Ask 13 Questions to Research Your Preschool Competition

If you’re wondering why parents would choose someone else’s preschool instead of yours, you need to research your preschool competition by asking these 13 questions.

WHO TO CONTACT

Finally—it’s time! We now get to answer the last question to help you define your preschool: How much should I charge? As we mentioned before, we can only do that by researching your competition. We need everything to be as equal as possible (i.e. apples to apples), so local preschools will research local preschools… and online preschools will research online preschools.

If you’re doing local preschool: You’ll most likely find in-home preschools, facility preschools, in-home daycares, and facility daycares when you research your competition. (Remember that free preschools are NOT our competition and we can’t compare their pricing when it’s $0 so we will exclude them.)

You will probably only need two to three in-home preschools to get some good comparable rates. However, if you can’t find any of those (or if you’re starting first with a building), then we’d recommend next contacting facility preschools, in-home daycares, and facility daycares, in that order.

You’ll try to find out as much information about them as possible from their website first. If they don’t have a website, or you still have questions after reviewing their website, then you can ask a friend (who has a preschool-age child) to call and ask the questions.

If you’re doing online preschool: Most likely your competition has a website, so there will be no need to call them. Remember: your local preschools are NOT your competition, as you will be advertising worldwide. So do NOT call local preschools to find out their rates.

And now, let me tell you how we researched our competition when we started our preschool. At that time, there were several facility and home daycares that offered preschool classes, no facility preschools, and two in-home preschools that didn’t advertise (we only found out about them because I asked around enough times).

Knowing that the in-home preschools would be most like our preschool—and therefore the best option to model our prices after—we called them first.

The two preschools were run by two women that had started a preschool together about twenty years previously, and after it was so successful, they each chose to open up their own preschool in their home.

One had her preschool in an extra living room area, and the other had hers in two separate buildings outside of her home that were built specifically for her preschool. We personally called them (as we had a 4-year-old son to enroll) and asked the following questions that you’ll soon ask, too!

13 QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITION (or find on their website)

1. Do you have any spots?

Both women had waiting lists so my area was primed for a new preschool!

2. What ages of children do you take in your preschool?

One woman took children ages 3-5, and the other took children ages 4-5. By accepting “Independent Almost-3-Year-Olds,” we were able to enroll families that might have eventually enrolled with our competitors, but because they came to us first, they stayed with us.

3. Do children have to be potty trained to attend?

Both women said yes, they had to be potty trained. We accepted children who weren’t fully potty trained but the parents were helping in the potty-training efforts at home. Again, the students enrolled first in our preschool.

4. How much do you charge and what classes do you offer?

Both women taught a similar schedule as we were going to teach, so we priced our classes $10/mo. more than their classes. (Depending on your area, you might raise your tuition $25-$50/mo. higher after you increase your value.)

5. Is there a registration fee?

Both women charged a $50 registration fee, so that’s what we charged also. (Our current registration fee is $60, but our preschool owners have registration fees as high as $75-$150 depending on their areas.) Based on the number of students you enroll, you could get $500-$2,000+ each year to pay for your start-up costs, marketing, and supplies!

6. Is there also a supply fee or do we need to bring our own supplies?

Both women required parents to pay for their child’s school supplies and bring them to preschool, so we made sure to include supplies for free as part of the registration fee to offer more value!

7. Do you offer any free field trips, events, t-shirts, welcome kits, etc.?

Both women charged for field trips, and the only free event was a graduation in their home, so we gave out for free: t-shirts, graduation portfolios, field trips, events, and a huge graduation that had 800+ people!

8. What kind of curriculum do you teach?

They did a lot of worksheets, so I made sure mine was activity based.

9. When does the preschool year start and end? (Holidays or Breaks?)

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Most preschools are 9-10 months long, and some are held year-round. Both women started after Labor Day and ended before Memorial Day, so we extended our preschool to start in mid-August and end the Thursday after Memorial Day, which allowed us to have a 10-month preschool program to be competitive. Because our students signed up for the entire 10-month period, we had a consistent paycheck almost guaranteed until the summer.

10. What’s your staff/child ratio? How many children per class?

One woman had a 1:9 staff/child ratio with two teachers and 18 children in each class. The other preschool had a 1:12 staff/child ratio, with two teachers and 24 children in each class. You can see that when we offered a small class size of only six students, our small class sizes were highly desirable, so we filled up quickly.

11. Are you licensed with the state? Do you have a degree?

Neither preschool was licensed, so we made sure to get licensed.

12. Do you have a teaching degree or experience teaching preschool?

Even though we all know you don’t need a degree or experience, this question will help you find out their qualifications. Both women had an Education degree and experience teaching in the school district, but neither of them had a degree in Early Childhood Education. They also each had 20+ years’ experience teaching preschool. Even though they had more experience and education than we had, we knew we could out-market them any day. They had stopped marketing when they filled up years earlier, so new people in town didn’t even know they existed. (In fact, we couldn’t even find their website on the internet!) Let this be a lesson to you: It doesn’t matter how good your program is. If no one knows about you, it’ll never fill up. Marketing matters!

13. Do you do summer camp? (If so: what class times, rates, and ages?)

Both women didn’t do a summer camp, so we knew we would have the entire market available if we did. We started with weekly summer camps but quickly changed to a 2-month summer camp model with the same class times and tuition rates as my preschool classes. Several of our preschool owners choose to close during the summer, so they put aside 25% of their income each month into a savings account to use for summer so they can have a consistent income all year.

By asking these 13 questions, you’ll be able to research your competition and find the places you can make your preschool unique (and therefore charge a premium tuition!)