enrollment-and-waitlist-management

# Enrollment & Waitlist Management Seats are filled by a **funnel**, not by hoping the phone rings — and a waitlist is inventory you already earned, not a courtesy list. ## The loop 1. **Measure the funnel by stage.** Inquiry -> tour -> application -> enrolled start. Each stage has its own conversion rate; a "low enrollment" problem is really a leak at one named stage. Diagnose the stage before the fix — see the enrollment/waitlist tree in [`../../knowledge/childcare-decision-trees.md`](../../knowledge/childcare-decision-trees.md). 2. **Follow up on every tour with a cadence.** The tour is the highest-intent moment. A defined sequence (same-day thank-you, decision-window check-in, waitlist-or-start ask) converts far more than a single hope-they-call. A tour with no follow-up is a lead discarded. 3. **Work the waitlist by age band, not one list.** Availability opens by room and age, so a waitlist is only useful segmented by age band and desired start. Convert the waitlist before you discount tuition — a discount on a seat someone was waiting for is pure margin given away. 4. **Hand the billing route off cleanly.** Once a family commits, the private-pay / subsidy / blended route is a billing decision — see [`../tuition-and-subsidy-billing/SKILL.md`](../tuition-and-subsidy-billing/SKILL.md). 5. **Close the loop into retention.** A start is the beginning of the relationship the center must keep; the seat you retain is far cheaper than the one the funnel refills. ## Metrics | Metric | Reads | Note | |---|---|---| | Tour-to-enroll conversion | enrolled starts / tours | The funnel's headline; leaks most often at follow-up | | Inquiry-to-tour rate | tours booked / inquiries | Low -> intake responsiveness / scheduling friction | | Waitlist depth by age band | families waiting per age | Depth here means: convert before discounting | | Time-to-start | commit -> first day | Long -> paperwork or start-date friction | ## Anti-patterns - Giving tours with no follow-up cadence attached. - One undifferentiated waitlist across all ages and start dates. - Discounting tuition while a waitlist for that age band exists. - Treating a start as the finish line instead of the start of retention. ## See also - [`../tuition-and-subsidy-billing/SKILL.md`](../tuition-and-subsidy-billing/SKILL.md), [`../staffing-to-ratio-scheduling/SKILL.md`](../staffing-to-ratio-scheduling/SKILL.md). - Template: [`../../templates/enrollment-funnel-tracker.md`](../../templates/enrollment-funnel-tracker.md). - Best practices: [`../../best-practices/enroll-the-waitlist-before-you-discount.md`](../../best-practices/enroll-the-waitlist-before-you-discount.md), [`../../best-practices/family-communication-is-the-retention-engine.md`](../../best-practices/family-communication-is-the-retention-engine.md).