359: From Sticky Notes to Streamlined Success: Revolutionize Childcare Enrollment with Tech! With Robert Rodriguez

In this episode of Childcare Conversations, we chat with Robert Rodriguez, co-owner of Texas Christian Preschool in Brownsville, Texas. Robert shares how his mom founded the business back in 1981, and how he brought his corporate retail and finance background to the family biz about ten years ago. The real gold nugget here? His journey from Post-it notes to discovering Playground, a childcare management software that actually listened to his needs and built out a CRM just for centers like his. If enrollment tracking feels like a hot mess, this one's for you! 

Learn more about Robert: www.tcpreschools.com

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Transcript

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Childcare Conversations 0:00

Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support. Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity. This episode is brought to you by this quarter's sponsor, Playground, the all-in-one child care management software. We're all about managing monkeys and saving you time at your center. With this platform, you can. We're proud to partner with a team that's as committed to your success as we are. Learn more at TryPlayground.com. Now, let's get into today's conversation. One we think you're really going to love.

Kate Woodward Young 0:47

Welcome back. And this week I am so excited to have more conversations with directors and owners all across the country. And this week we are going to have a conversation with Robert Rodriguez with TCP or Texas Christian Preschool out of Brownsville, Texas. I don't know. Can you get any farther south, Robert, than Brownsville?

Robert Rodriguez 1:12

You cannot get any further south than Brownsville. We are as far south as you can get in Texas, yes.

Kate Woodward Young 1:18

I love that. I love that. So that is just to kind of give folks some reference. If you have not ever been to Texas, um, that means that Robert has to go like, he could go like what is it, 16 or 18 hours to get to the panhandle out. So when we say we do everything bigger in Texas, we absolutely do. And so Robert and his sister are owners of three locations. And so, Robert, tell me a little bit about how you guys as a whole got into childcare. Uh, and then how did you end up here? Because this is not just a you and your sister thing. It's been around a little while.

Robert Rodriguez 1:56

Yes. So our mother founded the company back in 1981. She was a teacher at a local childcare center, and she eventually fell in love with it and wanted to open her own. So we started as a registered home. Um, and then she expanded to create a full uh childcare center. And so my sister and I, we grew up in the business. Um, you know, we spent our time there, our free time. I actually attended the center, you know, went through all the classrooms. And um eventually my sister decided to expand. Um, so after college, she came back. She worked for um for a state agency, uh quality uh quality assurance, you would say, kind of Texas Rising Star, if you will. She went out and assessed centers and helped centers um to achieve their rating. And um after that, she wanted to get back into the family business and started expanding our centers. And she launched our second location and then we grew from there. And then we opened a location with our local church. And um I eventually graduated from college, went to New York City and worked for corporate retail um at Macy's headquarters in New York and spent about 10 years working um in that business, and then decided that I wanted to come back and help uh help build our company and grow. And so I joined the company in about uh 10 years ago. So I've been working with my sister for 10 years now.

Kate Woodward Young 3:21

Well, you know, what a fun story. And, you know, it explains part of today's conversation. So you came to childcare with some outside experience, and so you had some expectations of what you knew was available in other industries and you went looking for it. So talk to me a little bit about um one of the things I think every like I hardly ever know people who can't say I couldn't use more staff or more children. And so this was kind of your mission from the get-go, I think, when you came on was, you know, these tools exist in the real world. What can we do to bring them here? So talk to me a little bit about what you saw was the problem, what you kind of went looking for, and we'll get to your solution here in a minute.

Robert Rodriguez 4:11

Sure, yes. So actually, just a little bit of insight. When I I am a finance major, graduated from business school, and I went to work um as a supply chain uh manager with Target initially. So working on a on a supply chain project. Then I moved over to Macy's in their buying program. And so we had a lot of standard reporting, a lot of analysis, a lot of reporting every Monday on our sales over the weekend.

Kate Woodward Young 4:35

So you liked data. Data was your thing. Okay.

Robert Rodriguez 4:38

Data was definitely what I was used to working with on a on a daily basis. So I came back uh to work with my family business and uh come to find out that technology 10 years ago was was lagging behind in the childcare industry. I think it's since caught up. We have a lot of great options now, but early on in about 10 years ago, the industry was changing. And, you know, it was it was right at the launch of e-commerce, um, it was getting big, social media was getting big, the childcare landscape was also changing, and we were having a lot of parents coming in with certain expectations uh technology. And so we we needed some tools to help us keep up with the changing landscape. And so that's kind of when I entered the picture and decided to help with everything from billing to how we capture leads and how we market our center.

