’t need one to meet legislative requirements) It is simply business suicide not to have your key people covered with reliable replacements. It can be very costly to your business when you lose a great Centre Director and spend many months trying to recruit a new one. Invest in training an Assistant Director and reward your existing Director when she supports you in this cause.

Brand recognition

What better way to get your name out in the community more often than to have it out there more frequently! Brand recognition can save you advertising costs. I am still told by many operators that Word of Mouth” is still the most popular method in getting new enquires. Not only can you save on advertising costs when you do share a brand name across multiple centres, you can generate a greater sense of knowing in the community if your Brand Name is regularly exposed.

Brand Recognition is not just about having a consistent logo, it is also about brand colours, key operational messages, vision , mission and values! - You may be very passionate about what you want your centre to stand for, however your team may not share your passion or even know your vision. When you write your vision, mission and value statement get your team involved in the process of developing these statements and ensure that you communicate not only by placing a poster on the wall, but through team meetings which are integrated into employee review sessions.

Use your current resources

Not only can you share your staff and build a more consistent relief staff pool, you can also share staff ideas and skills. Many operators fail to see the real talents in their own team. Often we will pay for in service training and workshops and yet at times some of our own team members already have the skills to share. Get to know your team and set up many opportunities where you can leverage off each of their skill sets to support and assist others in the professional development. When you have more than one centre you can very readily share meeting times, staff knowledge and resources, toys and equipment as well as save time delivering any communications amongst the team. Sharing your waitlist and merging enquiries across the business as a whole is also a great way to assist in keeping occupancy consistent. Using your already well trained Director to share her knowledge in your business systems by training the new Director will allow you a much smoother transition.

Reward team work

Creating a climate of team work is not as easy as it sounds. The biggest complaint I get from owners with more than one centre is the two centres don’t like each other. More often than not operators will have very clear documentation that suggests team work, they expect team work they even ask for team work- BUT they do not reward team work, and in some cases they actually create competition and team rivalry unintentionally. This can cause conflict and can set staff up to outperform each other and soon enough create resentment amongst the team and ultimately affect the children and families of your service. I would encourage you to look for opportunities to praise and encourage staff when you catch them helping and supporting each other. Never talk about one staff member in front of another. Never compare Directors. Always ask for Directors to meet on an idea or strategy prior to them bringing it to you for discussion, always encourage both Directors to meet with you to discuss new ideas or strategies. Don’t ever make an important operational decision with one Director and not another. If you don’t manage this carefully you will create fierce competition and more energy will be spent on outdoing each other than the business.

Taking your business to the next level requires careful planning and enormous commitment. Working smarter not harder with the implementation of well thought out procedures and systems will see your business running very efficiently. It is essential to have each centre Director with excellent management skills, and a keen willingness to be a team player. If you reward team work than you will create a culture and climate that supports it and in return this will allow the business as a whole to thrive as each Director supports the other.