Archive for the ‘Research’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Things Prospective Students Won’t Tell You … Unless You Ask!

March 22nd, 2017

We all know that prospective students don’t always tell us what they really think. Sometimes they don’t want to be completely honest about their REAL first-choice college because they think they’ll hurt our feelings. Or, they may tell us they had a great campus visit, yet tell their parents on the way home that they’ll never enroll. They often say one thing and do another.

The fact is: These hidden issues are often deal breakers but, when uncovered and dealt with, they can lead to enrollments.

Admission counselors tell us this “not knowing what a student really thinks and feels” is one of the greatest frustrations they face. So, we joined forces with 36 colleges and universities, private and public, large and small, from all over the United States, to explore this reality in-depth and find solutions. Over 18,000 college-bound students participated in our soon-to-be-released study, “Hidden Influences: Revealing the unspoken perceptions that prospective students have about your college and why it matters in your ability to grow and control enrollment.” 

Beginning today and over the course of the next few weeks we will share details from this fascinating study. Today we are sharing strategies and techniques you can use to uncover the things students are holding back. And, by the way, these aren’t strategies we created. These are strategies that prospective students told us will work in revealing their true impressions and feelings.

These discoveries can be used immediately to enable richer, more fruitful conversations with the students you’re trying to recruit.

Half of prospective students visiting a college campus will see and experience things that they find unappealing.HI_Study_Unappealing

Sure, students are not going to like everything they see at all of the campuses they visit. That’s not news. What’s newsworthy is the finding that colleges are not probing to uncover whether negative impressions exist and, more precisely, WHICH negative impressions may have formed.

On average, only 13% of students say that an admission counselor ever inquired if they had seen or experienced anything the student found unappealing, concerning, or missing about their campus.

After a campus visit prospective students are often asked for their general impressions. We say, “So, how was your tour today?” Or, “What did you think about our campus?” About 70% of students will easily share their positive impressions. Will they so easily share their negative impressions? No. Only about 10% will.

Effective strategies to uncover what students really think.

Prospective students, like most people, are naturally inclined to be kind and keep quiet when they see things they don’t like about our campus. However, 72% of students say they would be comfortable talking about their negative impressions if invited to do so.

In a focus group we conducted with college-bound students in preparation for this study, students identified six things counselors can do or say that would prove effective in getting them to open up and share what they like and dislike the counselor’s college.

The single most effective statement (as identified by 6 in 10 students nationwide) in making them most comfortable involved, “The counselor simply and sincerely encouraging me to be open, honest, and forthcoming.”

Six statements/assurances students suggest that counselors use to get them to open up.

HI_Study_Comfortable


Try it out and see what you uncover!

Here’s how your interaction might play out using one of the assurance statements:  “I’m glad you like the campus, especially the stadium/dorms/quad.  It’s great, isn’t it? But let me ask, did you see anything that you didn’t like? And don’t worry. You aren’t going to hurt my feelings and it will help me do my job better.”  Counselors often hold themselves back from asking penetrating questions because they’re concerned that students will perceive them as being intrusive. That’s so unfortunate. For both the counselor AND the student.

Admission counselors who employ this approach tell us that they are often surprised by the answers they get. A misconception can be corrected or a concern alleviated. Not only do they get a real-time assessment of what the student is feeling, but they frequently uncover the ONE THING that will turn an admitted prospect into an enrolled student. It’s simple, and effective.

We will soon release the complete report of this national study, along with its recommendations for action and new approaches in conversations between admission counselors and prospective students. If you would like an advance copy of the Hidden Influences report CLICK HERE.

We help colleges and universities have better, richer conversations with prospective students to help them grow and shape enrollment. With our yield enhancement programs, interactive training workshops for counselors and other tools, we can help you too. Please call.

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.
RickMontgomery_100x100

Rick Montgomery is as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company. With over 20 years in higher education marketing, he brings an innovative and dynamic approach to helping colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals. Rick can be reached at 913/492.1265 x.708 or via email at rmontgomery@longmire-co.com.

