Posts Tagged ‘longmire’

Admitted Student Fence Sitters? Lift (Don’t Nudge) Them Toward Enrollment

June 9th, 2015

It never fails: As summer approaches we visit with a number of college enrollment managers who are still working frantically to finalize their incoming class. The question they ask us most often is, “How can I coach my staff to nudge prospective students off the fence?”

Our answer: When someone is stuck they need more than a nudge, they need to be lifted over that fence. The bottom line is that when you are working with a non-committed student in the late stage of the cycle, you can be certain that there’s a concern or objection that hasn’t been addressed. And, no matter where you are in the recruiting cycle, it is a GOOD thing when a prospective student or parent communicates a concern or objection about your college. 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. There are several great ways to cope with objections and concerns. But the first thing you have to do is to determine whether they exist.

The easiest way to do this is simply to ask.

Ask the student whether they have any concerns or questions that would prevent them from attending your school. If they acknowledge that concerns exist, you have to isolate each one and respond to it.

Questions, concerns, objections and indifference almost always arise during the college shopping process. And they vary widely. We train admission counselors in a variety of effective methods to manage each type. One of our favorite techniques is called the “Feel, Felt, Found” method of responding to a student’s concern.

Let’s take the student who is “fence sitting” about enrolling for classes that begin in just two months. Your previous conversations have gone well and you have been told that your college is a likely choice but the student has failed to take the final step. It’s time to probe for the core concern and you should be direct.

You ask, “What’s holding you back?”

The student replies, “My high school is pretty small and everybody knows each other. Your campus is SO big. I’m afraid I’ll get lost in all these people.”

With “Feel, Felt, Found” you can reassure them by saying, “I understand how you feel. I’ve talked to a lot of students from small high schools who felt the same way you do …

… In fact, Ashley, who interns in our admissions office, felt that same way before she enrolled here …

… But after coming, she found out how easy it is to meet people and form close friendships with students on our campus who have similar interests. I’m sure that will happen for you, too. Let’s get you signed up to attend our freshman retreat in July where you’ll make friends with students from big and small high schools.”

“Feel, Felt, Found” helps to dissolve a concern or objection by confirming that others had similar concerns that turned out to be unfounded. Often, it’s all you need to lift a student over the fence and onto the exciting next chapter of his or her life.

We teach new and experienced counselors how to work smarter, recruit more effectively and, most importantly, adopt a student-centric approach to everything they do.

Longmire and Company’s on-campus Interactive Training Workshops dramatically 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 net result? 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. From my many years in enrollment management, I know that summer is the ideal time to train and motivate your staff. Email or call me if you are interested in how we can help you have a powerhouse admissions team.

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.

Karen Full is a highly-respected higher education professional who has held positions in admissions and enrollment management at several institutions in the Midwest and Florida. With her vast experience working with large and small, public and private colleges, Karen brings a valuable perspective to her role as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company.Call Karen at 913/492.1265 x.711 or email her at kfull@longmire-co.com. Follow Karen on Twitter @KarenAFull.

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Posted in Behavior, Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Counselor Training

Tags: #highered #highereducation #enrollment management admission counselor training admissions admissions customer service admissions success college college admissions college branding college enrollment college presidents college recruiting college recruitment customer service training EMChat enrollment management higher ed higher ed marketing higher education branding higher education marketing higher education strategies longmire longmire and company Longmire and Company study sales training staff training yield enhancement

Join Other Colleges and Team Up for An Important New Study

June 3rd, 2015

Last week we launched our new co-sponsored study, “The Relationship Dynamic: How prospective students form a relationship with your college, and why it matters in your ability to grow and control enrollment.”

We have begun the college co-sponser sign-up process and in this short period of time it looks like this may be our largest nationally co-sponsored study yet (topping the 40 colleges that participated in last year’s study, “The Excitement Factor!”).

