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Prospective Students Reveal Who Facilitates Their College Selection Most

May 18th, 2016

In our latest co-sponsored study, “The Relationship Dynamic,” we asked over 12,000 college-bound students, “Who played a significant role in helping you form a relationship with your chosen college?” Many mentioned the current students who attend the college. Others mentioned their high school counselors and teachers. College admission counselors played a significant role for many. But topping the list? Parents.

We all know that parents influence college selection. That’s not news. But they are much, much more than influencers.

Parents not only influence, they facilitate the relationship between the student and the college of choice.

Are you fully leveraging the influence these facilitators have in shaping the college selection decisions of their sons and daughters. Are you fully serving parents? Have you focused on what’s important to them? Their feelings and emotions? Have you made them part of your recruiting team? If not, you are missing out on the support of possibly your biggest champions. Imagine the impact of turning these key influencers into your college’s top advocates.

Relationship dynamicIn a separate Longmire and Company co-sponsored study, “Your Value Proposition,” we measured the relative influence of parents and students in driving the college selection decision. Both parents and students agreed: the student has the most influence. Parents want their child to be happy and, if that lays the foundation for their success in college, then parents are willing to subordinate their own preferences and concerns.

However, parents are not shy about influencing the college selection process before the final decision is made. In our “Study of Parents,” we uncovered numerous examples of mothers and fathers hiding or disposing of college marketing material before their child would see it. Conversely, the same parents advocated for specific colleges even though the student had not expressed an initial interest in the school.

Results from the current “Relationship Dynamic” study make it very clear: Parents are not just influencing the college selection process, they are active facilitators in leading their child to or away from colleges. influencer graph

In light of this, more colleges are building a separate but equal marketing and “recruiting” track aimed at parents. It’s an acknowledgement that parents can and should be served during the college selection process, and that they can be an important conduit to facilitate the relationship between the prospective student and the college.

Laura Hamilton, associate professor of sociology at the University of California, and author of Parenting to a Degree: How Family Matters for College Women’s Success, has researched this in great detail. In The Atlantic, “The Partnership Between Colleges and Helicopter Parents,” she writes “…parents typically bring more than funds alone. They often help promote the university; conduct admissions interviews; interface with donating alumni; assist with their own students’ emotional, cognitive, and physical needs…. Competition to attract these parents is stiff—and administrators’ complaints about parental ‘meddling’ are now tempered with interest in a ‘partnership relationship’ with parents.”

We couldn’t agree more! And so do many of our college clients. A growing number of colleges are building communications flows and ongoing conversation streams with parents. If you want to begin doing the same or enhancing what you already do then take these steps.

The Parent Track: Quick Start Guide

  • Ask permission first.  Establish a separate but equal relationship with them, provided the student and parent are comfortable doing so. Admission counselors tell us that most prospective students are happy to give permission for direct communication with their parents, and that parents often consider the request evidence of a higher level of service from the college or university.
  • Seek opportunities for one-on-one interactions.  Call the parent while the student is at school, for instance.  Structure your campus visits so that you have some time with both the student and parent, separately.  In every conversation with the parent ask open-ended questions that will help you gain insight to the student: “What attributes are most important to Jamie in a college?” “What do you think should be most important?” “Has Jamie developed strong relationships with any colleges in particular?” “Is there anything I can show her about our college that would help her decide?” “What do you think would get her excited about our college?” Parents will often share details that students will not.
  • Identify their communication and content preferences. Find out what information they need and want from you. Find out when they need it. Find out how they would like it delivered (email, mail, text, phone call, campus visit, etc.).
  • Make connections.  Connecting the parent to “third-party” supporters can go a long way toward building your relationship. Some colleges have established parent “mentor” programs to introduce parents of prospective students to those to parents who have successfully navigated the process.  Your goal is to network the parent to someone with a shared perspective that they trust; look for parents of successful students or graduates or alumni that live in the same city.

Creating relationships is a multifaceted, nuanced and crucial part of student recruitment A strong bond with a parent can provide the guidance and help you need to better understand the value propositions that will be attractive to the prospective student. Ultimately, you and the parent both share the same objective: A successful, productive, happy college experience for the student.

Engaging with parents to this degree involves an investment in time and money. But it’s an investment you and your team need to make. If you elect to invest in this effort then you’re effectively doubling your recruiting team. You are enlisting the help and support of someone “on the inside” who has the full faith and trust of the college-bound student.

The soon-to-be released “Relationship Dynamic” report is loaded with powerful information that will help you build stronger bonds with the students you are recruiting. If you want a copy of the full public report, you can CLICK HERE to place your name on the distribution list.