Comments Off on Things Prospective Students Won’t Tell You … Unless You Ask! »

Posted in Behavior, Campus Tours, Campus Visits, Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Counselor Training, Parents, Research, Your Value Proposition

Tags:

Finding out what prospective students will and won’t tell you

December 6th, 2016

“Why don’t the students we are recruiting just level with us?  I had four no-shows last weekend for campus visits, all from students who had verbally committed to me the week before,”uncover an admission counselor recently asked me. I’ve heard  iterations of this question many times: “Why do students say one thing and do another?” We asked over 18,000 college-bound students that very question, and many more.

Students may not be willing to share their hidden perceptions and feelings with the colleges they are seriously considering but they have been opening up to us in our latest nationally co-sponsored higher ed study, “Hidden Influences: Revealing the unspoken perceptions that prospective students have about your college and why it matters in your ability to grow and control enrollment”. This study focused on the things students hold back from colleges during the college shopping process. An analysis of the results have revealed techniques and strategies colleges can use to unmask hidden influences and deal with them before the student solidifies his or her enrollment decision.

For instance, nearly 30% of college-bound students admit to making commitments to colleges that they knew they were unlikely to keep (e.g. completing an application, visiting the campus, enrolling, etc.). FYI, females are almost 60% more likely than males to do so.

Why do they do this?  Here’s what they tell us:keeping-commitments1

  • I felt uncomfortable saying no (10%)
  • I wanted to end the conversation (7%)
  • I thought there was a possibility that I would keep the commitment (60%)
  • It was easier than explaining why I didn’t want to commit (11%)
  • I wanted to keep my options open (78%)

(Students were asked to check all that apply.)

This is just one example “Hidden Influences” uncovered where study participants demonstrate that they do NOT like to be the bearer of what could be perceived as “bad news” to their admission counselor. Take note of the responses to this question:

If you need to tell a college that you are no longer interested in enrolling at their school which methods are you most comfortable using to do so? (Check all that apply.)

  • Face-to-face conversation: (15%)
  • Phone conversation: (32%)
  • Voice mail: (9%)
  • Email: (90%)
  • Text: (17%)

So, what should a counselor do? College-bound students told us there are ways to get them to open up with you even about difficult subjects.  More than half of the study participants said that they would be comfortable talking about negative things if “the counselor sincerely encouraged me to be open, honest and forthcoming.” When a prospective student communicates a concern or objection about your college, it’s a good thing. Really. When a concern or objection is revealed, you can deal with it. If they don’t share their concerns, they’ll never enroll and you’ll never know why. Give them “permission” to be completely open with you and you will be building a richer relationship with the students you are recruiting.

This study yielded new market intelligence to shed light on the hidden influences and provide you with actionable data you can use to uncover and manage the perceptions and opinions that prospective students have about your college and the other colleges they have considered. The findings will influence your future conversations with students, as well as your mass communications. We are excited to share that with you and soon we will release the full national report on this eye-opening study. (Click here to put your name on the list for an advance copy.)

yield_season_workshop_bannerShifting gears: We are delighted to announce that for a limited time, Longmire and Company’s highly regarded counselor training workshop is coming to a location near you! A number of colleges and universities will be serving as regional host sites where nearby colleges can send counselors to participate in a full-day intensive Yield Season Counselor Training Workshop that will prepare counselors for yield season success. This very affordable workshop is designed to benefit seasoned counselors just as much as counselors who are going through their first full recruiting cycle. Best of all, counselors you send will return home with skills and techniques that can be shared with the whole admission team. For more information or to register today, click here.

We help colleges with their recruiting efforts every day. If we can help you please call me or any member of our team, Continue the conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo. For more information about Longmire and Company and the tools we have to offer, click here. Be sure to subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly-valuable information.

RickMontgomery_100x100Rick Montgomery is as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company. With over 20 years in higher education marketing, he brings an innovative and dynamic approach to helping colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals. Rick can be reached at 913/492.1265 x.708 or via email at rmontgomery@longmire-co.com.