Now, you can join a number of highly-respected colleges and universities including Hofstra, Purdue, University of Denver, Eastern Michigan University, University of Findlay, Eastern Kentucky, and Westminster College (PA) that have already jumped on board to get powerful data about building the types of relationships with prospective students that will lead to enrollment. We anticipate north of 45 to 50 public, private, and community colleges participating. And we always get a good mix of schools in terms of geography and size which allows for peer comparisons.

As admission professionals, we know that creating a connection with a student can greatly increase the likelihood of his or her enrollment. We know that building relationships and continually strengthening those bonds is crucial. But big questions remain unanswered: “What can I do to influence relationship-building with prospective students in all aspects of our recruitment efforts, from social media to personal contact?” “How can I involve all influencers, on or off campus, in the development of rich relationships with our prospective students?” And, “have we, or have we not, built bonds with our pool of prospective students?”

If you jump in with our other co-sponsoring institutions, here’s what you’ll learn about the prospective students in your pool:

When the relationship building process begins, the subsequent timeline, and milestones
Why students form a bond with one college and not another
The types of conversations and interactions that bind a student to a college
How admission counselors and others on campus can be more effective as relationship builders
How differing forms of communication help to cultivate relationships (personal interaction, email, social media, direct mail, and more)
Identifying psychographic segments of students and the types of relationships they seek with colleges
How people and methods outside the control of the college impact relationship building and how you can leverage those influences

Co-sponsors find our studies valuable because of the wealth of information they gain – information they can use to drive action and change. And becuase these studies attract a high number of co-sponsoring institutions they are extremely affordable, costing a fraction of the expense of an individual research project.

For more information, download detailed information about the study by CLICKING HERE or call us at 913/492.1265 x.701.

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.

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. Rick can be reached at 913/492.1265 x.708 or via email at rmontgomery@longmire-co.com.

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Posted in Conversion and Yield, Counselor Training, Organizational development, Research, Your Value Proposition

Tags: admission counselor training admissions admissions counselors admissions customer service admissions success brand management college college admissions college branding college enrollment college presidents college recruiting college recruitment enrollment management higher ed higher ed marketing higher ed research higher education best practices higher education branding higher education marketing higher education strategies longmire longmire and company Longmire and Company study yield enhancement

An Effective Tool to Minimize Melt AND Improve Yield

June 1st, 2015

“The admissions department never sleeps,” an enrollment manager shared with me recently. “On one hand I still have a handful of spaces to fill for the upcoming class plus an anticipated summer melt of around 10%, and on the other, we are full-swing into our recruiting efforts for next year. Summer is no longer a quiet time for us.” Sound familiar?

Wouldn’t it be great it there were one singular, powerful tool that could help you combat the dreaded summer melt AND shore up your ongoing recruiting efforts?

Good news: Improving your pre-enrollment customer service delivery, all the way up to the point of registration, can help you reduce melt and positively impact your ability to truly close the sale with students who have deposited. A recent nationwide study conducted by Longmire and Company of nearly 5,000 prospective college students and parents showed that 53% reported that their decision to enroll in a given school was heavily influenced by the level of service they received during the “college shopping” process. As we all know, for many students the shopping process continues well beyond the point at which they make a promise to enroll.

Our study found that poor service delivery, across any brand touch point on campus, often outweighs other important factors, including strength of academic programs, faculty reputation and even the financial aid offered. Prospective students and parents view the pre-enrollment service they receive as predictive of how the student will be served after enrolling. They will change their mind about a college or avoid it altogether if they receive poor service.

To avoid losing students before classes start, be sure to give them a stellar experience everywhere and at all times. Students and their parents agreed that a single bad experience can be the catalyst for completely derailing the prospective student’s original enrollment plan. The most often cited negatives include unkempt grounds, buildings and restrooms; lack of clear signage; unfriendly staff and faculty; excessive phone hold times; unresponsive staff; and overwhelming paperwork.

Just as importantly, the study concludes that offering great pre-enrollment service will not only “save” enrollments but it is also one of the best possible ways for a college or university to differentiate itself in today’s competitive environment.

