5 Common New Family Mistakes

Hey there, 

Today we're diving into 5 common new family mistakes. It's so important right now to be engaging your new families, providing extra support, and paying extra attention to all your new families, but you may be making a few of these key mistakes...

1. Assuming you haven't made a mistake. I guarantee that in the first, hectic few weeks of school there may be something, no matter how small, that was a negative experience for that new family. It takes 5 positive interactions to outweigh a negative one, so by default, this is one instance where you should assume you made a mistake! 

2. Not checking in during the first day, first week, first month, and throughout the year. Assign someone at your school the role of calling families during ALL (or even more!) of these key times to check in and make sure everything is going well!.

3. Under-communicating. It is very rare that parents will complain about a school over-communicating.  Rule of thumb: Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.

4. Not giving special treatment. New families have unique needs, so it's important to take extra time to address those. 

5. Not representing the experience you sold them. There shouldn't be a disconnect between the admission tour and what actually happens at your school. 

I'd love to hear—how are you engaging new families during this time? 

If you're looking for a place to connect with small school administrators, heads of school, marketing, and development directors, our monthly Small School Leaders group is the meetup for you! Join the community here. 🤗

Aubrey