1. Top Five Things to Know Childcare Business Innovations presents:

2. Course contents Overview: Five Things to Know Lesson 1: Branding, know who you are and what you are selling Lesson 2: CRM, the basics of Customer Relationship Management Lesson 3: ERM, the basics of Employee Relationship Management Lesson 4: Finances, Understanding your financial health Lesson 5: Consultation, depend on those who have the knowledge you dont 3. Course Resources: Each course includes a list of suggested tasks. These tasks are included in the training documents. Resources are offered with every course from Childcare Innovations. Below the training video you will find a forum to ask any questions related to this training module as well as any documents we discuss. 4. Course goals Understand the idea of branding and know yours. Understand the importance of CRM Surrender your ego, ask for help when needed Be able to make key financial calculations to understand your centers financial health 5. Branding 6. What is Branding? The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. Therefore it makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem. Text to be replaced on three pages 7. Brand Objectives Objectives that a good brand will achieve include: Delivers the message clearly Confirms your credibility Connects your target prospects emotionally Motivates parents Concretes parent loyalty What is your brand? See documents for help creating your brand. n three pages 8. Keys to Branding The most important thing to understand with branding is who your target market is. Have you evaluated your market? Does your brand effectively work in your market? Does your brand highlight why you are special? Childcare Business Innovations offers services to assist with branding. Everything from market evaluation to logo and brand design. Please see our additional services page. Homework: Take a few minutes to think about your center, your area, your current customer. Now, write out a description of who your ideal customer is, what they are looking for. This will help you to determine how to properly brand your center. 9. Questions? For any questions regarding this section please post in the forum below. Our experts here at Childcare Business Innovations will respond within twenty four hours. Find In Web Site button 10. CRM, The Basics of Customer Relationship Management 11. What is CRM? CRM is the abbreviation for customer relationship management. It entails all aspects of interaction that a company has with its customer, whether it is sales or service-related. While the phrase customer relationship management is most commonly used to describe a business-customer relationship. CRM is often thought of as a business strategy that enables businesses to: 1. Understand the customer 2. Retain customers through better customer experience 3. Attract new customers 4. Win new clients 5. Increase profitably 6. Decrease customer management costs 12. Why is CRM so important in the Childcare Industry? 1. Longevity of relationship and continual revenue stream 2. Importance of the service we offer and what is placed in our hands 3. PARENTS TALK! 13. One Web page included within other pages 14. Questions? For any questions regarding this section please post in the forum below. Our experts here at Childcare Business Innovations will respond within twenty four hours. Great FrontPage features Find In Web Site button 15. ERM, Employee Relationship Management 16. Employee Relationship Management Two error messages that result from a broken hyperlink What is ERM? Employee relationship management is a process that companies use to effectively manage all interactions with employees, ultimately to achieve the goals of the organization. The administrator can play a critical role in this process in measuring and monitoring those relationships to determine whether objectives are being met. 17. Why is ERM important? The Childcare Industry is notorious for having high-turn over rates with employees, low employee satisfaction, low wages and often little respect. Our employees are the most valuable asset we have. They can either make us money or lose us money. As owners and administrators we are responsible for building and maintaining these relationships. Hyperlinks Report 18. ERM Tips Be careful who you hire. It is much easier and less costly to get the right person the first time. Value your employees and treat them with respect. Understand that they have lives, families and problems. They need to know you care for them or they will not care for you. Be observant! You should see when something is not right with an employee. Go out of the way for your best. Hire based on the person and not the credentials. Sometimes investing in an employee will benefit you significantly in the long run. (pay, vacation, training, etc.) 19. Questions? For any questions regarding this section please post in the forum below. Our experts here at Childcare Business Innovations will respond within twenty four hours. Great FrontPage features Find In Web Site button 20. Financials, Understanding Your Financial Health 21. Financial Health What does it mean to be healthy? Financial health refers to the well-being of a business as measured by adequate financial analysis. The first step of the strategic process is to determine your financial health. Financial resources may be in better shape in some areas and less so in others. An example is strong net worth, but weak cash flow. In general, healthy performance in each area of interest leads to a healthy business that is better able to withstand the changes in the economy and business environment. The process of strategic and tactical financial analysis is absolutely necessary and very unique in the childcare industry. We will help teach you to identify weak links and help prevent financial disaster. 