Certainly, every communication, every interaction, every brand touch-point with a prospective student and/or parent has the potential to make or break the relationship that you have worked so hard to establish. You may know this, but does every other member of the team? And, by “team,” I mean every person at your college whose actions may influence the student’s decision and ultimate action. Certainly, interactions with faculty, admissions and financial aid are critical, but many schools are surprised to find the impact that campus maintenance, grounds keeping, security and even the switchboard operators can have on creating a lasting impression.

What is the first step?

We suggest you take a walk. Yes, you read that correctly. Sure, fresh air and exercise always does a body and mind good, but the primary impetus for this walk is to experience your campus from the perspective of prospective students and their parents. This walk could very possibly save you enrollments. Every college should have a comprehensive pre-enrollment customer service program in place. Whether you do or not, a self-audit is a must to help you identify and correct any service gaps.

Specifically, here are some of the questions you should be asking yourself during your campus stroll:

Are the grounds, pathways, and buildings pleasing to the eye, clean and well-kept?
Are the restrooms in all the public areas well-stocked and clean?
Is signage easy to read and accurate? Are maps intuitive and understandable?
Are information areas easily identifiable? Are they properly staffed with friendly faces?
Are staff and faculty interacting pleasantly with the students and visitors?

Here are some of the questions you should be asking about your continuing interactions with students:

Are we providing students with the information they need, when they need it?
How are we continuing to make students and parents feel wanted?
Are we continuing to build on the student’s excitement about attending?

When you return to your office, consider making a few phone calls, too. Not as a member of the admissions team, but as a prospective student or parent. You need to know if calls are answered pleasantly, promptly, and quickly routed to the appropriate party; if the hold times are minimal; and if each call is handled to the complete satisfaction of the caller.

Next, review your forms and processes and ask yourself this key question: Are they user-friendly? If not, how can they be simplified?

We suggest asking your entire admissions team and other department representatives to “take a walk,” too. Not only will their involvement offer unique insights but it may also facilitate necessary improvements after they are identified.

We are seeing a growing trend in the industry among colleges large and small, public and private, paying much more attention to their campus-wide customer service delivery. Some people on campus may still believe that students are not customers. And that colleges are exempt, by their nature, from having to measure their service delivery in the same way as other organizations. But the data we collect through the Service Quality Management assessments we conduct for clients clearly show that students and parents have the same expectations of service delivery with regard to colleges as any other enterprise with which they do business.

With so many contributing factors, it can be a challenge knowing where to start on a pre-enrollment customer service improvement initiative. Your audit is a good start and should be followed up with a baseline measurement to determine where you stand now vs. where you need be. One college president at a major Eastern university summed it up like this, “We invest millions of dollars in recruitment and yet we discovered that there were changes that cost very little that greatly impact our efforts.”

We help colleges and universities with their recruiting efforts every day, including offering Service Quality Management (SQM) to help you measure and manage your pre-enrollment service. If we can help you, please let me know.

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.

Karen Full is a highly-respected higher education professional who has held positions in admissions and enrollment management at several institutions in the Midwest and Florida. With her vast experience working with large and small, public and private colleges, Karen brings a valuable perspective to her role as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company. Call Karen at 913/492.1265 x.711 or email her at kfull@longmire-co.com. Follow Karen on Twitter @KarenAFull.

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Posted in Behavior, Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Customer service, Your Value Proposition

Tags: admission counselor training admissions admissions counselors admissions customer service admissions success college college admissions college recruiting higher education branding higher education marketing higher education strategies higher education value longmire longmire and company Longmire and Company study marketing recruiting staff training value proposition yield enhancement

Longmire Launches Higher Ed Study To Explore Relationship-Building with Prospective Students

May 18th, 2015

[What follows is a guest post by Mark Thompson based on his interview with Bob Longmire, President of Longmire and Company. The topic of the interview centers on Longmire and Company’s national higher education co-sponsored study now in preparation for launch.]

I have a confession to make: As a former enrollment management guy, I love the college admissions game. Even after more than 20 years of an often grueling schedule, sleepless nights and, sometimes, unreasonable demands, I still believe that it is one of the most fulfilling and exhilarating professions you can choose. Today, I am a teacher and that is also a very gratifying profession. I still follow higher ed closely, periodically advise colleges, and write about this ever-changing industry.

