Child Care Business Plan

The Toddler Warehouse

Execution

Marketing & Sales

Marketing Plan

The Toddler Warehouse intends to concentrate on the double income working professional families because they are the segment that can most readily afford day care, are the ones who need day care because of their work obligations, appreciate the advanced learning and development The Toddler Warehouse has to offer, and lastly are a growing segment of our society.

With both parents working, this segment needs some sort of provisions for the care of their child. While the Department of Labor indicates that over 50% of children are cared by relatives compared to 29% for a commercial day care center, our targeted group prefers a more structured learning environment. Relatives are great for nights out or weekends, but they do not compare to a structured program when it comes to the learning and development that occurs at The Toddler Warehouse. Having both parents as professionals, they are ambitious with the development of their child and are willing to pay to get the best program for their prodigy.

As America continues to be a society of people working long hours, there will always be the need for child care. The trend of longer work weeks is increasing and this drives The Toddler Warehouse’s business.

Sales Plan

The Toddler Warehouse’s sales strategy will be targeting double income working professional families. These families have the money to spend on child care and these parents are much more likely to appreciate the advanced learning systems taught at The Toddler Warehouse based on Matt’s thesis.

The sales strategy will be based on a communication effort to explain the virtues of the program and how time at The Toddler Warehouse can speed up the children’s development considerably. In addition to one on one explanations of the program and its merits, the prospective parents will be given tours of the facilities. The tour of the facility will serve two purposes:

1. The tour will be used as a way to impress the prospect of the facilities that The Toddler Warehouse has. These facilities were custom designed to achieve very specific educational goals and The Toddler Warehouse is immensely proud of the facilities.
2. The tours typically occur during the day and this becomes a perfect opportunity for the potential customer to view the care as it is occurring. This will serve to build a trust bond between The Toddler Warehouse and the parent who naturally is cautious about leaving the child with strangers to have the child cared for and taught the entire day.

In essence, The Toddler Warehouse  is letting the facilities and teacher/student interactions speak for themselves. Because of the high level of service, this is entirely possible.

Operations

Locations & Facilities

The Toddler Warehouse, soon to be located in Salem, OR, will offer child care services for kids between the ages of three and five. The Toddler Warehouse will offer services from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The children will be exposed to a wide range of activities including arts and crafts, socialization, large muscle group activities, and general learning. The Toddler Warehouse will be priced out of some people’s budget, but will offer a low student to teacher ratio and well trained staff. The Toddler Warehouse will be located in a recently purchased and converted home that now is solely a child care center.

Equipment & Tools

Services

The Toddler Warehouse offers Salem an upper-end child care facility for toddlers age three to five. The Toddler Warehouse offers a low teacher to student ratio, custom facilities, and innovative learning programs. The Toddler Warehouse hours will be a bit wider rage than normal business hours to accommodate the working parents, the target customer.

The two income families have children, yet both parents work. The Toddler Warehouse is an innovative solution that acts as virtual parents, broadening the children’s skills during the day. This is not a baby sitter facility. The children are engaged throughout the day, learning new skills and reinforcing already acquired ones.

Milestones & Metrics

Milestones Table

Key Metrics

Key metrics are: 

• The # of families paying fees to breakeven 
• increase the # families paying fees by 20% year over year 
• training teachers and assistants 
• keep on top of the educational tools