Lead Outreach and Management
New business is crucial to your success. While many host families are repeat families, new host families will allow you to continue to grow your cluster, so it’s vital that you have a strategy and system for lead outreach and management.
What is a lead?
A lead is someone who:
- Has a need now or in the future for live-in child care.
- Expressed interest in the program, typically by completing our online registration form and creating an APIA website login.
- A Community Counselor has entered into the system for follow-up as a prospective host family, often from a marketing event or other community networking.
Leads = marketing is working…something made this person pick up the phone, look at our website, or request more information. Let’s capitalize on this interest! Your goal is to give your lead information about the program and encourage them to complete the APIA Host Family Application.
Your Leads Portal
You will access your leads through Field Point homepage. The “To-Dos” section of your Field Point home page will also highlight a new lead in your portal. That lead will remain on your To-Do list until you reach out to the lead and “complete” the to-do. To view a full list of cluster leads, click on the “My Cluster” tab at the top of your Field Point page and then click on “Leads.” You can search, filter, and download your leads within Field Point. You can also enter your own leads (see below), check your leads history, and document contact you have made with leads.
You must check your leads daily and follow up with them immediately. The faster you make contact, the more likely that lead will become a new customer.
Host families tell us repeatedly that their counselor’s responsiveness is a huge factor in choosing an agency. Creating a good relationship, showing your responsiveness, and establishing yourself as an expert early in the process helps your chances that a new family will choose you and APIA.
Pro Tip!
Get in the habit. Make lead outreach a part of your routine. Before you get swept away by a busy day, check your leads, complete your initial outreach to any new leads, and follow up with older leads in your pipeline.
Customer Engagement Team’s Role
The AIFS Customer Engagement Team (CET) manages our online live chat, schedules consultation calls, and follows up with all AIFS division leads, including Au Pair in America. When an interested family contacts APIA, CET:
- Gathers the lead information and assigns a geocode with an associated community counselor name.
- Calls and/or emails the lead as soon as possible.
- Leaves a voicemail if no one answers.
- Documents all contacts attempts in the Field Point ‘leads’ section. Both CET and counselors can see and update leads in “real-time.”
- Continues to follow up with interested families until the counselor makes contact, at which point CET exits the process.
If you do one thing!
Be consistent – work your system every time, for every lead.
LEAD NURTURING STRATEGY – DAY 1 AND BEYOND
Best practice in marketing is to reach out to leads for up to 90 days after they express an interest in your product or service. This means you have 90 Days to make an impact with a lead. Let’s talk about how to fill that window with meaningful outreach that gets results.
Tips:
- Be prompt – make contact as soon as that lead comes in.
- Most leads shop around, so assume your leads are talking with multiple Au Pair agencies and types of childcare providers. Your goal is to get to them first and provide the information they need to make a decision.
- Use Field Point to set follow-up reminders to contact leads after your initial outreach.
- Remember, your leads might not be ready to commit right away – that’s ok! Your goal is to be top of mind when they are ready to search for an au pair. Lead engagement means playing the “long game”…your follow up will pay off down the road.
Initial Outreach
Within 24 hours of receiving a lead, reach out via phone, email, and text to introduce yourself and encourage the lead to complete the application.
Pro Tip!
Review the lead record in Field Point before calling to learn the family’s background and program intentions. Pay close attention to any notes from CET as well as the “lead source” (how did this lead find APIA). Use this info to make your lead outreach feel as personal as possible.
Phone
Live Human - a person picks up!
What to say: Hi, (LEAD NAME)! This is (CC Name). I’m the (City name) Community Counselor for APIA. I saw you requested information about hosting an au pair, and I wanted to see what questions you have about the program.”
When you reach a live person, remember to ask open-ended questions:
- What kind of child care are you using now?
- What are you looking for in an au pair?
- How did you hear about the au pair program?
Remember to listen to their responses and take notes. Give a brief program overview, and be sure to highlight the support you provide. Answer questions and let the lead know you have many happy host families (see Champion Marketing section of Customer Service and Referrals chapter) in your cluster, willing to talk to prospective families. Encourage appropriate prospects to complete our quick, free, no-obligation APIA Host Family application.
Words to use: The application process takes about 10 minutes – it’s no cost and no commitment, and gets you access to the applicant pool, so you can review actual candidates and see if our program feels like a good fit for your family. Once you’ve applied, we can set up a time for a Host Family Interview.
Voicemail – leave a message at the beep
“Hi, this message is for (lead name). This is (CC Name), I’m the (City Name) Representative for Au Pair in America, and I saw that you requested information on hosting an au pair. I’m happy to answer any questions you have. I’ll also send an email in case that’s a better way to connect. My number is (CC number).”