I recently sat down with Bob Longmire, President of Longmire and Company, to talk about the company’s latest co-sponsored study it is launching. It’s called, “The Relationship Dynamic: How prospective students form a relationship with your college, and why it matters in your ability to grow and control enrollment.”

Mark Thompson: Longmire and Company has been serving higher-education for over 25 years and, since 2009, conducting these co-sponsored studies that always seem to discover something new about the industry and prospective students. I know that many colleges participate in these studies year after year and the findings get widely reported. What makes them so popular?

Bob Longmire: We actually started doing the co-sponsored studies to meet a need in the industry that just wasn’t being addressed. There are issues and hot topics that constantly emerge in higher education recruitment and marketing, and professionals in the industry need to stay on top of them. They want to know how these issues will impact the industry as well as their own college. They want information that will help them identify opportunities to differentiate themselves in the higher ed marketplace.

It can be very expensive for an individual college or university to do the scope of research needed to get the answers and insight we get. But by co-sponsoring with other institutions they get the best of both worlds: data and insight about their pool of prospective students coupled with a national picture, getting a very comprehensive study for a tiny fraction of what it would cost to do it on their own.

As I recall, the concept for your just-concluded study, “The Excitement Factor!” was sparked by a discovery you made in a prior study. What was the genesis of this new study, “The Relationship Dynamic”?

The launch of the “Relationship” study was sparked by a key finding in the “Excitement Factor” study. We found that a student’s excitement about attending a college – and their ultimate enrollment – is driven, in large part, on the connections they make with current students, professors, admission counselors, tour guides, coaches and others on and off campus. We were able to measure how complex and powerful relationship-building is in student recruitment. Now, we want to put on our sales and marketing hats and drill down into how relationships get cultivated through personal interaction, mass communication, social networking and so on.

College admissions professionals already know how important it is to build a relationship with prospective students, what will they learn from this study that is new to them?

We all know that a student’s college selection is tied closely to the strength of the relationship they build with a college over time. And we know that creating relationships is a multifaceted, nuanced and crucial part of student recruitment. But the real question college admissions teams want answered is, “What can we do to create powerful relationships with our prospective students in all aspects of our recruitment efforts? What methods create the strongest bonds? Is it social media, personal contact with admissions counselors, professors, other students, high school counselors, or something else entirely? And, how can we involve all influencers, on or off campus, in the development of rich relationships with our prospective students?” We intend to answer those questions and more in this study.

There is so much research already out there in the world of higher ed. How is this different?

There is no doubt that as an industry we capture a lot of data about students and how they select colleges and what influences them. What differentiates our studies is their focus on the emotional factors that drive college selection. Facts tell but emotions sell. The other factor that distinguishes all of our co-sponsored studies is our focus on providing highly actionable-data that colleges can use immediately. There is “nice-to-know” data that provides context and there is “need-to-know” data that drives action. We get need-to-know data that’s going to change a college’s approach, process, and bottom-line.

What types of institutions are involved in the study?

Four-year, not-for-profit public and private universities and two-year community colleges from across the country. All shapes and sizes.

What’s the timeline?

We are bringing colleges on board with this study now!

How does a college participate as a co-sponsor?

Just call us. It’s really easy. The co-sponsoring college doesn’t have to do much other than provide us with data on the students they want to include. We take it from there.

For detailed information, colleges can download detailed information about the study by CLICKING HERE.

Trouble playing video? Click here.

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. You can reach Bob Longmire at (913) 492-1265, ext 709 or at blongmire@longmire-co.com. Connect with Bob at Linkedin/in/boblongmire.

Mark Thompson is a seasoned and highly-successful higher education professional who has held positions in enrollment management at large and small, public and private institutions including The Ohio State University, Thiel College, Defiance College and other institutions. He follows and writes about developments in the field of higher education enrollment management. He can be reached at (419) 789-1637 or markthompson412@gmail.