286: How Can Mystery Shopping Transform Your Child Care Center? With Joanna and Marie

In this episode, you’ll join a warm, insightful chat with Marie Young and Joanna Casey from Child Care Mystery Shop. They share how their family-run business helps child care centers boost enrollment and polish their customer experience through mystery shopping. You’ll hear practical tips on improving communication, online presence, and first impressions, plus a few stories from behind the scenes! 

If you’re curious about what parents really see when they visit your center, this episode is packed with friendly advice and smart strategies to help you shine. 

Learn more at: https://www.childcaremysteryshopping.org/

Interested in being shopped? Contact them at Childcaremysteryshop@gmail.com

Check out this fall's sponsor: https://www.tryplayground.com/

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Transcript

Marie 00:00:03  Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real world strategies, honest talk and a whole lot of support. Whether you're running one center or many. We're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity. This episode is brought to you by this quarter's sponsor, playground. The all in one child care management software. We're all about managing monkeys and saving you time at your center. With this platform, you can. We're proud to partner with a team that's as committed to your success as we are. Learn more at Tri Playground Comm. Now let's get into today's conversation. One we think you're really going to love.

Kate 00:00:49  Hey, guys. So we've got some guests today that Kate and I are kind of fond of. So it is Mary Young and Joanna Casey, and they have a company called Child Care Mystery Shop, and we think you need to know about it. So welcome, ladies. Welcome, welcome. So, I want you guys to tell a little bit of your backstory and why you want to do this for people.

Kate 00:01:16  Why do you want to mystery shop child care centers and child care programs?

Carrie 00:01:21  Wait wait wait. Can we start with, oh, why would you want to mystery shop?

Kate 00:01:25  That's what I just asked, lady. I just asked that question.

Joanna 00:01:30  I think that the difference is like why you would want a mystery shop versus why you want us specifically to mystery shop you. And I think that mystery shop in general is really helpful and really important because they give you this, like, clear view of what your customers are seeing when they're coming into your building. how is your presence online? How do your employees respond on the phone? Things like that.

Carrie 00:02:04  Oh, wait wait wait, you mean like they actually answer the phone?

Joanna 00:02:08  Hopefully. Hopefully they answer the phone. And if they don't answer the phone, they call you back when you leave a voicemail.

Carrie 00:02:14  Oh, hopefully.

Kate 00:02:16  Sure. That has happened. Every single time you guys have done a shop is that you've gotten return calls from any message that you've left.

Kate 00:02:24  Right. That's happened every time, right?

Joanna 00:02:26  No. One of the ones I called didn't even have a voicemail. and then I emailed them, and I never got a response.

Carrie 00:02:34  Okay, wait wait, wait. But, Carrie, everybody says they're having problems with enrollment, and so if they're having problems with enrollment, shouldn't they be answering their phone?

Kate 00:02:43  I mean, I would think so, because the people who are trying to give you money call you and email you or reach out to you on messenger. And if they want to give you money, I would think it's a good idea to communicate with them. But, you know, I'm. I'm old fashioned. Maybe I'm wrong. These guys, we got a millennial and a Gen Z. And what do you guys think? Do you think it's a good idea to communicate with people who are trying to give you money?

Marie 00:03:13  yes. Yeah, I definitely think the best, center that I visited, I was able to do it all through the website, which sometimes I don't always want to talk on the phone.

Marie 00:03:26  Not always my favorite thing. And so being able to book a tour and do it all and get text reminders, and it was a very well thought out process, and one I called because I was going to get there a lot earlier because my previous errand was done quick and I was like, maybe I can just knock this out. And I call and they picked up and they were available early, and I was able to get in and check out their center and still have a great tour and then got like two phone calls after. Like wanting to follow up and make sure. Like, hey, are you still interested? And that I think has been the best one I've had. And. Shows that if you're truly committed and truly know the process that you have, you have an SOP or the steps to take to follow up and make sure that a potential person is actually interested and wants like they want to be at your center. How do you know that? Well, you gotta communicate with them.

Marie 00:04:33  And so that I think has been the best one so far. It's not all just a no show ghosting of child care centers.

Carrie 00:04:43  Well, I guess that's really good to hear that you've had some that actually were, present and available. And, so if I understand correctly, that is kind of what you guys do is you guys will place phone calls, you'll schedule appointments, you'll look at their websites. What happens after that? So you do this then what?

