Fall is one of the most crucial enrollment seasons for early childhood centers. Families are back from summer vacations, routines are re-establishing, and decisions about preschool and childcare are top of mind. But having full tour calendars doesn't automatically mean full classrooms. The secret? It’s not only what you do before or during the tour, a lot of it is what you do after  the tour. In this post, we’ll explore the essential steps to take before, during, and after a tour to ensure your fall tour traffic translates into long-term enrollment success. Before the Tour: Set the Stage for Connection 1. You only have one chance at a first impression Ensure your greeting area is clean, organized, and welcoming. This sets the tone for the entire visit and is the first impression families have when they walk through your doors. But don’t stop there: do a full walk-through before each tour. Step outside to check your entrance, peek at the playground, and make sure every classroom is clean, sparkling, and ready to shine. Families notice everything, and every space is part of the story you’re telling. 2. Make It Personal Take time to review the child’s name, age, and any information shared in prior conversations. Mentioning the child by name, referencing their interests, or having age-appropriate materials ready demonstrates care and attention to detail. Example: “We set up a sensory bin today because we heard Emma loves exploring with her hands!” This simple gesture shows that your center is not only professional but also deeply relational, a quality parents are looking for. IntelliTip: Before the tour, check the Comments tab in the lead’s IKS profile/timeline. This is the perfect place to store and review personal details, such as the child’s interests, or anything shared in past conversations, so you can show up prepared and create a meaningful connection with the family. 3. Coordinate Internally First impressions are shaped just as much by people as by the physical environment. Let teachers and front desk staff know in advance, prepare the space to be clean and inviting, not chaotic, and share key details about the visiting family, so that greetings feel warm and personal. A calm, confident atmosphere goes a long way in building trust. Even small things, like a casual chat in the hallway or a personal call at the front desk, can send the wrong signal. Set clear expectations for staff behavior in shared spaces to ensure every interaction reflects the professionalism and care your center stands for. During the Tour: Tell Your Story With Purpose Once the family arrives, it’s time to turn your center from a building into a story, and a solution. 1. Lead With Your Mission Start by sharing your school’s mission statement or core values. It helps ground the conversation and communicates why you do what you do. This isn't just a tour: it's an invitation to join a community. Example: “Our mission is to nurture every child’s unique growth through purposeful play and compassionate care. That shows up in every room you’re about to see.”  Don’t just recite your center’s mission, though, be sure to bring it to life. Share what it truly means to you and how it shapes your daily work. Use real examples that highlight how your team, families, and children embody those values in action. Whether it’s a story about a staff member going the extra mile or a parent partnership that made a difference, these moments create a lasting impression and show families that your mission isn’t just words, it’s a lived experience. 2. Use a Tour Checklist   Use this sample tour checklist to guide staff, create consistency and elevate your center’s first impression. Whether multiple team members are conducting tours or just one, using a standardized checklist ensures every family gets a complete and cohesive experience. But don’t stop there. Transform your internal checklist into a comparison-friendly tool  for prospective families. By adapting the format to include multiple columns across the top, you empower visitors to compare your center side-by-side with others they tour. This proactive step positions your school as organized, transparent, and confident in the quality of your offering. To truly stand out, make sure your checklist highlights the unique features that define your program, such as low teacher turnover, robust enrichment programs, strong family engagement, or accreditation status. These distinctions help your school shine not just during the tour, but long after families leave your building. And don’t forget branding. Adding your logo reinforces your center’s identity and keeps your school top of mind as families reflect on their options. Include talking points like: Health and safety procedures Curriculum overview Teacher qualifications and ratios Sample daily schedules Enrichment opportunities Family communication tools Enrollment process and tuition structure Having a checklist on hand helps keep the tour focused and ensures no key detail is missed, while still allowing room for personalization and conversation. 3. Engage Emotionally Throughout the tour, highlight real-life stories, such as children making milestones, teachers going above and beyond, or family testimonials. Show, not just tell, how your center nurtures, supports, and celebrates each child. And when you enter the classroom, let the teacher take the lead. Introduce the teacher and step back, to supervise the children, allowing them to speak directly to the parents. A quick, genuine hello, a few words about the class schedule, or a snapshot of the curriculum gives families a feel for the classroom culture and the teacher’s personality. This not only builds trust but also shows parents that your teachers are the experts in the room (and that you, as a director, trust them). AFTER THE TOUR  1. Follow-Up is Your Superpower After every tour, the clock starts ticking. Families are comparing multiple centers, and whoever makes them feel the most valued, informed, and remembered wins. Action:  Don’t wait more than 24 hours to follow up. Send a personalized email that recaps the visit, highlights the child’s interactions, and thanks the family for their time. Even better, include a photo of something meaningful from the tour (if permission was given), like the child exploring the art area. IntelliTip:  Directing prospective parents to your Google or Facebook reviews gives them a chance to hear real experiences from your current families. Peer validation goes a long way in building trust and confidence. Just make sure the reviews you're highlighting are recent and reflect the experience you want new families to have. If you’re using IntelliKid Systems, you can even automate review outreach as part of your post-enrollment flow to keep your testimonials fresh and relevant! 2. Use Storytelling to Spark Emotion Parents make decisions with their hearts first. The more vividly they can picture their child thriving at your center, the more likely they are to enroll. Action:  In follow-up communications, share a story, maybe about a child who started out shy and blossomed with your teachers' support, or a favorite classroom tradition. Show what it feels  like to be part of your school community. IntelliTip:   Use IntelliKid Systems to set automated follow-up reminders and schedule touchpoints for every family. Don’t let the conversation end with the tour: input any comments and observations into their lead profile to personalize your follow-up. Mentioning something they cared about, like outdoor play or classroom routines, shows you were listening and helps build trust. Thoughtful follow-up that reflects their interests keeps the connection strong and shows families that their needs truly matter to you. Make storytelling part of your tour script, too. Narrate what a typical “first week” looks like, or share what families say about your warm transitions and loving staff. 3. Create a Sense of Urgency A little urgency, when done right, can motivate fence-sitters without feeling pushy. Action:  Use phrases like “We’re down to just 2 openings in our toddler classroom” or “Fall rosters will close by August 15th.” Highlight what the family might miss  by waiting too long: community events, classroom friendships, and early learning milestones. Or offer an incentive that expires in 24 hours or 48 hours from the tour time. No one wants to miss out on a deal! IntelliTip:  Build custom email campaigns  in IntelliKid Systems to deliver timely nudges like “Still Thinking About Us?” or “Don’t Miss Your Child’s First Fall Festival!” Convert With Confidence Great tours get families in the door, but thoughtful follow-up, compelling storytelling, and clear urgency turn curiosity into commitment. Let IntelliKid Systems help you seal the deal with tools that track every interaction and deliver just-in-time messaging. Your classrooms deserve to be full, and we’re here to make sure they are. Experience the benefits of IntelliKid Systems at your own pace. See for yourself—click below to start your self-guided demo .

