[Part 3 of the Counselor Training Blog Series offering you will valuable and dynamic information to help you build a stronger recruitment team.]
We recently introduced you to a four-step communication model that is simple, effective and proven to increase recruitment success for those who adopt it. In Step 1 we showed you that with skillful probing, you’ll uncover key factors that will motivate a student to select your college over all others.
Today we will explore Step 2 of the communication model: SUPPORTING.
Through probing, you gathered all of the information you need to fully understand the needs, preferences and motivations of the prospective student.
Now it’s time to present the value of your institution. It’s time for you to demonstrate how you can deliver what the student wants.
That’s why the supporting phase is a critical part of the communications model. Supporting helps the student understand how you can meet their needs and give them exactly what they want.
How do you do it? You acknowledge what they’ve said to you, confirm that your understanding is correct, and then present the specific ways in which your institution can provide what they want and need.
When do you begin the supporting phase of your conversation? Only after extensive probing. After the student has fully expressed their needs, you fully understand those needs, and you know that your institution can meet them.
There are many ways to support. More than can be addressed here. However, there are two methods that are simple to implement and highly effective:
Third-Party Validation and Storytelling.
Third-party validation involves supporting your promise of value by referencing something or someone the student can relate to and trust.
For example, you have learned that the student is very interested in receiving a high-level of personal attention. You can certainly tell them that you can deliver it, but simply promising it forces them to take your word for it. It may be true but it’s abstract.
Adding third-party validation gives your promise strength. It turns the abstract into reality.
You can say, “I understand your need for personal attention. As a matter of fact, Sarah, who is a second year student here, was concerned with the same thing before she enrolled in college. She found that help and support was abundant on this campus and now says it’s one of our best features.”
Storytelling also serves as a powerful method of supporting your claims of value. It not only engages the prospective student, it also personalizes what you are telling them. It makes it real and believable.
I’m sure your college has hundreds, if not thousands, of compelling stories that paint a picture of the many students who have had great and memorable experiences with you.
These stories need to be recorded and categorized so that they can be easily shared at the right time, in the right situation, and with the right student. Many of the colleges we work with actually keep a database by topic of these narratives and some have even hosted inter-departmental competitions to find the best student success stories.
Supporting is the phase of your conversation where a student’s interest either gets stronger or weaker. It’s a pivotal point and you need to employ the proper techniques to get it right.
Continue the Conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo. Click here for more information on Longmire and Company’s Interactive Counselor Training Program.
[In the next installment of the Counselor Training Series we’ll discuss handling objections and concerns that may be expressed by prospective students and parents. Subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly-valuable information.]
Rick Montgomery is as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company. With over 20 years in higher education marketing, he brings an innovative approach to helping colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals.