Kate Woodward Young 5:29

Yeah, so so as a finance major, you know, it's not really a surprise that data was a thing. Um and I'm sure that most folks listening are thinking, yeah, I don't like data, basically, because most of us assume data with finance. And uh the majority of folks who I meet in the industry are wonderful, big hearts. They love children, they love families. Um, but that other stuff, they just leave it over here. And Eileen is so lucky to have you over here catching all that other stuff. And so um I know that you guys, you know, had a platform and then you explored some non-industry platforms. So talk to me about kind of what that experience was, what you were looking for. What maybe we should start with what is a CRM? I mean, maybe we should talk a little bit about um that specific tool that I know that I'm trying to have our conversation wrapped around. But talk to me a little bit about why you guys have one, what the goal was, even when you set up your non-industry version.

Robert Rodriguez 6:35

Yes. So looking at it from a business standpoint, enrollment is the lifeblood of our program, right? And so we want to be focused on enrollment and we want to be able to provide a quality experience for parents who are searching for childcare. So with that comes the ability to track who's calling us and who's coming uh through our doors and making sure that we're giving them proper information and following up with them in a timely manner. And so a customer relationship management tool, which is what a CRM is, is a platform that helps us organize all of all of those families that are searching for childcare from initial contact, from a phone call or a walk-in, or someone that we meet at an event, uh, we're able to track them in this CRM tool that we software that we use. And it helps us to organize and and plan our approach with our families and make sure that we're giving a consistent approach.

Kate Woodward Young 7:23

Love that. So um, what did you guys use before to keep track of this? Was this like a post-it note method, index card method?

Robert Rodriguez 7:32

Yes. So when I first joined the company, again, we were using post-it notes. If we were that lucky, we would have a post-it note that would make it to the reception desk after a phone call. Um, but you know, a lot of things fell through the cracks. Voicemails uh would fall through the cracks. Sometimes we would lose that post-it note. So I thought I was being very innovative by coming up with a printed out book that we bound together that we had the name, the phone number, the email address, and a little note on the family and what age group they were looking for. So we had a probably about, I would say, 50 pages bound together, and we distributed that to each center. And and we I thought we were being really innovative with that tool. And it helped us actually begin to track who was coming through our doors. And at the end of the month, we'd count and we'd be able to see, okay, we had this many calls, but we still weren't checking to see exactly who came for the tour, and then what was our follow-up after if they didn't come or they did and they were deciding. Um, but it got a little bit better, and then we eventually uh made our first foray into official software. So we started initially with a financial piece, which was QuickBooks, and then we chose a childcare software, and it was working out great. My sister loved it. Um, you know, a little bit hesitant to adopt some technology, but was able to convince her and and and she learned the tool, our staff learned the tool, and uh she fell in love with it, and so it was a big win for us. It it was a newer, I think at that time there was probably one or two big players out in the industry about 10 years ago, and they were barely catching up with the parent engagement side, and so that was a new release from them. So we kind of got into that parent engagement side where we were able to share with families our teachers directly, share photos and updates. Um, but it was missing the enrollment piece, which was paperwork, um, parents being able to digitally fill that out, and then even before that, having parents that CRM component. So that that particular software was missing that CRM and that paperwork component, which really, when you bring it together, is the experience your parents have when they first enroll, right? That parent onboarding experience was a little bit choppier. Um and we so we were still having to use a lot of paper on that software. Um and so once you you once I realized how much paperwork childcare has, I figured, okay, this is a pain point that we can solve and make more efficient. What is out there and available in the in in the industry for us to use? What software and tools? So I began to explore and through my research, I found um a software that we're using now.

Kate Woodward Young 10:04

Um and let's before we get there, because because you miss you missed your uh your CRM solution that was so let's let's so so yes, you started with QuickBooks, you found a um, you went from QuickBooks. Um, so did you keep QuickBooks when you used the parent engagement platform?

Robert Rodriguez 10:25

So we still we still use the QuickBooks, yes. So we still use that separately, but we do all of our billing through our our childcare platform that we use now. So all of that.

Kate Woodward Young 10:33

But but did you when you were on the parent engagement app?

Robert Rodriguez 10:36

Um yes, yes, we did.

Kate Woodward Young 10:37

Okay. All right. So you had QuickBooks, you had a parent engagement app, but you were still operating the the the the phone calls, the inquiries was still being handled very much in paper. And so you went and found a an outside of the industry because again, at that time, so this was probably about 2020, 2021 when you went to Um, you know, yes.

Robert Rodriguez 10:58

So some time had had passed, and we had been using this particular software for a while, and then I went to an outside the industry tool, which major corporations and companies use this tool to build their CRM. And still do. Yes, they still do the huge yeah. And it's a great tool out there, you know, if you have a lot of time to invest as a small business in learning how to use a tool and build your CRM from scratch.

