Customer Service and Referrals
Customer Service is the foundation of our marketing strategy. It’s simple: When you provide exceptional support and service to your current customers, they will spread the word about you and your program, ultimately, leading to referrals. Read on for ways to maximize the impact of the amazing support you provide.
Customer Service Basics
Tips to ensure you provide the best support to your current customers:
- Prompt follow-up – Make it your goal to reply to emails, calls, and messages within 24 hours/by the next business day. Even if it’s just a quick note to say, “I received your email, and I’m working to get you an answer to your question,” – your customers will appreciate your timely reply.
- Close the loop – If someone comes to you with a question or problem, your job is not done until they’ve gotten a satisfactory answer. This doesn’t mean that they have to like the answer – it just means that an answer has been provided, and the person understands the outcome.
- You are the local expert – Host families and au pairs appreciate the local knowledge their counselor provides, as well as the events and connections provided to help au pairs find a sense of community. Take time each year to upgrade your local cluster resources – the basics: education, DMV, medical care, as well as the fun stuff: libraries, community centers, rec sports leagues, and fun activities, with or without the kids.
- Relationships matter – The work you put in planning great cluster meetings, pairing new arrivals with a “buddy” or mentor, and all the other small touches you bring to your day to day work … these build connection within your cluster and turn your host families into your biggest cheerleaders.
- Remember empathy – Being a great listener starts with acknowledging someone else’s feelings. When a host family or au pair comes to you with an issue, take time to listen, let them know their feelings are valid, and then move on to problem-solving.
Pro Tip!
At your Host Family Interview, Host Family Orientation, and/or New Match Assessment, give host families and au pairs your business card and discuss office hours/your window to return all calls and messages within 24 hours during the work week.
Word of Mouth
Word-of-mouth is an important way to grow your cluster. We hear repeatedly that host families choose APIA because someone they know recommended us. Your happy host families and au pairs, as well as your networks within your community, talk about their experiences with you and the program, leading to referrals.
To maximize word of mouth marketing, consider the following:
The Resources
Familiarize yourself with all available marketing materials – these include a variety of branded flyers, digital materials(perfect for sharing online and on social media), and promotional items and giveaways.
Important Links:
- CC Digital Toolkit: CC-toolkit – Au Pair in America – Regional
- CC Supply Request form (flyers, giveaways, business cards, and more): Community Counselor Request Form (monday.com)
- Photo gallery of available supplies: aupairinamerica.com/pdf/supply-form-photo-list23.pdf/
The Program
To address inquiries from prospective host families, counselors should be familiar with the basic program information as well as pricing and payment plans. The APIA Lead Webinar video and the What Sets Us Apart document are great starting places for program highlights and benefits to families.
The Market
It’s vital that you are familiar with the child care landscape in your area.
Counselors should understand:
- Who is my potential customer?
- What is my competition? And what are APIA’s differentiators? (other agencies as well as other forms of child care in your area)
What Sets Us Apart (PDF) - How do local parents find information and recommendations about child care?
The Incentives
APIA offers referral incentives for all program participants, Community Counselors, and for other community members who refer families to our program. Be sure to review current incentives (Fieldpoint<Document Library<Marketing<Incentives and Discounts) and regularly share this information with your cluster and community members. This is a great way to encourage referrals!
Elevator Pitch
One tool to help you confidently market yourself and APIA in your community? A solid elevator pitch!
What is an elevator pitch? It’s a concise couple of lines that tells someone who you are and what you do – ideally delivered in less time than it takes to get to the top floor.
Craft your elevator pitch:
- Grab attention – start with one sentence that will have your listener wanting more.
EX: “I’m a match maker.” or “I work in international education.” - Briefly explain what you do.EX: “I help local families welcome live-in child care providers from around the world.”
- Let the listener know what type of folks you’d like them to send your way.EX: “I’m always happy to speak with anyone you know who might be looking for child care.”
Maximize Your Referrals
Referrals are one of our strongest lead sources and tend to convert to TBM at a higher rate.
How can you motivate host families, au pairs, and other connections to spread the word about the au pair program, APIA, and you? Let’s talk about increasing your referral potential and the groups that can help you grow your business.