Be sure to enter your call/message notes in the Field Point Leads Portal, so everyone is on the same page.
Texting
Guidelines for texting leads:
- Do not make a financial offer
- Text one lead a time (no group texts)
- If recipient asks to no longer receive texts, do not text
Whether you left a voicemail or talked to the lead via phone, it’s time to follow up via email.
You want to create an email that gets opened, read, and acted on.
A few email tips:
- Think of your subject line as a text message to your recipient and customize it (EX: “Au Pairs in Round Rock.”)
- Mention the lead’s town/neighborhood/area in the body of your email.
- Keep it short and sweet – in the body of the email, use bullets to help the reader’s eye, and avoid overly long paragraphs.
- Call to action – set up a time to meet, giving two or three options for dates/time, max.
- Include a quote from a happy HF.
Follow Up - The 90-Day Window
You’ve completed your initial outreach – now what? How can you find the balance between engaging and nagging?
Read on!
After a family registers and becomes a lead, you have 90 days/3 months to make meaningful contact, before that lead “expires” and is removed from your active leads in Field Point. So, let’s make the most of that time. Your mission?… Get that lead to apply!
Because we know that the days right after a lead registers are precious, our strategy is to “front load” our outreach, then slowly taper off to less frequent contacts.
Follow Up
What should you do after that initial outreach? Stick with that lead!
- Month 1 – (after initial outreach above), contact once per week
- Month 2 – 3 times per month
- Month 3 – 2 times per month
Month 1
- Initial Contact – call, email, text
- Contact
- Contact
- Contact
Month 2
- Contact
- Contact
- Contact
Month 3
- Contact
- Contact
- DO NOT CONTACT
What Should I Include in My Follow Up?
How can you reach out in a meaningful way without being a pest? We’ve got you covered! As you continue to contact a lead during that 90-day period, select APIA resources to share based on the family’s background. Don’t have much info on the family? No problem! APIA has several general interest resources that apply to all families.
Blogs – APIA’s Kids Notes Blog features posts that are perfect to share with leads (and TBMs). Choose from posts specific to host child ages (infants and toddlers, school age children), how hosting helps host families save, and many other topics, including au pair screening, CC Support, benefits of hosting au pairs for working parents, and more.
Ask thoughtful questions: –s there a specific country of origin or language that interests you? What country are you feeling drawn to? What language interests you? When are you hoping to welcome an au pair?
Announcements – Got big news? …Share it! APIA’s Au Pair of the Year Winners, our DEI Award, and our Verywell Family award are all great “headlines” to share with leads.
Local happenings – are you hosting a booth or table at an upcoming event in your community? Planning an amazing Host Family Day? Invite your leads to join you. “Stop by the APIA booth at the Springfield Fest for a special goody bag.”
Videos – APIA’s Youtube Channel is packed with quick, informative videos on topics like Leads Webinar (APIA 101), Matching Tips, and interviews with current host families.
Share matching info – tell leads we have a robust pool of applicants, and country-specific matching timelines that are accessible once a family has applied.
Social Media – did you see an APIA Facebook or Instagram post that tugged your heart strings? Share that arrival video, holiday goodness, or cultural exchange moment with your leads. CC-toolkit – Au Pair in America – Regional
Cluster updates – fun cluster meeting? Special holiday activity? Volunteer effort? Share it!
References – offer to put the lead in touch with a current happy host family
Seasonal/Holidays – holidays are an easy, organic reason to reach out to leads. Wish folks a happy Mother’s Day, July 4th, or even “back to school” season (this German craft is perfect to share). We also have beautiful APIA graphics for all four seasons (FP>Doc Library>Marketing>Situation Graphics), so feel free to wish your leads a happy spring/summer/fall/winter as well.
Info Sessions
Info Sessions are brief, in-person meetings with a family who is still at lead/REG status. During this meeting, a counselor can provide basic info about the APIA program and answer questions the family may have about hosting. While our goal is to get our leads to apply, these quick, informal meetings can be a great way to help a hesitant family take that next step. Info Session form available in Field Point doc library, under the “marketing” folder.
Pro Tip!
Offer to meet your leads for info sessions at a coffee shop or other local space, to draw a distinction in purpose from a home visit down the road.
Entering New Leads
You can also enter any new leads you capture – through networking or marketing events – right into Field Point. In your leads section of Field Point, click “Add New Lead” and enter the lead information into the pop-up form.
It is vital that you capture as much information about the lead as possible, especially name, contact info (email, phone) and zip code. Field Point uses zip codes to match the lead with the correct cluster.