Kate Woodward Young 11:22

Yeah, because this is I think that that is a great point. So I think one of the things that we hear, and I'm gonna apply this to all technology. So whether or not you're thinking about Canva, when Canva came on the scene about five years ago, um, about how everybody's using AI right now. Um, we still have to understand some of those basic concepts. And we we can start with something that gives it to us from scratch, like that CRM platform that you were talking about. Um, I've been using a CRM called Act since it was a software-based, it was not internet-based. Like we're talking, you know, probably before you were born, Robert, um, that, you know, I still had a CD that I had to install in the software. And so there are things like that that you have to understand. Why do you why are you keeping all that information? What are what is the information you want, like child's birthday, child's name, parents' names, phone numbers, emails, all of that. Spreadsheets are not designed for that. So Excel spreadsheets is not a database. Now, if you know what Microsoft Access is, that is a database. But just like the CRM tool that you used, you still have to know what fields to put in. You still have to create them, you still have to get those um fields to talk to each other. So um I I had a previous life as a file maker database developer. So, you know, my brain goes that way. But a lot of folks that are listening probably struggled with things like you are talking about as far as I want a tool, I found a tool, but my tool didn't talk to my QuickBooks, right? So like it didn't talk to QuickBooks. Then people are telling me I need to send out an email newsletter. Well, that's a whole separate list, right? So you're typing in stuff all over the place. Um and what were some of the major pain points that you guys had when trying to go from paper to electronic before you even got to the next level of electronic?

Robert Rodriguez 13:25

Well, uh I I want to talk about, well, yes. So the pain points were us being able to track um who was coming through our doors and measure that accurately and be able to tailor our response uh consistently with those families. And so I realized that we needed some sort of tour booking feature. We had a really nice website up, and I I was looking at all of the major players in the marketplace, and I noticed that they all had tour booking uh options on their website. And I'm talking about the chain daycares that are in major metro areas. Um, they had, I was looking at their enrollment pipelines and how they they market and attain students. And so I wanted to find a tool that we could use to be able to book tours. So that's really how I ended up with that outside of the industry option.

Kate Woodward Young 14:09

Okay.

Robert Rodriguez 14:10

And soon I realized that um it was gonna be I bit off a little bit more than I could show at the time. And I was working with their re account representatives, and they were telling me they were having trouble figuring out our enrollment pipeline and how we, as a center and as a school, how we marketed and how we were able to uh convert enrollments. So it was a little bit of a there was a difference of a language barrier there between our industries. And they kept assuring me, you know, we have all types of industries come in and and they're able to build the tool and tailor it to their needs. But it was it was very difficult and and the months were going by and I stumbled upon this solution um with the software that we currently use now, and they had and what sold me was their ability to simplify the paperwork process for families. And that being such a pain point for our industry was really what caught my attention.

Kate Woodward Young 15:06

Okay, so all right, well, we can let the cat out of the bag. So um you guys went from one platform, you used an off-the-shelf or tried to use a customize an off-the-shelf CRM, and now you found yourself um with Playground. Now, when you came to Playground, you came because of the enrollment paperwork piece. Now, talk to me a little bit about that transition, and then I'd love to hear how CRM came to be because when you came, they didn't have a CRM, correct?

Robert Rodriguez 15:38

Correct. They didn't have a CRM. They had at the time what they called enrollment listings, and you would be able to put your program on an enrollment listing in their software, and families would be able to fill out paperwork using your enrollment listing on using their software and their platform. Parents would be able to go on on and create a uh an account, and they would be able to fill out your program's paperwork. And for us, that was a huge win because tracking the paperwork, you know, it can be difficult. And um I was so happy that it had a tool that we could either use a form or we could actually upload our paperwork and put fields, and parents could actually fill out the paperwork on that platform. And that really helped us. And they did not have the CRM, but it was in development. And so I kept in contact with our account manager. And at that time, I would talk to Sasha and I expressed our need for a CRM. And it was great because um him and Andrew, they they got on a Zoom with me and they said, Okay, well, what are the the needs that you really are focused on obtaining to be able to have a good enrollment funnel for your families? And so I said, We really need a tour booking feature. We really need a way to be able to email or text. Um, we would love automations if we could just put it on pilot, you know, on autopilot and be able to send out these emails and these text messages once we make contact. And um they went to work on on a behind the scenes um building the platform that that we now have, which is the the CRM that they now have. And I think it it is a highly valuable and and beautiful part of Playground. And um, you're able to do everything from track leads to book tours to be able to set automations and be able to text and record phone calls, and that's been a game changer for how we um think about enrollment at our centers and how we're and our abilities to be able to reach families.

