Daycare with Bad Reputation...How do I recover?

[Unregistered]

Hello there.

2 years ago during transition in ownership in a smallish town area with about 2,000-4,000 households, a bad reputation was developed. The primary reasons as I've found out was both due to some latent racism, gender discrimination (i'm male), and mishandling of the transition where one of the teachers was let out. I've learned all these things over the years from talking to various people.

I've sought to counter these things by having the main face of the school be a female with a bubbly personality who is very socially intelligent who is not of my ethnicity.

Unfortunately I recently had a family from the immediate area who visited for the tour, loved the environment, saw all the kids running around having fun, registered with deposit, and then suddenly pull out after I suspect talking to someone within that social circle. As a matter of fact, all my clients in the last 2 years have been from new people moving in from out of town/city, people not associated with the main social circle (very very few), and people who live in the surrounding areas outside of this town. Geography wise I am situated in the middle of the town but the town is being surrounded by expanding suburbia from a neighbouring city.

My location is excellent in terms of being situated on a main road. My centre is larger than most. We have excellent learning materials and learning environment, indoors and outdoors. We are much better at giving tours than before. I've also instructed the staff to take the kids out to the local park to give a face to people who might not phone in. Prices are competitive as well.

Overwhelmingly, the main thing that holds me back to 50% capacity (meaning I can barely pay my bills) is the latent bad reputation.

I am extremely short on cash at this moment so I can't do anything money intensive. Any suggestions or just any kind of commentary on my situation?

Thanks a bunch.

[Mom2Two]

Well, those families must be going somewhere else. What can you do to add some more positives or let folk know about the positives your program has that make it stand out? Let people know about your awesomeness.

Is there much national/racial diversity in your town? Could you let folks know how your diverse program is a positive? Wouldn't it have educational benefit? I recently saw a J. J. Abrams thingy about how inclusiveness benefits everyone. Make a display board in your lobby with art work from the children and quotes talking about their family's heritage. Everyone has a story to celebrate.

Could you get some national level credentials like Top Star or whatever?

It sounds like you've got some challenges that may not be unfair--but it could also be an opportunity to rise up to victory :-)

[Unregistered]

Well, those families must be going somewhere else. What can you do to add some more positives or let folk know about the positives your program has that make it stand out? Let people know about your awesomeness.

Is there much national/racial diversity in your town? Could you let folks know how your diverse program is a positive? Wouldn't it have educational benefit? I recently saw a J. J. Abrams thingy about how inclusiveness benefits everyone. Make a display board in your lobby with art work from the children and quotes talking about their family's heritage. Everyone has a story to celebrate.

Could you get some national level credentials like Top Star or whatever?

It sounds like you've got some challenges that may not be unfair--but it could also be an opportunity to rise up to victory :-)

The town is very white. Ask yourself, if you went to the Bible Belt to a small conservative town, as a black man would you really be able to convince people after decades, centuries of these views otherwise?


We have lots of positive things that are shown in the school including artwork prominently displayed. The learning environment has been praised by many parents for its large space, its materials, neatness, brightness, etc. But that's for the few who even bother to come for the tour. Most people will talk to their friends and hear about "you know about that new owner..." etc etc and that's it.

[Pepperth]

Hello there.

2 years ago during transition in ownership in a smallish town area with about 2000-4000 households, a bad reputation was developed. The primary reasons as I've found out was both due to some latent racism, gender discrimination (i'm male), and mishandling of the transition where one of the teachers was let out. I've learned all these things over the years from talking to various people.

I've sought to counter these things by having the main face of the school be a female with a bubbly personality who is very socially intelligent who is not of my ethnicity.

Unfortunately I recently had a family from the immediate area who visited for the tour, loved the environment, saw all the kids running around having fun, registered with deposit, and then suddenly pull out after I suspect talking to someone within that social circle. As a matter of fact, all my clients in the last 2 years have been from new people moving in from out of town/city, people not associated with the main social circle (very very few), and people who live in the surrounding areas outside of this town. Geography wise I am situated in the middle of the town but the town is being surrounded by expanding suburbia from a neighbouring city.

My location is excellent in terms of being situated on a main road. My centre is larger than most. We have excellent learning materials and learning environment, indoors and outdoors. We are much better at giving tours than before. I've also instructed the staff to take the kids out to the local park to give a face to people who might not phone in. Prices are competitive as well.

Overwhelmingly, the main thing that holds me back to 50% capacity (meaning I can barely pay my bills) is the latent bad reputation.

I am extremely short on cash at this moment so I can't do anything money intensive. Any suggestions or just any kind of commentary on my situation?

Thanks a bunch.

Is there some type of Incentive you could provide current families who refer somebody? Could you run a few date night programs and get people in the door? Give your info to realtors to get people new to town familiar with you? Are there any community organizations you could join so people get to know you better?

I'm sorry you aren't getting a fair shake. Best of luck to you. Sounds like a great program you are operating now.

[Unregistered]

Is there some type of Incentive you could provide current families who refer somebody? Could you run a few date night programs and get people in the door? Give your info to realtors to get people new to town familiar with you? Are there any community organizations you could join so people get to know you better?