Joanna 00:05:05  Well, it really depends on what people are interested in. So if they feel like they just don't have enough people reaching out to them in the first place, a lot of times, the problem is actually like their internet presence. People don't know that they exist, or other people have a stronger internet presence, and it's really helpful to have somebody completely on the outside, because if you are the business, then you're automatically going to show up higher in your own search results of yourself. so having people on the outside doing that, and also not to toot around horns, but we've been on the internet a lot and we have interacted with a lot of different websites.

Joanna 00:05:50  We know a good UI, we know when there is a, a a good social media presence, or when it's clearly just a lot of recycled stock photos. They're updated once a week.

Carrie 00:06:04  Wait wait wait. Now I just want I just want to say something. So I think that a because Carrie and I do it all the time, which is use words people may not understand. So Joanna used a phrase which was UI, which, if you aren't really sure what that meant, was the user interface. And I think it's also really important to understand that child Care Mystery Shop is not trying to sell you a marketing service. So this is they're coming at it entirely from the user point of view. So if you're looking to bring in families somewhere between the ages of 20 and 35, these are your gals, right? Like, if that's your target market, these gals have got you covered. They are active on their phones, so they'll know whether or not you're you. You show up. You know, what does your mobile look like? Not just your website.

Carrie 00:06:54  Because that's.

Marie 00:06:55  A big.

Joanna 00:06:55  Number. One of the big things that we check is that, like, so every shop that we offer includes a internet presence, essentially, like we analyzed your internet presence, we see how active it is, how usable your website is. Every single shop that we offer includes that because we think that it's the most important aspect is literally just can people find you? Do they know that you exist? it is like the cheapest option because we were like, we need to get more people doing this. This is this is bad. and it is all aspects of it. as well as added in like response time. We call it the virtual shop. so we'll that's when we'll like send emails, see if they have a respond. We'll call, we'll see if they ever respond. We'll go through that process that Maria was talking about. If it's all virtual, it's actually getting the text updates that they say that they're going to when she calls them to change the time? Like, do they answer the phone? Things like that.

Joanna 00:08:03  so we'll go through all of that process from an outside point of view, and compare it to other, other centers in your area. Yeah.

Marie 00:08:15  Because it's not always about what you do.

Joanna 00:08:17  Yeah, absolutely.

Marie 00:08:18  The ones around you are doing it better. Yeah. Are they getting more outreach? More people? Do they just have a better presence or a better looking center? What's the pricing? Possibly because. Is it simply price? Is it simply location? Is it how their website is? Are their tours more exciting? Are their staff friendlier? Cleanliness.

Joanna 00:08:44  Are they more engaged on social. And so they're showing up more often for more people.

Marie 00:08:49  More involved in the community?

Joanna 00:08:50  Yeah. So we we help people compare those things because you might score. You might do really well with your social for average. So you're like above average, but the other two centers in your zip code that you're really concerned about, they're scoring like amazing. They're doing community outreach posts. They're doing, like blog updates on their website.

Joanna 00:09:16  They're putting out like helpful tips. They're going to community events, things like that, that you're not doing bad. It's just that we can help you figure out in some cases what could be better.

Marie 00:09:30  Yeah. And it's a whole process and it takes a lot going through and looking at the centers. And we want to make sure that it's from a point of view of a parent and what they want best for their children and what you can do for them.

Kate 00:09:46  Okay. So other than the fact that you're a millennial and a Gen Z, what else Qualifies you to do this? I mean, just because you're the right age to squirt out small people. What else makes you qualified to do this?

Joanna 00:10:02  That was actually what I was going to bring up when Murray was talking about. We look at it from the point of view from a parent. We do look at it from the point of view of a parent. But we also both grew up around the industry. We have both worked a lot with small children and no industry standards and have been in, you know, uncountable numbers of daycare centers at this point.

Joanna 00:10:27  And we know what to compare you to, both on an industry side and on what parents would expect. So we can help in both aspects of that. I, you know, I was around so many daycares growing up, books, Kate and Carey's books and have helped with director trainings and developmental programs, and we know what makes a good center from the center's point of view. Like, you know, we're not going. We promise that we won't only grade you on how like how aesthetic it is. We're like we see that there are developmentally appropriate toys. We see that you're, like, reaching out in the right ways, that you're asking the right kinds of questions on both sides of it.

Marie 00:11:19  And if it isn't clear, since we didn't do a full introduction and you couldn't tell by the last names, hey, is my mom and Carrie is Joanna's mom, and we have both. You know, they've had this company for longer than I've been alive, and it's.

Joanna 00:11:38  My.

Marie 00:11:38  Life. Yeah.

Marie 00:11:39  And it's, you know, I remember helping send out certificates and helping with, like, mailers and going to centers. I worked at our other aunt's child care center because we have another one. Who's in this industry.