Kate Woodward Young 17:27

The things that I just wanted to stress, and and anytime I have conversations, and I've been talking to software users and directors across the country for about three or four years uh since we actually met the guys from Playground initially. And for those of you who haven't listened to our podcast before, um, we have had um Daniel and Sasha um on as an episode. Uh last October we had uh Daniel's mom as an episode uh because she was a director and she was part of the reason why uh they got into this industry and they they saw a solution, a need and a solution. But it sounds like they heard you, they figured out what they could do to help you, and then they created it. And I think that most people I hear talk to, a lot of the other big software platforms that are great for customer or client engagement or parent engagement, miss that piece. And so, how did you feel knowing that somebody actually like heard you and took your suggestions and advice and then did actually did it? Like, how did that feel to you?

Robert Rodriguez 18:39

It it felt great. Um, I know that they were working hard at getting a minimal viable product out initially to help us. And so they were like, maybe we can get this out in a few months, just you know, a simple version that you would be able to put on your website and be able to begin um using. And that made me feel like they were really invested in our business being successful. And so I really appreciated that from them and them taking the time to hear what our needs are. Um, yes, it felt like we had a partner that we were working with.

Kate Woodward Young 19:06

All right. So, roughly how long have you been with Playground then?

Robert Rodriguez 19:09

I think it's been about two to two and a half years that we've been with Playground now. Oh, maybe going on three. Yeah. It's been over two years for sure.

Kate Woodward Young 19:17

So what was it like for your staff and your parents for that transition? And was there a big learning curve? Like, what what did that look like on your end? Because as somebody who like, yes, I am fairly techly technically fluent, but I hate transitioning tech stacks like with a passion.

Robert Rodriguez 19:39

I can understand that. And my sister is is pretty similar and a little bit tech averse, a little bit. And so switching over, she was in love with the original platform that we had that was missing that paperwork and now that CRM piece. So she was very reluctant to transition. Um, but our staff, it was a very seamless process because the engagement piece is it doesn't change all that much. It's very easy to use and intuitive. Um, and we had they all have tablets in their in their classrooms, uh, iPads. And the engagement piece is very much like using social media. So it's very familiar to anyone who has a Facebook profile. Or um, and if they don't, you know, it's it's it's fairly, fairly simple. But um we did have training for all our staff on the on the tablets and and how to use the engagement piece. And then we use that on the back end for all of our staff as well to clock in and out so they get some familiarity with using the app in a personal sense as well. And with the families, we just made sure that we made ourselves available to walk any parents through any of their concerns and and their questions. But they also had been used to using our previous platform. So for them it was it was very similar from that that that uh customer-facing side.

Kate Woodward Young 20:49

Oh, well, great. All right. So if somebody was listening to this episode and they aren't really sure, or maybe they were struggling with the same thing you are, they were they were struggling with how to calculate the data, how to capture the data. They didn't even know what a pipeline was. And they're like, oh, I learned a word. Robert used a word. Okay, so that word is the word I'm supposed to be trying to figure out. So now they've listened to the episode. They now know the phrase pipeline, you know, and the pipeline is, you know, literally from that the first time they see an ad. So it's not even, it's before the phone call, right? So it's they've clicked on the Facebook ad. Maybe they filled out a form, maybe they called. Why should somebody consider what are some things that people need to know, regardless of what platform they're looking at? What might be some things that you're like, oh, we really should have paid more attention to this, or I'm so glad we thought about that.

Robert Rodriguez 21:42

Um, I think that it's important to see the journey that your clients and your customers and your families go through as they're searching for quality care because you want to make sure that you're signaling to them, you're you're signaling to the families that you want to bring in that you're out there and you're you're available for their for their needs. So it makes it very simple when you're working with a CRM like such as Playground, where you can put in your stages of that pipeline and you look at that every day and you can see that first contact that families make with you and where they are on your pipeline. And then you can make steps to better engage them through that and make sure that you um are making yourself uh available to them to be able to share with them the services and the that you provide to the to them, I would say.

Kate Woodward Young 22:32

Well, awesome. So hopefully you have um grabbed a couple of little nuggets, if nothing else, the questions to ask. Uh, we would love for you guys to reach out and connect with the folks at Playground at TriPlayground.com. And if you haven't already joined our newsletter list list, go to childcareconversations.com and sign up for our newsletter. And we look forward to talking to you more next week.

Childcare Conversations 23:01

Thanks for tuning in. We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay connected and catch all of the latest episodes. And if you're planning a conference, training, or special event, Kate and Carrie would love to speak to your audience. You can learn more about their keynote sessions and workshops at kateandcary.com. If you learned something today, share the show and leave us a review below. We'll see you next time on Childcare Conversations.