Discount / Price Adjustment?!? Please Help

[Baby&Me]

We've been open 4 awhile
Need 2 fill our enrollment
Got 2 good 1's sib's
Dcm said they can't afford us
Quit came bk & quit again
Was thinking 2 offer lesser fee
@ least till we can fill up
Seems every1 needs discount
We can only make it on a full house

What r ur techniques & uses of discounts ?:confused::confused:
Complications & solutions ?

ThanQ kindly in advance 4 sharing :confused:

[Blackcat31]

I don't offer discounts. I have 12 spaces and require payment in full for those spaces whether they are used or not.

I understand wanting to get enrollments but offering discounts to families that can't afford your services isn't going to help in my opinion and discounting your rate tells parents that you will bend to fit their needs so pretty soon everything becomes more important to pay than child care.

Their car broke down so they cant pay you this week so they ask for a discount. Their child got sick and they missed 2 days of work so they want you to discount the week since their child didn't attend all of the days....etc etc...

I know others offer discounts for siblings and other situations but I don't. I sell a service for a set fee and if parents cant' afford that fee then I cant and wont provide services to them. I feel bad but that doesn't change the fact that I have financial obligations to meet too.

[TXhomedaycare]

I don't offer discounts. I have 12 spaces and require payment in full for those spaces whether they are used or not.

I understand wanting to get enrollments but offering discounts to families that can't afford your services isn't going to help in my opinion and discounting your rate tells parents that you will bend to fit their needs so pretty soon everything becomes more important to pay than child care.

Their car broke down so they cant pay you this week so they ask for a discount. Their child got sick and they missed 2 days of work so they want you to discount the week since their child didn't attend all of the days....etc etc...

I know others offer discounts for siblings and other situations but I don't. I sell a service for a set fee and if parents cant' afford that fee then I cant and wont provide services to them. I feel bad but that doesn't change the fact that I have financial obligations to meet too.

Don't offer discounts you will regent it later. Hang tight good families will come. Just make sure you are marketing all of your assets so people are willing to pay.

[laundrymom]

The only discount I offer is a second sibling at same price as first even if my rate increases before second sibling enrolls.

If you strongly feel that you must offer a discount, maybe do a $5 off per week if you pay by Thursday of each week.
Or
Do a special.
For the month of
October
Scare away daycare fees!!
$50 rebate towards the first week fees of 2016 if you refer someone to the daycare who is still attending at Christmas.
For November.
Thanks for referring my program.
$50 rebate towards first week of February's daycare fees if you refer someone who is still attending February 1, 2016.

This gives parents incentive to refer your awesome program.

I always post from my daycare page into my parents Facebook walls

Say
From laundrys daycare to Josiah mailent
Hey Josaiah, we have room for a new friend in Sarah's class. If you know anyone looking for care please tag them in this post or have them text or call me. Thanks!!
Then all their friends see it. And if they click like, their friends see it. Etc etc.

[Baby&Me]

ThanQ��

[littletots]

I offer $20 discount on DCF w 2 children. My competitors offer $50 off. Do a quick check of local prices. I'm full so don't need to offer more.

[kendallina]

I offer a slight sibling discount. I also offer a $50 Kroger gift card for referrals. So, if a current parent recommends my program to someone and that person enrolls, the referring family gets $50 gift card. Win win.

[LysesKids]

I don't do discounts, even licensed, I am still limited to 4 kids because of the ages I take... my internet won't discount fees, my lot rent goes up not down each year, food costs are increasing; it doesn't cost less to feed 2 children from one family then it does to feed 2 kids from different families - parents choose (well for the most part) to have more than one child... why is it my responsibility to subsidize their decision to have more than one child? It's not

Now I do give 1 day free childcare for referring a new FT family; given only IF the new family attends at least one month & pays on time, otherwise no go... I can afford to "give away" 1 or 2 days fee off of one kid in exchange for 20+ days of paid care (averaged out monthly), better than having a spot open, but to discount every week/month? Nope. I added it up and the loss of income isn't worth it

[daycare]

cant recall who said it on here, but my favorite line of all times when it comes to discounts

i dont discount the care I give, therefore i don't offer discounts

[Blackcat31]

cant recall who said it on here, but my favorite line of all times when it comes to discounts

i dont discount the care I give, therefore i don't offer discounts

First line in my handbook under the rate section:

"Siblings do not receive discounted care, therefore do not receive discounted rates"

[Baby&Me]

Clean&clear
Luv it

[lovemydaycare0912]

I agree. No discounts. It will mess you up in long run. Be patient. I had a family i was helping out until their military asdistance kicked in. Turns out they thought they would get assistance on top of a discount. That didnt last long. If they cant afford it, they need to go elsewhere. I charge 235 a week for infants full time and in my area thats a good price. I include diapers and food and formula. 1 day a week is 60 bucks. I had a lady come in who i told the price to beforehand, tell me how expensive I was and so on. My price is my price. I provide quality childcare. If you want to pay$15 a day, you will surely see the difference in quality.

[Alisyn]

First line in my handbook under the rate section:

"Siblings do not receive discounted care, therefore do not receive discounted rates"

Yes! This!

[Thriftylady]

In my opinion, if you give them a discount because they can't afford you, they will ask for more special later. Like picking up late without a fee, dropping off early without a fee, wanting special foods, etc.

From experience I can tell you this... When I restarted a year and a half ago, I hardly got any calls. Still don't get many. I finally got "full" starting last Monday. And most of my kids are part time. I am not making a ton now, but it is doing what it should and helping us financially enough we can finally breath! I turned down some families. Termed one who "couldn't afford me". I gave her a discount her first week until she got a paycheck. She came to me at the end of the week and told me "my check was less than I planned so can I just pay you the $80 next week?". I said well if we do that, you will owe $160 half for next week and the rest for the following week, because we HAVE to get you on prepay. I never saw or heard from her again. I consider it a term, because she wanted to bring him but found out that I WILL get paid. I needed the money, but I can't afford to go so cheap I am loosing money. Doing daycare costs us money, it isn't like because we are at home we have no expenses.

[thrivingchildcarecom]

I agree with posts. I have offered a discounted rate in the past to a current family (I mean really discounted) and now regret it. Mom said it was much more than she had been paying and couldn't afford it. Now, about a year later, she has started her own business and bought a house. I made a shift in my thinking regarding giving discounts in the future. If I feel the need to give discounts, it will be for a LIMITED TIME (say a month) and still only be on a case by case basis. When I started years ago I offered a 20% sibling discount (what was I thinking). Then a family left and told me that the new day care only offered a 10% discount. I quickly changed to that as well. One of the things that has kept me on track was calculating what the tuition rate is on an hourly basis. If I see that it drops to less than $3/hr, I realize that it is not feasible. I actually show that hourly rate to the parents in a Tuition Worksheet so that they can realize what they are actually paying, but it really is an eye opener for me and keeps me on track just as much. We all have to do what we need to do for our business, but we also need to make adjustments to making sound business decisions for the good of the business as well.