Comments Off on Finding out what prospective students will and won’t tell you »

Posted in Behavior, Campus Tours, Campus Visits, Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Counselor Training, Research, Worthwhile Reading, Your Value Proposition

Tags:

Six Ways You Can Relieve Prospective Student Stress

November 15th, 2016

Right this minute, all over the country, college-bound students are in the throes of making what is most likely THE biggest decision they have ever made: “Which college is right for me? Will the college accept me? Can I afford it?”   Their parents are offering guidance and counsel because they know this is a crucial decision. Certainly, they too have a hugely vested interest in being certain that the final decision is the “right” one. Let’s face it: For nearly every student and their parent this is a period of high-anxietystress-baby.

No college would want to do anything that would ADD angst to an inherently stressful process, right? No college would do so intentionally but as an industry we do it all the time.

Through our pre-enrollment research, we communicate with hundreds of thousands of prospective students and parents every year and they have been very specific about the things colleges do that add stress to the selection process. Here are the 6 stress-inducing actions most often cited about the college admissions industry:

  •  That we communicate poorly
  •  That we’re slow to offer or reject admission
  •  That we have burdensome processes
  •  That admissions people are not responsive
  •  We are poorly organized, and,
  •  In some cases, they believe we’re being DISHONEST

Are you ready for some good news? Since these things happen more than you can imagine it gives you an opportunity to differentiate your college or university by doing the opposite. You can differentiate your institution by RELIEVING rather than ADDING stress to the college selection process.

Here’s how.

Students and parents have told us what you can do to help. Here are 6 stress-relieving actions:

  1. Communicate often and artfully. Students want information that’s relevant to THEM.
  2. Provide helpful advice and counsel throughout the college shopping process.
  3. BE RESPONSIVE. Return calls and emails promptly.
  4. Make decisions promptly.
  5. Treat each prospective student as you would expect and hope to be treated.
  6. Above all, show a sincere interest in the student.

These may seem obvious but it’s amazing how many colleges fail to practice these proven behaviors that will serve a prospective student and parent well.  Every student has a unique combination of needs, preferences, perceptions and motivations. Identifying and dealing with all of them enables the college to have a deeper and stronger relationship with the prospective student. Uncovering them requires that the college focus on the student rather than the institution.

There are communication techniques your staff can learn that will help them feel confident about reaching out to prospective students to ask the right questions. This is one of the core techniques we teach in the Interactive Counselor Training Workshops we hold on college campuses throughout the country.

Longmire and Company’s on-campus Interactive Training Workshops improve the performance of counselors and staff in areas such as effective communication with students and parents, applying creative entrepreneurship to their jobs, validating past and planned actions against outcomes, and discovering and leveraging the motivations of students (and themselves).

The end result is improved service to prospective students and families, measurable increases in yield, increased counselor and staff job satisfaction, enhanced teamwork, and innovations in work process within the department.

We help colleges with their recruiting efforts every day. If we can help you please call or shoot me an email. Continue the conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo. For more information about Longmire and Company and the tools we have to offer, click here. Be sure to subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly-valuable information.

RickMontgomery_100x100Rick Montgomery is as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company. With over 20 years in higher education marketing, he brings an innovative and dynamic approach to helping colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals. Rick can be reached at 913/492.1265 x.708 or via email at rmontgomery@longmire-co.com.

Comments Off on Six Ways You Can Relieve Prospective Student Stress »

Posted in Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Counselor Training, Organizational development, Parents, Research, Uncategorized

Tags:

Asked and Answered: Building Relationships that Lead to Enrollments

September 28th, 2016

We just returned from Columbus where we teamed up with Jeff Fuller, University of Houston Director of Student Recruitment, to present the results of our nationally co-sponsored study, “The Relationship Dynamic,” to an enthusiastic crowd of enrollment professionals at the NACACRelationshipDynamic_300x172 Conference.  NACAC’16 drew thousands of participants and I suspect that most returned home feeling like our team; newly energized and proud to be part of the profession of college admissions.