Joanna 00:11:54  Or family industry.

Marie 00:11:55  Yeah, it really is. And I remember driving Kerry to trainings when her wrist was broken. And we've both been to conferences with.

Joanna 00:12:03  Any trainers who've been around for anybody who's been around in their trainings for a really long time probably remembers, like little me sitting in the corner doing filing and helping hand out, the homework pages.

Marie 00:12:17  I think I was strapped to my mom at one point.

Joanna 00:12:20  Yeah.

Joanna 00:12:23  and I, you know, we we both have read their books. we both been there, you know, test dummies as they go through there. They're, they're like, this is my presentation for this director. Credentialing. Is it good? It doesn't make sense. So the number of times that we have heard, different ones of their presentations is it's really, like, part of our entire lives.

Joanna 00:12:50  And if.

Marie 00:12:50  You're. Yeah. And if you're a listener at all on this podcast, you probably have heard them referred to at least my name at least once, as I am also their editor. And I've listened to all of their podcasts, and Joanna's sister actually helped them get started on this podcast five years ago now.

Carrie 00:13:09  I mean, let's be real. If you listen to the episode, Marie's voice is the first voice you hear. And, so, so yes. So we actually so as parents, we're very proud because this is our fourth generation of entrepreneurs, and we are excited to be a component of that. And yes, we are going to tell you that they are the best, but they're also currently the only, child care mystery shop that that is the whole purpose of the company. There are consultants who will do it, there are friends who can do it for you. And we absolutely encourage everybody to be mystery shopped by somebody. But if you're a little like, I know everybody in town, I don't really want anybody in town to shop my program, then this is a great opportunity.

Carrie 00:13:59  If you're not sure if they'll come to you, they will do shops all over the country. They both have their own home base. So they are both not they are not both located in the same area. They've got different parts of the country. They could just start with a virtual shop for you. Now, if somebody is interested, how do they get in touch with you? Where do they go? What is the next step from here?

Kate 00:14:21  They don't know okay.

Marie 00:14:23  They're just oh we do. I'm going to take it I try to who's who's doing this who's doing okay I got it I got it. Yeah I did say that. I did say that. Yes. You can go to child care mystery shopping. Or you can email us at Childcare Mystery Shop at com. I will make sure both of these are in the show notes down below of this episode, So you can make sure to check us out there. We have all of our services listed and if you are interested at all, we have an interest form.

Marie 00:14:58  If you have questions, feel free to email us. If you want to learn more. We are going to be writing up a blog and putting it on both the Child Care Conversations website, but also our website, and just making it aware that you can read this out. Learn more about what we offer and why. You know, sometimes it's not up to the director to spend the kind of money that you guys need to spend to be able to make the benefits you need for your center, to be able to get the feedback you need. And, you know, some people need help from a coach, some people need help from other people who can help them. Different kinds of coaches. But sometimes you just need to know where you're at, where you are right now, where your areas are.

Joanna 00:15:54  You stand in the other centers.

Marie 00:15:56  Yeah. And it's hard. It's a long. You could do this yourself. You could go through the process. You could do the website. You could do it for the other areas.

Marie 00:16:05  But that's very time consuming. And sometimes you're not sure what you're looking at and sometimes you're a little biased.

Kate 00:16:12  Okay. So I want you to just do what is the the least expensive offer and give just like don't give the exact dollar amount because it may change over the years that this episode is going to be out. But like the the range and your biggest, your current biggest product. and so what is the baby offer? What is the thing that if somebody isn't at all sure about this secret shopping, but they do know that they're not getting as many enrollments as they think they should.

Joanna 00:16:44  So that's our virtual shop.

Marie 00:16:46  Yeah, our baby offer is the one that is like it. Is that your first impression? It is. We are looking at your internet presence, your branding, your accessibility, your response time, and your approach to new customers. Depending on what you want. Exactly. You know, we'll talk through it. We have an interest form. If you were wanting to know specifically, like for infants, are you wanting to more know for school age kids that will kind of depend on who can be like who reaches out to you? What area are you struggling and finding enrollment? Do you need those babies toddlers? What? What age gap do you need? And what does your center offer that is like our base package that we.

Carrie 00:17:36  And what's the rate? What's the range for that base package?

Kate 00:17:39  Is that a $100 or a couple thousand dollars?

