Posts Tagged ‘staff training’

Counselor Training Series: Powerfully Presenting Your College’s Value Proposition

November 18th, 2014

[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. CounselorTrainingSeries270x150

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.]

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 approach to helping colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals.

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Posted in Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Counselor Training, Your Value Proposition

Tags: admission counselor training admissions admissions counselors admissions success college admissions college recruiting enrollment management higher education marketing longmire and company staff training yield enhancement

Counselor Training Series: Probing to Uncover Key Information About Prospective Students

November 13th, 2014

[Part 2 of the Counselor Training Blog Series where you will find valuable and dynamic information to build a stronger recruitment team.]

In Part 1 of this series we outlined a four-step communication model that is simple, effective and proven to increase recruitment success for those who adopt it.

CounselorTrainingSeries270x150 Today we will take a deeper dive into the first of those steps: PROBING.

“Probing” simply means asking a lot of questions.

You might be thinking, “Well, I already do that.”

The truth is, the vast majority of counselors we work with don’t cover a sufficient number of topics with a prospective student.

And they don’t dig deeply enough to understand what will influence the student’s college selection decision.

When you talk to a student, think of each topic of conversation as a bucket and your job is to fill that bucket by asking enough questions to completely exhaust the subject. Your goal is to understand how much influence that topic has on the student’s college selection decision.

For example, you might ask, “How interested are you in off-campus recreational activities?” The student might say they are VERY interested in that.

What you’ve done is open a bucket and you need to ask as many questions as you can to understand what they like and want in that particular area. Bucket

You also need to find out how important it will be in their selection of a college. Even though they may be “very interested” in it they may also tell you – IF YOU ASK – that it’s not going to factor in their college selection decision.

Some buckets of conversation are opened and closed quickly.

For example, if you ask about the importance of distance-from-home in selecting a college, and they say they are willing to go anywhere, you’ve just determined that distance-from-home is neither going to be a deal-breaker nor a strong perceived value of your institution. In that case, you can close the “distance-from-home” bucket and move on.

The most accomplished counselors open and fill MANY buckets of conversation. They can question a student for an hour and do nothing but open and fill buckets. When the probing part of the conversation is complete, the counselor has a thorough understanding of the human being they’re talking to. More importantly, the student feels understood and valued.

There is an art to probing. But it’s also an acquired skill that can be learned and perfected. We have helped counselors learn to probe in a manner that is so effortless that at the end of the exchange the student describes the encounter as a “great conversation.” In the process, the student has handed the recruiter every tool he or she needs to present the value of the college in perfect alignment to what the student will perceive as being valuable.

When you become experienced and polished at probing, you’ll uncover key factors that will motivate a student to select your college over all others.

Next in the Counselor Training Blog Series we will explain how you can take what you learned by probing and present your college’s specific values and benefits to prospective students for maximum effect.

Continue the Conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo. Click here for more information on Longmire and Company’s Interactive Counselor Training Program .

Continue the conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo

[This is Part 2 in our Series: Counselor Training for Recruitment Success. Subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly valuable information.]

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

Tags: admission counselor training admissions admissions counselors college college enrollment college recruiting enrollment management finding the right college fit higher education marketing longmire and company sales training staff training

Counselor Training Series: 4 Simple Steps to Amp Up Your Recruiting Efforts

November 10th, 2014

[Today we kick off our Counselor Training Blog Series where you will find valuable and dynamic information to build a stronger recruitment team.]

At the heart of our highly-successful Interactive Counselor Training Program is a proven model of communication that counselors tell us is transformative. It is simple and effective. Adopt this straightforward method and you will see greater success in your recruitment efforts.

CounselorTrainingSeries270x150 By using this model properly, both you and the student will be better served because you will understand the individual student’s needs and preferences, and that will allow you to present the value of your institution in a way that will most resonate with THAT student.

While the model may be simple, your skill in executing it makes all the difference. Swinging a bat is simple. Great execution makes for batting champions.

The 4-step process begins with PROBING, which really just means asking the student a lot of great questions that have both scope and depth.

In any conversation you have with a prospective student, whether it’s your first or your fifth, and regardless of where you are in the recruiting cycle, you need to probe. You HAVE to ask questions.

Most counselors think they already do this. But in our training workshops with admissions counselors across the country, we see two common mistakes:

First, the questions being asked don’t penetrate deeply enough to uncover all of the student’s motivations, assumptions, concerns, preferences and influencers in their college selection decision.

Secondly, we see questions asked that do little more than give the counselor an opportunity to talk about the college.

The key is to turn the focus of the conversation toward the individual student. Information you provide about the college must relate to only those things the student has told you is important in their college selection decision or, frankly, it is meaningless.

When you have asked enough questions to have a full understanding of the student’s unique preferences, you are ready to talk about your college and demonstrate how your institution can best meet their individual needs.