“The Relationship Dynamic” defines specific actions colleges can take to build stronger relationships with prospective students that will lead to enrollments and it was great to be able to share those with the 500+ admission professionals that attended our presentation.  Often, the most constructive part of any presentation comes from the questions asked by the participants and we want to share some of the best Q&A’s to share with you.

Q: “We have a huge volume of prospective students in our pool. How can I determine if we have “moved the needle” with individual students when it’s impossible to talk to all of them individually?”

A:  “Build a feedback loop into every channel you use to communicate with prospective students. For instance, when you send an email include a link to a one question survey that finds out if they are more or less excited about your college, if they plan to take a particular action, or some other indicator that tells you if you are, or aren’t, moving their needle.”

Q:  “You recommend recruiting parents much like we do students. At our college, we are often trying to separate parents from the student so they don’t dominate the conversation. Are we wrong to do that?”

A:  “We recommend creating a separate track for parents, assuming both the parent and student agree that it’s OK. Find out what a parent wants and how they’re going to arrive at their college choice independent of the students. We know that parents are influencers but the Relationship Dynamic study shows just how much they are facilitators. We need to enable them.”

Q:   “We do a lot of texting campaigns but your data shows only 16% of students say texts played a significant role in building a relationship with the college. Should we abandon texting as a recruiting tool?”

A:  “Absolutely not. However, you can give your text communications far more impact when you make them personal and relevant to the individual student’s interest. Use the data and info you have about the student to personalize it and make it compelling. The technology available to you these days makes that possible.”

Q:  “The study shows that contact frequency has much less influence on building a relationship than contact relevance. How do you uncover what is relevant and how do you leverage that information?”

A:  “If it’s possible to have conversations with each of your prospective students then use those to explore the issues that are relevant to them. I’m talking about asking a diverse and penetrating set of questions much deeper than “what do you want to study?” Once you’ve gained an understanding of the student’s motivations, interests and fears, the info must be recorded in a CRM or other data warehouse where you can pull it to drive future communications.

If you are one of the many colleges who have enormous pools of prospective students making it impossible to have individual conversations, we advise you to ask for feedback and information from students with each and every communication. Make it a two-way instead of a one-way flow of information. 

It can be done.  For many years, we’ve been uncovering students’ needs, preferences, fears, plans and motivations without talking to them face-to-face. The information you gather should then drive your messaging through each and every communications channel.”

Q:  “Are you still signing up co-sponsors for your current co-sponsored study [he is referring to our study currently underway called “Hidden Influences”] ? Can colleges still get in on it?”

A:  “Yes and yes. [Click here for full details.] This study is doing a deep dive into uncovering the things students hold back from colleges during the college shopping process and, more importantly, the findings will provide colleges with strategies and methods to uncover hidden influences and deal with them before the student solidifies his or her enrollment decision. We welcome all colleges to participate.”

Want to see the full “Relationship Dynamic” report? Click here for an instant download.

There are communication techniques your staff can learn that will help them feel confident about reaching out to prospective students to ask the right questions. This is one of the core techniques we teach in the Interactive Counselor Training Workshops we hold on college campuses throughout the country. It is also a key component of YES, our Yield Enhancement Tool. Let me show you how we can help you. Please call or email me for more information. Continue the conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo. Be sure to Subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly-valuable information.

RickMontgomery_100x100Rick Montgomery is as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company. With over 20 years in higher education marketing, he brings an innovative and dynamic approach to helping colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals. Rick can be reached at 913/492.1265 x.708 or via email at rmontgomery@longmire-co.com.

Comments Off on Asked and Answered: Building Relationships that Lead to Enrollments »

Posted in Behavior, Campus Tours, Campus Visits, Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Counselor Training, Organizational development, Parents, Research, Worthwhile Reading, Your Value Proposition

Tags: