Setting up a Nursery
What Parents Look For
Researching your market and understand what your potential customers want is crucial to any business. If you’re serious about setting up a nursery, understanding what parents look for when choosing a particular day care setting over another will be a vital part of the market research you carry out.
Like with so many businesses having a USP (or unique selling proposition) for your Nursery could be the difference between getting parents to trust you with their children's care needs or not. Your USP could be that you've achieved a good OFSTED rating or it could be that you're local. And as with other industries, knowing, understanding and acting on the needs of your customers will give you an advantage over other Nurseries.
Here then are just a few things parents may look for when choosing a Nursery:
1. Ofsted registered. If you are make sure your registration certificate and current certificate of insurance are displayed together in a prominent position. This will give parents added peace of mind.
2. Are you a member of a professional organisation? Not only does being a member of organisations like the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) give you and your staff useful information but it also shows parents you are serious about their children's needs.
3. Nurseries that have received recognition. Has your Nursery gained any kitemarks of excellence? Investors in People, Investors in Children or the NDNA's quality counts are all examples of things that parents and would be customers might look for. If so you have them, make sure the parents of your children and the parents of children looking to use your Nursery know about it.
4. As well as insurance providers rewarding good health and safety, parents will also be asking themselves a series of questions about your Nursery.
Questions like:
a. Do you have a clean and safe outside play area?
b. Is your Nursery welcoming? Is it bright, clean and well decorated?
c. Is the equipment in the Nursery safe and clean?
d. What food do you provide? How often are your menu's updated? Can you cater for special diets?
e. Do your current children look happy?
f. Do your staff look happy, calm, confident and relaxed and are they dressed well?
g. What are your staff to children ratios?
h. How much will it cost me and what will I get for my money? Will I have to pay extra for meals, nappies etc?
By understanding what parents (and indeed children) want and expect from a nursery and having answers to these questions readily available, you will already have a competitive advantage over nurseries that aren’t as well prepared.
Understand your market and your chances of setting up and running a successful children’s day nursery will dramatically increase.