This next phase of the model is called SUPPORTING and this is where you’ll discuss your institution’s benefits and values, and you’ll naturally focus on what you know is important to them.

Supporting is an art in itself.

With practice, you’ll be able to not only INFORM the student that you have what they want but you’ll also get them excited about attending your college. The various ways you can support are too numerous to detail here but it’s the part of the conversation where a student’s interest in you will either get stronger or weaker.

The third step of the communications model involves DEALING WITH CONCERNS OR OBJECTIONS.

First, you have to find out if any exist.

That may sound easy but we have learned that most counselors don’t do it.

And, when you don’t do this you are left scratching your head, wondering why the student you fully expected to enroll chose another college. Again, probing comes into play here. You’re searching for concerns, objections, or indifference.

When you find them, you have to deal with it.

Maybe the student’s concern is based on a false assumption about your school. If so, you need to correct it. Maybe they’re worried about something. If so, you need to reassure them. You can’t address their concerns or objections if you don’t uncover them and you can’t uncover them if you aren’t asking the right questions.

Once you have uncovered and dealt with any objections, you are ready for the fourth and final step in the communication model: CLOSING.

Closing simply means getting the student to take the next logical step on the path to enrolling.

You know there are many milestones on that path. But in every conversation you should end with a suggestion that the student take the next step. If the student resists, you have to circle back to uncover their objection or concern.

The model of communication and its four elements is a simple approach to having great, productive conversations that benefit both you and the students you are recruiting.

Remember, the goal is to best serve the student by truly understanding what they need and want which will ultimately make both you and the student more successful.

Continue the conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo

[This is Part 1 in our Series: Counselor Training for Recruitment Success. Subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly valuable information. In Part 2, we will take an in-depth look at skillful probing techniques.]

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.

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Posted in Closing the Sale, Counselor Training, Organizational development, Uncategorized

Tags: admission counselor admission counselor training admissions college admissions college recruiting higher education marketing staff training

Don’t Push Start (yet)… Establishing a Baseline and Making a Plan for Better Pre-Enrollment Service

November 7th, 2012

In the last post, we shed some light on the pre-enrollment service perception problem – the fact that colleges and universities are losing potential students due to poor service during the courtship phase. Our studies have revealed that multiple factors such as responsiveness, grounds, food, faculty and admissions personnel strongly shape a student’s overall opinion of the institution and ultimately influence their final decision of where to attend.

With so many contributing factors, it can be a challenge knowing where to start on a pre-enrollment customer service improvement initiative. Well, the first step is to take 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.”

Don’t risk wasting time, energy and money on initiatives that won’t pay off. Here we’ve outlined some simple steps to help you establish a true baseline and craft a strategic plan for success.

1) Ask Questions

More specifically, ask the right people the right questions, at the right time. This means you’ll want to keep the channel of communication open and working with prospective students and parents from the first moment of contact.

As for the questions, try to elicit feedback about their experiences during all touch points of the process. For example, you may want to include a set of questions about their pre-visit experiences with you, another set of questions about campus cleanliness and security, another set of questions about follow up, and so on. Build anonymity into your surveys so students and parents can be completely candid and not feel that they are burning bridges by being brutally honest with you.

Eliciting categorized responses will help later when you decide which initiatives to focus on for maximum impact. Also give respondents the opportunity to share other thoughts, or open-ended feedback, to help you identify the issues that are most important them.

2) Compare and Contrast

Use the data from your surveys to compare and contrast your institution with others on multiple factors. This will help you identify unique strengths and opportunities where you can stand out from your competitors. At the same time, it can focus your efforts where they will be most effective in the overall marketplace.

3) Make a plan

Establish a procedure to resolve issues that are identified through your data, then stick to it. One of our clients who enjoys consistently high marks maintains a dedicated ‘regulator’ who is responsible for handling any problems or complaints that surface during the process. This ombudsman will relay information to the departments or parties concerned, assign tasks and track progress until the issue is resolved.

They also make contact with the student involved to allay any concerns and reassure them of the institution’s commitment to their satisfaction. University staff is acknowledged and rewarded for making positive changes and for their efforts in creating a welcoming environment for prospective students and their families.

4) Engage Everyone

In order for real transformation to occur, every member of every department must be apprised of the plan and committed to creating a more positive experience. 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 establishing an impression. Imagine the institution as a very large rowboat, where each individual rower is moving in harmony with hundreds of other rowers, propelling the craft swiftly and seamlessly through the water. With everyone working toward the same goals, progress will be inevitable, and apparent to your prospects.
Longmire and Company conducts pre-enrollment customer service surveys for colleges across the country. We are more than happy to share the nationally aggregated data we’ve collected and initiatives that colleges have successfully implemented to deliver improved customer service. Just give us a call at (913) 492-1265 or send us a request using our Contact Us page.