Originally Posted by Indoorvoice:
I go back and forth. Both times I have sent my policies out before the interview I heard negative feedback. One did not even set up an interview because I sounded too strict in my writing (which was probably a good thing) and the other set up an interview but let me know that I sounded a lot meaner in my policies than I was face to face. I did not sign them on either. The last interview I did in which I signed on a good client, I sent out bullet points on my policies and did a thorough email interview before the face face to face interview. I then went over my full policy handbook during the interview and highlighted key points.
Originally Posted by Ariana:
I don’t tell them a whole lot before an interview. I feel like once they meet me things go a lot better. I used to give my handbook to everyone who inquired and it worked against me. Face to face I can explain my policies better. I had one dad ask me why I needed such in depth policies (he hadn’t met me yet, his wife had) and I could explain it much better in person rather than have him form his own opinions on it. I basically tour them around my home and explain my setup and policies and answer their questions. Most of my policies come up during the tour. I also get a feel for the type of parent they are by the questions they ask. If it goes well and they seem very interested I send them a pdf copy of my handbook to “answer any questions they hadn’t thought of” and encourage them to to bring up any concerns about my handbook/policies. Then once they want to sign up I give them a hard copy To have on hand.
You both brought up some very good points that I'm going to consider in future interviews. I can see how sending your policies ahead of time can scare some people off, but at the same time it could weed out clients that you would be wasting your time with interviewing. I keep going back and forth on this as well.