Become a co-sponsor of our next study and get insight into YOUR pool of prospective students!

Click to learn more! Hidden_Influences_Prospectus

 Prospective students don’t always tell you what they’re thinking. Or they don’t want to be completely honest about their REAL first-choice college because they think they’ll hurt your feelings. Or they say one thing and then do another.

Their hidden perceptions and motivations impact your ability to effectively communicate with and ultimately recruit them. This new study is going to do a deep dive on the hidden perceptions that influence students in choosing a college.

Colleges get involved in our co-sponsored studies because they capture fascinating and actionable data specific to their pool of prospective students. As a co-sponsoring institution you will receive comprehensive and customized reporting that compares your data with national data. In addition, Longmire and Company will create and deliver a customized webinar for you and your staff to make specific recommendations for acting on the findings.

 

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.

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

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It’s Okay to Ask for the Order [Video]

March 29th, 2016

We recently launched a series of free video training tutorials on our website and YouTube channel aimed at making your counselors even better at their jobs. On our website you’ll find an ever growing list of admission counselor tutorials. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tutorials, powerful data from national co-sponsored studies and interviews with some of your peers.

 CounselorTrainingSeriesVideos270x150Let’s take a moment and focus on the critical final step in the model of communication that will lead to higher yield for your college or university: CLOSING.

Did you cringe? Some readers may be thinking, “I am not in sales. I work for a highly-respected college.” I agree! That’s not what closing is about.

In the college admissions process, closing simply means getting the student to take the next logical step on the path to enrolling. That might mean asking the student to schedule a campus visit. Or complete an application. Or agree to meet students of like mind and interests on your campus.

In admissions we’re not in the business of imposing something on someone. We’re in the business of understanding how the student can best be served and suggesting the next logical step in providing the service we know they’ll benefit from. Many prospective students and parents have never been through this complex process of selecting a college. They need us to tell them what a good next step would be and why. And if we don’t do that for them then we’re not serving them well. If we don’t take charge then we’re not doing our duty for them or our institution.

There are many milestones on the path to enrolling. But in every conversation you have with a prospective student or parent, whether it is the first or the fifth, you should end with a suggestion that the student take the next logical step.

If the student indicates that a roadblock exists, you have to uncover his or her objection or concern. You may find that the objection or concern is rooted in a lack of information or a false assumption that the student or parent may have about your institution. You will never uncover that without asking for the next step and, if they resist, asking why. (You wouldn’t believe all of the funny false assumptions that counselors have told us they’ve heard from prospective students who didn’t want to take the next step. One Florida counselor told us a student didn’t want to move forward because she’d heard alligators sometimes get in the women’s dorm. The counselor assured her that she’d be safe from that.)

Many counselors tell us they are apprehensive about closing. They feel as though they are being intrusive or pushy by asking the student to take some action.

In truth, closing is a natural part of the dialogue. For the student, it signals the college’s desire to recruit them. They expect counselors to ask them to take action so it’s no surprise to them when they do. As a matter of fact, we have found that some students are disappointed when they are not asked to make some kind of commitment to the college. It signals a lack of desire on the part of the college.

Have you ever heard the expression, “Don’t get in your own way?” That is exactly what you are doing if you fail to ask for the close. Most counselors say that once they got into the habit of closing they were surprised at how many times prospective students happily agreed to take the next suggested step.


Closing, like the three other elements we have outlined in the model of communication, ensures you the most productive conversations with students.  Embrace the model, and you and the students you serve will be more successful.

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 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.

If you’ve thought about helping your staff with professional development, now is the ideal time to train and motivate your staff. Email or call me if you are interested in how we can help. 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 can stay up-to-date.

RHL_Photo_100x100Bob 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. Connect with Bob at Linkedin/in/boblongmire.

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

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Align Your Value With Student Needs [Video]

March 15th, 2016
We recently launched a series of free video training tutorials on our website and YouTube channel aimed at making your counselors even better at their jobs. On our website you’ll find an ever growing list of admission counselor tutorials. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tutorials, powerful data from national co-sponsored studies and interviews with some of your peers.CounselorTrainingSeriesVideos270x150

Every college admission counselor in the country talks about their college’s value proposition.  That’s a given. We all know how important it is to present your college’s unique attributes to prospective students. The question is this:  Are you presenting those distinctive characteristics in a way that has impact? 

In you are using our four-step communication model, (review here) you have 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 is 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? After probing, when the student has expressed their needs, you fully understand those needs, and you know that your institution can meet them.