This document is a sample tour checklist designed for childcare centers to ensure consistent, high-quality tour experiences for every visiting family. It guides staff through key talking points and can also be adapted into a family-facing comparison tool, empowering prospective families to evaluate centers side-by-side. This proactive approach supports staff in delivering impactful tours and helps keep your center top of mind during a family’s decision-making process.

This guide equips childcare professionals to confidently handle parent objections by maintaining a warm, empathetic tone and addressing concerns with care—creating a supportive environment that encourages families to visit the center.

A customizable, fillable guide designed to help childcare professionals personalize and structure inquiry calls. It prompts users to gather essential information, highlight their center’s unique strengths, secure tours, and update the prospective family’s status in IntelliKid Systems—all while fostering a professional and engaging experience.

A step-by-step phone script crafted to help childcare professionals handle enrollment inquiries with confidence. It guides users on how to answer calls, build rapport, gather key information, promote the program, schedule tours, and leverage IntelliKid Systems for seamless follow-up and automation.

A quick overview of the IntelliKid Systems platform—designed specifically for childcare centers to turn prospective families into enrolled ones. Our full suite of enrollment tools features lead capture, tour scheduling, multi-channel messaging, automation, digital forms, campaign tools, and robust reporting, all aimed at growing your center.

This fun, comic-style guide from IntelliKid Systems welcomes early childhood professionals into the IKS universe—using vibrant illustrations and real-life scenarios to highlight how the Lead Management System, IntelliForms, and Employee Management System streamline enrollment, automate follow-ups, simplify hiring and paperwork, and more.

Stay organized and proactive with this daily best-practice guide for IntelliKid Systems users. Learn how to manage incoming leads, update profiles correctly, use filters and templates, and take timely action on follow-ups. Perfect for improving lead engagement, tour scheduling, and overall enrollment efficiency.

Discover how IntelliKid Systems empowers childcare centers to effortlessly manage leads, digitize paperwork, streamline staff hiring, and enhance every facet of their operations. Explore our cutting-edge solutions, including Call AI, IntelliForms, and EMS, designed to fuel scalable growth and operational excellence for both single-site and multi-site childcare centers.