I'm sorry you aren't getting a fair shake. Best of luck to you. Sounds like a great program you are operating now.

Because all the families I have are not part of that big social circle in town, they come. But for that same reason, I do not get any referrals because they have no friends in the area.

I've looked into a free hour during the week or an evening or weekend program. The problem with that is I'm not allowed in the evening and weekends by my landlord. I can't renegotiate it because technically I'm up for lease renewal this year, which likely means an increase but I think he's forgotten so I don't want to bring it up at all. Doing a free drop in program during the week can be feasible although I'm not sure how to advertise such a thing. As I mentioned I don't have any cash for a flyer campaign or anything...

I am not a social butterfly, which is why the face of the school is my staff not myself. For me to join any community organizations would not help in any way.

Our program is great. But even people who have come and seen it in action change their minds once they engage with that social group. It doesn't matter what the reality is, what their social circles say and gossip matters more.

[Pestle]

Did the problems occur during YOUR transition in, and you've only recently learned about them?

How do you know that the potential families like the program, but change their minds after talking to other people?

I grew up a rural, 98% white town in the Bible Belt. There was only one pediatrician in town. When I was a teenager, a new pediatrician opened an office. He was black, and his waiting room was always full. Why? Because he branded as a Christian pediatrician, and because everybody knew the white pediatrician had been arrested for drug abuse. In a small town, word gets around.

For every family that's got a latent racist reason for staying away, there must be several families that don't care. I agree with Mom2Two about branding, but I don't know if championing diversity is the way to go--it would be here in my mid-sized Bible Belt city, but probably still not in my home town.

How do you feel about becoming affiliated with a church? Here in a more diverse town, I actually make a point of not having a religious program, since most of the programs here are Christian and many of the potential families aren't. I've gotten three families so far who made a point of making sure I wouldn't be indoctrinating their kids. Where you're at, the reverse is probably true.

[Ariana]

How long ago did this happen? It is unfortunate but likely only time will heal this wound. You can only do so much with the limitations you have and unfortunately I don't see any amount of free services helping here. Word of mouth is pretty much the bread and butter of this kind of business because people care about where they put their kids and through no fault of yours your reputation went into the toilet.

Can you change your name so that when people bring up "XYZ daycare" they don't immediately know it is your daycare? Can you put a sign out that says "under new management"? I know restaurants do this to get over a bad reputation but I am not sure how much it will help in a small town where people know it is still you.

Ugh such a hard situation to be in

[Unregistered]

Did the problems occur during YOUR transition in, and you've only recently learned about them?

How do you know that the potential families like the program, but change their minds after talking to other people?

I grew up a rural, 98% white town in the Bible Belt. There was only one pediatrician in town. When I was a teenager, a new pediatrician opened an office. He was black, and his waiting room was always full. Why? Because he branded as a Christian pediatrician, and because everybody knew the white pediatrician had been arrested for drug abuse. In a small town, word gets around.

For every family that's got a latent racist reason for staying away, there must be several families that don't care. I agree with Mom2Two about branding, but I don't know if championing diversity is the way to go--it would be here in my mid-sized Bible Belt city, but probably still not in my home town.

How do you feel about becoming affiliated with a church? Here in a more diverse town, I actually make a point of not having a religious program, since most of the programs here are Christian and many of the potential families aren't. I've gotten three families so far who made a point of making sure I wouldn't be indoctrinating their kids. Where you're at, the reverse is probably true.

This occurred during the transition from previous owner to myself. I've known about it since the very beginning, which is 2 years ago. The alternative daycares in the area have not been arrested for xyz so I think for your example it's more like people didn't have a choice anymore. Not so in my case as there are several other choices available and at least one other choice for my niche. People here are not really religious but as I've said, I cannot join any organizations because I hate small talk, I have tried for YEARS to be into that stuff but it's just not me and it does not work.

The racism thing was just one of several factors that started the bad perception and bad reputation. Essentially when people heard about the new owner being of xyz ethnicity they already had a whole slew of assumptions (the definition of racism essentially) without ever meeting me. Unfortunately I also had an employee who enjoyed suddenly being the centre of attention of the gossip circle and thought bad mouthing me would somehow get her ahead. By the time I got a new employee to replace her it was too late. Since then we've had a good program, good staff, but people won't even take a look and even the few who do from the area, as soon as they hear about whatever gossip is still around, they pull out.

Thanks for your reply.

[Unregistered]

How long ago did this happen? It is unfortunate but likely only time will heal this wound. You can only do so much with the limitations you have and unfortunately I don't see any amount of free services helping here. Word of mouth is pretty much the bread and butter of this kind of business because people care about where they put their kids and through no fault of yours your reputation went into the toilet.

Can you change your name so that when people bring up "XYZ daycare" they don't immediately know it is your daycare? Can you put a sign out that says "under new management"? I know restaurants do this to get over a bad reputation but I am not sure how much it will help in a small town where people know it is still you.

