Prospective parents 1st enquiry

[Diana67]

Hi
I am thinking of doing a laminated list of questions to ask parent when they call and make a enquiry.As I am newly reg and had a couple of enquirys and always get flustered on the phone and forget to ask questions.Any advice on what to ask initialy
1.what days they want 2.what hours they want 3.childs name/age 4. school/nursery 5.arrange appointment

Then on visit show around setting interact with child while talking to parent and filling out child record,contract find out likes/dislikes,health issues ,toiletry needs.

I want to get this right when I finaly get someone through my door any help or advice would be great
Thasnk You Diana xxx

[Bridey]

I had two lists in the early days. One with questions to ask and one with all the information I needed to tell them about me and my setting :)

I also try and conduct a first appointment without any children present (ie the evening or weekend) then invite them over with their child when I am working to have a look round. The third appointment, evening or weekend again, would be to do all the paperwork. It just works better that way for me :)

[Mouse]

Initial questions:

Have they used childcare before? (so you know a bit about their previous experience)
When is care to start?
Always take their name and a contact phone number

On a first meeting I don't do any paperwork. I talk about what I do, what I can offer the child, what the family's needs are. I show them photos of things we've done. We then talk about fees - how much it will be, how I will be paid, bank holidays, holiday fees etc.

Parents then go away with some info to think about it all. I try to get an email address from them and send a message covering what we've talked about. If they decide to use me, they come back for another visit when we complete paperwork, sort out the deposit and decide on when to do settling sessions.