[This is Part 8 of the Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push, offering actionable and effective strategies for the closing weeks of the yield season.]
Tonight, Longmire and Company is honored to be the featured guest of the Twitter chat group #EMChat at 9 p.m. (ET). We hope you will join us for a lively discussion about how to have richer and more productive conversations with prospective students.
The topic is particularly timely, because our research tells us that that nearly 50% of students will make their emotional commitment to a college in the next eight weeks. I can’t over emphasize this point: Every single conversation, every interaction you have with a student or a parent right now, should be focused on how you can get that student to the highest state of excitement about enrolling at your college.
If you aren’t already following #EMChat, you are missing out on a wealth of valuable information from an online community of higher education enrollment management professionals interested in advancing the field. Since founding the group in 2011, Alex Williams (@AlexMWilliams), Jennielle Strother (@EMjennielle) and Jillian Hiscock (@jhiscock) have been bringing admission professionals, counselors, directors, VPs, and higher education partners, firms, and consultants together to tackle enrollment and admissions issues.
What makes EMChat unique and especially constructive is the top-notch caliber of enrollment management professionals it attracts. For instance, tonight’s chat will be moderated by Stephen Ostendorf (@Ostendorff), a highly-respected and enormously successful higher-education marketing specialist.
Our own Karen Full (@KarenAFull) has been a moderator and devotee of EMChat for several years and will be part of tonight’s discussion. When Karen joined Longmire and Company as an Enrollment Strategist last year, after an impressive career in enrollment management, she brought along her passion for higher education and admissions and she will share her distinctive perspective with you tonight.
In tonight’s chat we will explore the core issues relating to your communications with the students you are hoping to admit, such as:
- How do your conversations and interactions with prospective students improve yield?
- What actions can you and your team take to improve your marketing and interactions with prospective students?
- How do admissions reps sometime “get in their own way” when working with prospective students?
- What are the most common concerns/objections you are currently encountering from your admitted students and how do you deal with them?
Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity to share ideas with admissions professionals who have the same challenges that you are facing every day.
At Longmire and Company we believe that the conversations between prospective students and the colleges they are considering can be much richer and more fruitful for both. When that happens, both sides are better served. We give colleges a greater understanding of what motivates individual students to select a college and remain enrolled. Our products and solutions help institutions realize greater efficiency and productivity in their recruiting practices. We help colleges and universities with their recruiting efforts every day, especially now during yield season. If we can help you, please let me know.
We will soon be releasing the findings of our national co-sponsored study on the impact of a student’s excitement about attending a college on the ultimate college decision. If you would like a copy of our Excitement Factor report as soon as it is released you can CLICK HERE to put your name on the distribution list.
Continue the conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo. For more information about Longmire and Company’s Interactive Counselor Training Program, click here. Be sure to Subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly-valuable information.
Bob Longmire is President of Longmire and Company, Inc. He is a recognized expert on the topic of how prospective students and parents form their college selection decisions – and how colleges can use that knowledge to grow and control their enrollment. He can be reached at (913) 492-1265, ext 709 or at blongmire@longmire-co.com.