Pro Tip!
First step – be sure everyone in your network knows what you do and what you offer. Friends, neighbors, family…they are all great resources for sending you potential customers.
Referrals from Host Families
Au Pair in America encourages host family referrals by giving a referral credit toward the next contract year to any host family who refers a new family to the program. The referred family must indicate on their application the name of the referring host family. Host family referral information can be found on our discounts page: www.aupairinamerica.com/loyalty
Referrals from Counselors
Talk about APIA with everyone you know! You want to be the name that comes to mind when anyone in your area is talking about child care. Community Counselors who refer new families receive a cash incentive. For current referral incentives, please see the “Incentives and Discounts” document in the Field Point Document Library. To qualify for this referral incentive, the counselor must enter the lead into Field Point or be named as the referral source in the host family application.
Referrals from Au Pairs
Because they often spend their day in spaces with young children and their parents – school pick up and drop off, extracurricular activities, library story time, and playground meet ups – au pairs are often the most visible face of the APIA program in your community. Counselors can encourage au pairs to speak positively about the program with parents they encounter during their daily routine. Au pairs are eligible for a gift reward for each new host family they find who welcomes an out-of-country au pair. For current referral incentives, please see the “Incentives and Discounts” document for current referral incentives in the Field Point Document Library. Counselors should send au pair referrals to rleon@aupairinamerica.com.
Pro Tip!
ASK for the referral!
Your host families want to refer business to you – people love talking about products and services they love – but you can increase the chances they’ll send business your way, using the following tips:
- During each home visit, offer your host family a small stack of business cards and encourage them to share with friends and neighbors.
- Email check-in. When sending your monthly check-in email or newsletter, include a reminder about referral incentives. And be sure your email signature has a link for host families to refer (some counselors use wording like “a referral is your greatest compliment”)
- If you have a private Facebook/Whatsapp group foryour cluster set yourself a quarterly reminder to post about referrals in the group.
- Referrals can be virtual – remind current host families that posting and replying to childcare inquiries in online parent groups is another great way to earn that referral incentive.
Champion Marketing
Over time, you may identify your cluster’s champion marketers. These are typically host families willing to recommend the APIA program to others, often sharing their experiences give additional information about the process and benefits of hosting an au pair. Your goal is to encourage these “raving fans” to continue to spread the word on our behalf.
Tips to remember when working with your champions:
- When you find out a host family has recommended another family – immediately contact the family and thank them.
- Send them a handwritten note thanking them for being great members of the program and for their time and efforts – don’t forget to include an APIA sticker or temporary tattoo for the kids.
- Get a quote – the next time a host family or au pair sends you a compliment, ask if you can share their kind words with folks who might be interested in the program. Add the quote to your lead and TBM outreach emails. Testimonials from real host families can be powerful motivators for your leads.
- Stick the dismount – when a host family ages out or otherwise leaves the program, send them a handwritten note, thanking them for participating in the program. Include a few of your business cards and encourage the host family to keep you in mind if their needs change or if they think of anyone else who would be a good fit for the au pair program.
Host Reps
A great way to utilize your community network is to cultivate Host Representatives within your networks. Host Reps live in your cluster area but are not program participants. These are typically people who are in regular contact with our host family demographic. Historically, APIA has had Host Reps who are realtors, school administrators, medical professionals or neighborhood parents. If they are willing to speak with people they know about the APIA program, they can be a Host Rep.
APIA will provide training and marketing materials so that Host Reps are comfortable with the basics of the au pair program, as well as the competitive advantages offered by APIA. In return for referring families to Au Pair in America, Host Reps will receive a cash incentive for each family referral once the new family welcomes the au pair into their home. Community Counselors also receive incentives for bringing new Host Reps to the APIA team. Visit Field Point to read more about the Host Rep program and current referral incentives. (Fieldpoint<Document Library<Incentives and Discounts)
In a Nutshell
Sometimes counselors say “I’m too busy supporting my cluster to make time for marketing!”
But remember, providing exceptional support and service to your current customers *IS* marketing! That great customer service gets your host families talking, and ultimately leads to referrals and growth.