Joanna 00:17:42  Oh 100 a couple hundred, yeah. It's. We, This one in particular, both Marie and I felt pretty strongly on because we have helped different companies throughout both of our years with their social media presence and non-profits with their social media presence. And it's not just social media, websites, communication, everything. We've also both done communications for a long time, and we know how important this is. So even when we looked at other secret shopper things, even though there's nobody else doing specifically child care, we looked at a lot of other secret shopper companies, and we realized that the rate that we're putting it out is below industry standard, but we think that it's that important. This particular package, we were like, you know, people meet, people need to be able to know where you are. People need to be able to reach out to you.

Carrie 00:18:40  All right. So that's the baby offer.

Carrie 00:18:42  What's the I want it all offer.

Marie 00:18:46  The biggest offer is the one where we go in. We tore your center. You get our perspective, our expertise. No matter what package you get, you will get a full report on the things we looked at. So either that just be internet online presence, you'll get ratings or if it's the whole deal which is the biggest package, it's a tour or perspective, everything for your center. And then you also get competitors. You get two. currently two other competitors that are in your area. If you have requests of these are the like, we at least want you to check out this one and maybe one other that you think is at the same level as ours, and we will go shop, that we will then do their online presence and their tours and see how they communicate with us and.

Joanna 00:19:41  Do their in-person shops and your in-person shops and online and communication.

Carrie 00:19:47  Okay, that sounds really expensive. That sounds like I'm buying a car.

Joanna 00:19:50  And then on top of that, because we realize that it's sometimes hard to process all of this information once we give it to you.

Joanna 00:20:00  You can also go through a period of coaching, a couple hours with Kate or Carey. that's right. We partnered with our moms, because we know we have both seen tons of directors go through their personal coaching programs, and we know how beneficial it is. So we will give Kate and Kerry our full rundown. We will have a meeting with them about what we saw at your center, what we saw at the other centers, and what our opinions are, and then they will translate that into actionable, workable, productive things that you can do. and you'll get a coaching session with them. So you'll have, three different in-person shops, you and your competitors, and you'll have a meeting with them and you'll have a follow up with us. so we really are trying to build this. We have all these different options because we know that not everybody can do everything, but we have all these different tiers because we think that this one, the biggest one with the coaching, with genuinely trying to like, process all of that information and the first one, the getting out there, getting seen, being able to be communicated with are the most important.

Joanna 00:21:25  And then we try to make everything else accessible as well.

Kate 00:21:29  So what is the range for that? More that I get three shops and I get to know the skinny on what's going on.

Marie 00:21:39  For that one. It is a few thousand dollars, and it does range a little bit as it does cover travel expenses. it's not like that. We're traveling first class or anything, but, going to your location and traveling to the few surrounding ones, that plus the cost of that.

Carrie 00:22:03  But wait, wait, wait for the code change. It's a question.

Marie 00:22:07  Yes.

Carrie 00:22:08  Are you going to tell me when you're coming? So I get to tell everybody they have to behave and be on their best.

Joanna 00:22:13  No.

Marie 00:22:13  What?

Joanna 00:22:14  No. We can give you a timeline. we can give you, like, a general time frame so that you, you know, if you're like, oh, we're doing renovations at X time, so, like, don't come during then. but we usually will just say about a month.

Joanna 00:22:31  We're like, we're going to come in October. we're going to come in December. and same thing for the phone calls because we don't want it to be like, okay, I know that they're calling on the 13th, so I'll make sure I'm the one answering the phone on the 13th, because it's not.

Kate 00:22:53  That defeats the whole purpose. Yeah. That just to.

Joanna 00:22:56  See.

Kate 00:22:56  What does a parent walking in off the street or calling off the street or emailing off this off the web? what kind of experience do they have? It's not what is the best experience? What is the average experience? Yeah.

Carrie 00:23:12  Well, Marie and Joanna, thank you so much for joining us. If this is your first time listening to an episode, we hope that you come back. We also feel like if you learn something new or you want to, that you should definitely share the show with someone who needs to know. And Carrie, what did I miss? I feel like I forgot something.

Kate 00:23:32  You forgot to ask them to leave us a review on their podcast, Player of Choice, and to go check out childcare mystery shopping because we think this is something that will improve almost every childcare business.

Kate 00:23:47  It really will. You've got to get some mystery shopping in there if you're having any issues at all with your enrollment. So we will talk to you in a couple of days.

Marie 00:23:59  Thanks for tuning in. We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay connected and catch all of the latest episodes. And if you're planning a conference, training, or special event. Kate and Carrie would love to speak to your audience. You can learn more about their keynote sessions and workshops at Kate and Carrie. If you learned something today. Share the show and leave us a review below. We'll see you next time on Child Care Conversations.