It costs more to acquire new parents than keeping an existing one happy. Many statistics have showed that it takes seven to ten times more money to get a new customer than to retain a current customer.

When I was the administrative assistant for a school that was just opened,  our enrollment was very low, I have noticed that students were not too loyal to our school, they would enroll and after few weeks would drop out and go to another school, so our retention rate was very very low, especially at the beginning of the school year, so many of our students use would drop as a sudden without notice, it used to be overwhelming since you would think that you have a certain number of students are enrolled, when the real number off because so many students have dropped without informing us as a school, this used to confuse me so I had to do something about it.

Retaining your current students is so important, truly this is an honest advice I would give any academy is to focus on retaining your current students. You do not want to lose 10 students and then try to replace them, your retention rate will act as your parents satisfaction  ,and use your current parents to help advertise for your school., When parents are happy, they want to keep their kids in your school, and you will be magnetic to bring new families to your school

BUILD A STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CURRENT PARENTS AND SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Help students and parents feel like that the principal, staff and administration at your school are there to support and help them and that they genuinely care about their individual needs. When you establish a strong relationships with families at your school and giving them the support they need and communicate with them often through emails, calls, newsletters and , they will continuously keep their children enrolled  Genuine and heart-felt bonds will provide a solid foundation for success of students, both academically and emotionally.

YOUR PARENTS SATISFACTION IS YOUR GAME CHANGER

YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY 

When you establish a great parents experience in your academy you just nail it down,  when parents are extremely happy, they will talk about your school, we are human and we like to talk about our experiences and would love when people ask us about our recommendations, by having a great parents experience in your academy you are giving your parents everything they need to talk about you. Make it a priority GOOD is not GOOD enough, be extra ordinary, people in life are dealing with people not machines think about what would you like to see if you go to your own kids school, what would you like to see? Flip that around!! Even if you are just a small school that just started and you only have 50 students enrolled, that does not give you the excuse to pass in being great and give your current parents the extra attention they need, I mean I have high

CREATE AN INTERACTIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

It is always a great idea to get students and parents involved. Get students and parents involved in neighborhood activities such as parades, festivals and community carnivals, seek out ways and look for opportunities for your school to participate with these events.  Volunteering in Senior living and making cards for them in different occasion to make them feel special, or may be volunteering in the public library in the Read aloud program for instance is a great idea, Reach out to those in need within your school and within your surrounding community, the bottom line develop your place in the neighborhood. Schools are the center of knowledge and growth, and they are also considered as the pulse of the community.

Encourage parenting tips, healthy living, student groups, through a free newsletter to be distributed to your current parents, prospect parents and community. Social responsibility show your city and community that your Charter  has tools and benefits for everyone.

Also announce and document anything your school do in the community and share it with the media and your website and ocial media

OFFER SCHOLARSHIP TO RETURNING STUDENTS 

In the school I worked at, one way we did with the management company of the school to increase our students retention rate is we established a scholarship program to promote re-enrollment before it even becomes a question. The title of the scholarship was

” Your hard work and commitment to your academy can pay off”

We established 2 different scholarship, each has a different amount, with both had different criteria to be qualified. The first one is  with certain amount of $  Offer scholarships to returning students who have attended our school for a minimum of four years straight with no break, and shown high performance in academics and character, the other one was with higher amount of $ amount but the student attend our school for a minimum of 7 years with no breaks and academics performance . The most important is to be clear about you criteria for qualification, for instance Be clear on the rules and guidelines for those able to qualify.
It is more important to and much easier to retain your current students than enrolling new ones.

Just think, what could you really create a buzz in your school community, just imagine

Go make it happen! I’m so excited for this adventure – make sure you sign up and then I’ll see you over in the Facebook group and we can get ready for the challenge together!

Mouna xx