22. Key Financial Terms Break-Even: the break-even point (BEP) is the point at which cost or expenses and revenue are equal: there is no net loss or gain, and one has "broken even. Fixed Costs: business costs, such as rent, that are constant whatever the quantity of goods or services produced. Variable Costs: Variable costs are those costs that vary depending on a company's production volume; they rise as production increases and fall as production decreases. Variable costs differ from fixed costs such as rent, advertising, insurance and office supplies, which tend to remain the same regardless of production output. Fixed costs and variable costs comprise total cost. P&L: A financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time - usually a fiscal quarter or year. These records provide information that shows the ability of a company to generate profit by increasing revenue and reducing costs. The P&L statement is also known as a "statement of profit and loss", an "income statement" or an "income and expense statement". Balance Sheet: A financial statement that summarizes a company's assets, liabilities and shareholders' equity at a specific point in time. These three balance sheet segments give investors an idea as to what the company owns and owes, as well as the amount invested by the shareholders. The balance sheet must follow the following formula: Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders' Equity 23. Key Financial Ratios Site Settings and Add Name and Value dialog boxes 1. In the Site Settings dialog box, click Add. 2. In the Name box, type the name for the variable. This is an internal name that will not be visible to Web visitors. 3. In the Value box, type a value for the variable. This is what Web visitors will see. Return on Sales measures the percentage of after tax profits per dollar of a company's annual sales. (Revenue Expenses=Profit, Profit divided by Revenue=Return on Sales) Current Ratio shows the extent to which shortterm debt obligations are covered by working capital assets. A minimum 2:1 ratio indicates sound financial strength. (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) Total Liabilities to Net Worth shows how company debt relates to the equity position of owners or shareholders. The higher this ratio, the less protection there is for creditors of the business. ( Current liabilities x 100 Net worth) 24. Determine Your Break-Even Site Settings and Add Name and Value dialog boxes Step 1: Establish your unit sales price. For a daycare business, a unit sales price is the cost of one spot for one child for a given period of time, such as a day, week or month. Step 2: Calculate your variable costs. Variable costs are the additional costs that you incur for each child that enrolls in your daycare, such as the cost of food, craft materials and, in some cases, insurance. Step 3: Subtract the variable costs from the unit sales price. This will give you the contribution margin for your daycare business. Step 4: Divide your total fixed costs by the unit contribution margin to get the break even point -- that is the total revenue that you will need to achieve in order to break even. Your fixed costs are those that remain the same regardless of the number of kids, such as property costs. Step 5: Divide the break even revenue by the unit sales price. This will give you the break even point in units -- that is the number of daycare spots that you need to fill in order to break even. 25. How to Monitor Your Finances Dialog boxes used to insert a variable UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING CAPITAL Review your financial statements as if your centers life depended on it no less than monthly. Prepare your annual budget and monitor it regularly. Prepare your monthly cash flow projections at the beginning of the year and update it frequently. You collect your centers cash. o Invoice parents promptly. o Collect a deposit up front. o Do not allow late payers to get too far behind. o Give parents resources for help with their own budgeting and cash flow. You reduce your cash out. o Review your payables at least twice a month. o Cut expenses where it wont hurt quality. o Put off equipment purchases and optional expenses until later. You get approval for a line-of-credit from your bank before you need it. If the wolves are already at your door o Talk to your creditors as soon as you have a problem. They dont like surprises. o Talk to creditors and vendors to see if they will reduce your payments. o Make small partial payments to all creditors. o Be honest. Dont promise more than you can actually pay. 26. Questions? For any questions regarding this section please post in the forum below. Our experts here at Childcare Business Innovations will respond within twenty four hours. Great FrontPage features Find In Web Site button 27. Consultation, Depend on Those Who Know What You Do Not. 28. Dont Lose Money Due to Lack of Knowledge Often as human beings we can be over confident in our abilities. Now without this there would not be those among us who achieve greatness, but it also creates many causalities along the way. I caution you with everything I have, do not try to complete tasks that you do not have the knowledge to. You will lose money, hurt your business and lose confidence. The most important thing that you can do for your business is what you do best. Capitalize on your strengths and outsource for your weaknesses. Do not get burned by what you do not know or do well. 29. See a complete list of our upcoming trainings on our website, including: Secrets to Marketing and Building Your Brand Planning, Budgeting and Operations Costs Giving the Perfect Tour, Know Your Customer Finding and Retaining Master Teachers Planning for Growth and Expansion Taking Care of Yourself: Relax, Unwind, Delegate 30. The Premier Network Just for Childcare Providers Benefits of Joining Opportunity to network with other childcare providers Additional services from marketing and web design to financial management Answers to all of your childcare business questions right away Open forums on everything from management to marketing Access to industry specific, business-centered trainings Childcare business experts at your fingertips to help you succeed 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cost saving and sales growth knowledge and expertise 31. Additional Services Childcare Business Innovations Visit the Additional Services tab on the membership site. How to inquire about additional services: Tell us what you need and we will deliver a custom quote just for you. 3 Work with one of our successful owners and business experts to achieve your goals. The experts here at Childcare Business Innovations offer a wide variety of additional services to assist you with your business. These services include, but are not limited to: Business Plan Writing, Consultation and Editing Marketing Piece Design, Consultation and Editing Website Design, Consultation and Editing Financial Review Expansion Consultation Individualized Training Start Up Training Operations Consultation Center Review and Improvement Reports Tour Training Full Marketing Plan Design and Execution and many more. 2 1 32. Childcare Business Innovations Teaching the Business of Childcare 33. Childcare Business Innovations Teaching the Business of Childcare We hope you will join today and take advantage of our many benefits. We appreciate your business.