There are many ways to support. However, there are two methods that are simple to implement and highly effective: Third-party validation and telling stories.

Third-Party Validation

Third-party validation involves supporting your promise of value by referencing something or someone the student can relate to and trust.

Using third-party validation as a communications tool has been around for decades, it may even qualify as the original “social media” tool.  As the counselor, you are supporting your promise of value by referencing a trusted expert that the student can relate to and trust. In this case, the “trusted expert” is one or more of your current students who previously grappled with the same concerns or desired the same attributes in a college.

Here is a real-world example shared by a counselor (David) in one of our recent Interactive Training Workshops. David knew that Ashley, a prospective student from a small high school, was very interested in receiving a high-level of personal attention.  He knows that his school can deliver on that promise, but he knows that simply promising it forces Ashley to take his word for it.

Instead, he adds third-party validation to give strength and credibility to his promise. He turns the abstract into something real and relatable.

David said, “I understand your need for personal attention. Let me introduce you to Carey.  She is a junior and an intern in the office here.  She was concerned with the same thing before she enrolled. She found that help and support was abundant on this campus and now says it is one of our strongest attributes.”

Storytelling

Storytelling also serves as a persuasive 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.dreamstimestorytelling

There is scientific research that supports the power of storytelling. Leo Widrich, COO and co-founder of Buffer, does a great job of explaining the science in layman’s terms. “If we listen to a PowerPoint presentation with boring bullet points, a certain part in the brain gets activated…Overall, it hits our language processing parts in the brain, where we decode words into meaning. And that’s it, nothing else happens, describes Widrich.“When we are being told a story, things change dramatically. Not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too.”

I’m sure your college has hundreds, if not thousands, of compelling stories that paint a picture of the great and memorable experiences with you students have had with you.

Record and categorize these stories 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, sorted by topic, of these narratives and some have even hosted interdepartmental competitions to find the best student success stories.

Most importantly, 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.

If you’ve thought about helping your staff with professional development, now is the ideal time to train and motivate your staff. Email or call me if you are interested in how we can help. 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 can stay up-to-date.

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.

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

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The Best Conversations with Prospective Students Begin with this Simple Skill

February 10th, 2016

In our work with admission staffs across the country we find that counselors often underutilize – or don’t understand – the most important recruiting tool available to them in talking with prospective students. Probing. It’s part art, part science. But when mastered it provides counselors with a gateway into understanding what the prospective student wants and needs in a college. And it helps uncover which of the college’s value propositions will most likely resonate with the student.

CounselorTrainingSeriesVideos270x150Performed with skill and empathy, probing leads to richer conversations. Both the student and college are better served. Through great conversations with counselors the student often discovers things that are, or should be, important to them. Likewise, counselors uncover ways their college can deliver value and service that will not only attract the student but also set the stage for their success.

“Probing” simply means asking a lot of questions. Most admission counselors will tell you that they do that. In reality, they don’t. The majority of counselors simply don’t cover a sufficient number of topics with a prospective student. They don’t ask the right questions and they don’t delve deeply enough to fully understand what will influence the student’s college selection decision.

When Longmire and Company visits campuses to conduct Interactive Training Workshops, we focus on the tools and techniques that counselors must use to put students in a frame of mind to open up and answer questions. This includes proper use of close-end, open-end, and open-minded questions that spark dialogue – even from otherwise non-verbal prospects.

We use role-playing extensively. We force counselors to probe for 10 minutes! They can’t talk about the college. They can ONLY ask questions. They have to open a broad range of topics of conversation (e.g. parents, academic interests, non-academic interests, feelings, fears, experiences, assumptions, false assumptions, and any other factors or perceptions that will influence their college selection). WOW! Say counselors after trying this. That’s hard!

Of course it is. Because they’re used to talking about their college more than they talk about the student.

Proper probing technique fixes that. It translates into better service to the student and higher yields for the college.

Check out this video tutorial on The Power of Probing. It will start you on the path of building a bond with prospective students and that is the surest way to best serve that student and your college.

This is the second in our recently launched series of free video training tutorials on our website and YouTube channel aimed at making your counselors even better at their jobs. On our website you’ll find an ever growing list of admission counselor tutorials. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tutorials, powerful data from national co-sponsored studies and interviews with some of your peers.

I can guarantee one thing. A prospective student will engage, comprehend and remember any conversation that hits them at an emotional level. That’s the goal. And probing lays the foundation for that to happen.

If you’ve thought about helping your staff with professional development, now is the ideal time to train and motivate your staff. Email or call me if we can help you.

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 can stay up-to-date.

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.

 

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