This document provides a categorized list of forms that childcare centers can digitize using IntelliKid Systems' IntelliForms platform. It highlights how digital workflows can streamline administrative tasks across enrollment, health and safety, parent communication, and staff management to improve efficiency, accuracy, licensing compliance, organization, user experience, data accessibility, and operational consistency.

This document is a structured phone script designed for handling inquiry calls at a childcare center. It guides staff through greeting the caller, gathering essential information, personalizing the conversation, presenting program details, and securing a tour—all while promoting the center's offerings and feeding lead information into the IntelliKid Systems platform for automated follow-up.

How to Refresh and Streamline Your Registration & Forms with IntelliForms The back-to-school season is one of the busiest times for childcare centers. Between onboarding new families, transitioning classrooms, and preparing staff, your operations need to be tight, clear, and efficient. One of the most powerful ways to support this seasonal shift? Refreshing your registration and form processes. Let’s explore how your team can nail the transition using IntelliKid Systems’ powerful digital forms tool: IntelliForms . From Paperwork to Productivity: Reimagining Enrollment Think about your current registration process—are you still juggling clipboards, PDFs, or endless email threads? It’s time to ditch the paper trail and embrace automated, streamlined digital form flows with IntelliForms. IKS Tip: Ensure nothing falls through the cracks— download this PDF checklist  for a comprehensive list of ideas on how you can use IntelliForms across your center’s operations. Beyond Enrollment: IntelliForms for Every Phase of the School Year While IntelliForms shines during registration, it can do so much more. Consider these use cases to make your operations seamless year-round: Classroom Transition Forms  – Notify and onboard families when children move to a new age group or room. Parent Surveys  – Gather insights about family preferences, needs, or feedback Teacher Intake Sheets  – Help staff get to know their students before day one Meal Sign-Ups  – Streamline lunch choices, pizza day participation, or dietary needs Field Trip Permissions – Secure parent signatures and details—all in one place Stay license-ready : Program leaders can create simple inspection checklists in IntelliForms for teachers to complete and submit digitally, promoting accountability, readiness, and stress-free licensing visits. Streamline Recurring Parent Paperwork with IntelliForms Do you find yourself reminding parents for the same forms every 30 days or every 6 months? Save time and cut down on repetitive tasks by using IntelliForms to automate these requests. Simply create a reusable template for essential forms — like Emergency Contact Forms, Infant Schedules, or Care Plans with expiration dates — and send out updated packets with just a click. You can even set up a workflow for your infant families: once a child is enrolled in an infant classroom, schedule a recurring request prompting parents to complete updated forms every 30 days until the child transitions to the next age group. This keeps your records current, ensures compliance, and makes paperwork stress-free for both your staff and families — all while giving you precious time back in your day. Not Just for Directors — Empower Your Teachers Too! Create custom “get-to-know-you” forms to gather helpful details about each child, so everyone feels informed, connected, and ready for a smooth first day. Include information such as: Allergies or medical needs Social and emotional notes Favorite activities or comfort items Instead of having directors juggle these forms, you can assign teachers as the submission recipients! This puts the right information directly in their hands, where it matters most. Other helpful teacher form examples: Yearly Classroom Agreements and Codes of Conduct Supply lists and classroom-specific policies Field trip permissions and special event sign-ups Confirmation that parents have received and signed off on important procedures IntelliForms automatically ensures parents receive their own signed copies for their records, whether it’s for a specific classroom or your entire center’s policies. IntelliTip: Do you have quick forms that parents may need to complete on the spot — like giving consent for temporary medication, such as diaper cream or albuterol? Make it simple and convenient: place a QR code at your front desk that parents can scan instantly with their phones. This lets them fill out and submit these important forms in just a few clicks, saving time for your team and offering parents a seamless experience right when they need it most. A small, proactive touch like this can streamline daily operations and help maintain clear, up-to-date records — all while showing families you care about making their lives easier. IntelliForms in Action: Explore It Yourself! Want to see IntelliForms in action at your own pace? Use our self-guided   IntelliForms demo for a hands-on preview. It’s a great way to understand how form flows can work for your center!  Get Ready, Get Organized, Get Back to School Back-to-school doesn’t have to mean back to stress.  No more chasing incomplete forms! With IntelliForms, you can require must-have fields so parents never skip vital info! In addition, you can easily swap out pages or entire documents when things change from year to year. Streamline paperwork, impress families, and set your team up for a smooth, successful year. Looking for help updating your forms? Reach out to our team—we’re here to support you every step of the way.  Ready to get started with IntelliForms? Sign up for a live demo here .  Experience the benefits of IntelliKid Systems at your own pace. See for yourself—click below to start your self-guided demo .