Ugh such a hard situation to be in

This happened nearly exactly 2 years ago. I've thought about rebranding but that would incur expenses like changing the sign etc. I'm also not sure how effective that would be since (and I know this from second hand accounts) when people mention my daycare they say 'oh that daycare owned by that <ethnicity> guy?'...

I am really disappointed also in the lack of referrals from the clients that have come onboard since everything blew over. These people know nothing of what happened but like I said are almost all new residents to the area or in a few cases, just not having many friends (one dad told me this when we were talking referrals etc)

I'm just curious, how long do these things to take to blow over, at least enough that I will get some* people from the local area...you know, not 100% recovery but 'enough'? In a small town setting...

Thanks for your reply.

[midaycare]

I've lived small town Bible Belt. You will need to get out and meet people, joim groups. There is no other easy fix. You may not feel comfortable, but that is how small towns operate.

It is how even middle and large towns and cities operate. Part of this job is going out there and getting business for ourselves, promoting ourselves all the time.

Gossip won't matter if they have the opportunity to meet and speak with you (and they like you). Join a club, church, something, anything. Volunteer. Do random acts of kindness. Word will get around.

I'm a little confused on if you are a director of a center or just have a larger daycare. If you are a director, parents won't care about you too much. You won't be teaching their kids. If you are a teacher, I would not drop my child off with a teacher who was ill at ease around me and couldn't make conversation. That's just my personal feelings.

So I would start there. Go get out there and join groups, make friends.

[Unregistered]

I've lived small town Bible Belt. You will need to get out and meet people, joim groups. There is no other easy fix. You may not feel comfortable, but that is how small towns operate.

It is how even middle and large towns and cities operate. Part of this job is going out there and getting business for ourselves, promoting ourselves all the time.

Gossip won't matter if they have the opportunity to meet and speak with you (and they like you). Join a club, church, something, anything. Volunteer. Do random acts of kindness. Word will get around.

I'm a little confused on if you are a director of a center or just have a larger daycare. If you are a director, parents won't care about you too much. You won't be teaching their kids. If you are a teacher, I would not drop my child off with a teacher who was ill at ease around me and couldn't make conversation. That's just my personal feelings.

So I would start there. Go get out there and join groups, make friends.

I'm the director/management, I don't work with the kids really...when I do tours I make sure people understand this is the setup. Has not made a difference with this area though.

[daycare]

Have you or are you involved with your community. When I moved to my location about 8-9years ago, no one knew me. Without saying too much, I am very different than 95%of the population where I live and many view my culture not so positive.

Sorry not trying to make this about race. But I got out into my community to meet others, help at my kids schools,volunteer, coach youth sports and get to know people, but mostly so that people could get to know me and know I'm a good person.

It worked very well, I still volunteer in my community every week. I love to live to help others in any way that I can.

If you could do this, people will see that you are a great man and will eventually look over whatever it is that happened.

This community I live is also some what of a Bible Belt, I just stand clear of anything to do with religion.

Hugs to you. I hope it works out.

[Pestle]

I think you're at an impasse. . . if you can't spend any money to rebrand and you can't talk to people, then nothing's going to change (other than, as Ariana says, time eventually helping people to forget).

My mother is on the Autism spectrum and doesn't socialize well. So you have my sympathy. However, if you're completely against any community involvement you are probably in the wrong field. If you were to go out and volunteer a few hours a month, as a rep of your day care, you'd find that when people are working together on a physical task (like sorting donations, repairing houses, cleaning up roadsides, etc.) they develop affection for each other, no matter how different or "misfit" the others are. You don't have to talk much; you can just listen a little bit, make a few "m-hm" sounds so people feel like they aren't ignored, and stay focused on the work.

Or if you attended community meetings, you'd find that it's easy to not speak, because there will always be a few people who fill up all the time with their own chatter. If you don't arrive too early and you don't stay too late, you can dodge most of the small talk. And take that time to people-watch; you'll probably notice a lot of folks buried in work they brought with them on their smart phones.

As far as small talk goes, most people like to talk about ourselves and spend the "listening" time thinking ahead to what we're going to say next. If it's hard for you to talk about yourself, just come up with some leading questions and you'll find you barely have to talk at all. I have a friend who's brilliant, a Cornell PhD, multi-talented, and he loves to listen to others and learn about them. He can make any person feel special because he treats them as if they're the most interesting thing that's happened to him all week. You walk away from him thinking "He's so great, so smart, so funny," and then you realize he didn't actually say anything at all. You just liked him because he made you feel like he liked you! Sneaky jerk. . . ::

[Unregistered]

Since several people have suggested the community volunteer thing I will look into that. It's weird with me. I can be very social but not if I feel like I need to be. I can't really put a certain label on it because it's just all over the place. Hopefully there is something like that around.

Any ideas on how long it would take for these things to blow over on the present course if I keep doing what I've been doing?

[daycare]

Since several people have suggested the community volunteer thing I will look into that. It's weird with me. I can be very social but not if I feel like I need to be. I can't really put a certain label on it because it's just all over the place. Hopefully there is something like that around.

Any ideas on how long it would take for these things to blow over on the present course if I keep doing what I've been doing?

Just be yourself and let nature takes it course.