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Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push – Act Now to Impact Enrollment and Minimize Melt

March 23rd, 2015

[This is Part 6 of the Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push, offering actionable and effective strategies for the closing weeks of the yield season.]

You are in the final weeks of your yield season and fully engrossed in your efforts to bring in your 2015 class. I know the last thing you want to think about right now is the dreaded “summer melt,” but there are actions you can take today to ensure that your admitted students matriculate later.Yield-Enhancement-Series

Melt (for the benefit of readers new to, our outside, higher ed) refers to those admitted students who give every indication of enrolling and then “melt” away – never to step foot on campus. Some are students who commit to one college and later find they are accepted at a school where they were previously wait-listed. There are students who will complete the admittance process at two (or more) schools to keep their options open until the last possible moment. Sadly, there are college-bound students who will be admitted yet never enroll or start their college education. The U.S. Department of Education estimates the melt rate between 10% and 20%. In certain points of the country (particularly in lower income areas) it can be higher than 40%.

A Harvard study titled The Forgotten Summer, authored by researchers Benjamin L Castleman, Lindsay C. Page and Korynn Schooley, delves into the “high rate of summer attrition from the college pipeline among college-intending high school graduates.” They also explore the effectiveness of various outreach efforts during the summer. You can also read about the Summer Melt Program created by uAspire, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help students find an affordable way to – and through – a post-secondary education.

POOF_300x208Obviously, when a student fails to matriculate it is a lose-lose situation: A college-bound student gets derailed in his or her pursuit of higher education and your enrollment goals are impacted at the point of no return. But there is another reason you should be thinking about this now: The research shows that the factors that contribute to the phenomenon of melt are the same issues that are impacting the students in your admit pool today; coping with the reality of college costs, anxiety about finding the “right fit” and an overwhelming amount of often confusing paperwork, among them.

We will take a deeper dive into the subject of melt in the coming months. What is of importance today is to follow the lead of the most successful admissions counselors. They know they must build relationships with their students and gain valuable personal insight about each and every one of them. They know whether or not cost is the most critical factor and what attributes of their college will excite the student.

With that knowledge in hand, they nurture a relationship with the student that best serves the needs of the individual. They stay in touch, ask questions and have meaningful conversations throughout the entire admissions process. They make the student feel wanted, important, and engaged with the college. And, they don’t get unpleasantly surprised in July when the student tells them he or she has opted for another college or gone completely silent.

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.

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_100x100Rick 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 Behavior, Closing the Sale, Conversion and Yield, Research, Your Value Proposition

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Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push –The Question You MUST Ask Every Prospective Student

March 19th, 2015

[This is Part 5 of the Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push, offering actionable and effective strategies for the closing weeks of the yield season.]

Do you recall when the iPhone was released? I mean the FIRST one? Maybe you were even one of the hundreds of thousands of people who stood in line (or camped out) in extreme heat, cold or rainstorms, for as long as four days to get their hands on this thrilling new technology. In what was described by many journalists as a “carnival-like atmosphere,” over 270,000 iPhones were sold in the first 30 hours they were available.Yield-Enhancement-Series

What could possibly motivate so many rational people to act in this manner? It was EXCITEMENT, pure and simple. The same kind of excitement that you and your admissions team have been working for months to create within your pool of prospective students.

Don’t underestimate the power of excitement. Consider this: While researching how students and their parents perceive value and make their college selection, we discovered that of the three primary drivers of college selection (cost, perceived quality of the institution and the student’s excitement about attending) excitement about attending was more strongly correlated to likelihood of enrollment – by a factor of two – than the other two drivers.

In our most recent national co-sponsored study, The Excitement Factor, we sampled over 13,000 students to rate their level of excitement (on a 10-high scale) at the point when they made their college selection decision. I use the word “decision” but it’s more like an emotional explosion for so many. Nearly half of the students told us that, at the end point of their college shopping process, their excitement level about their college of choice had reached 9 or 10 on the scale. What enabled them to reach that fever pitch was everything  that came before it. The conversations they had with counselors, the campus visit, talking with current students, seeing what their life experiences would be like when they step on campus Day One.

Certainly you and your team have been working for months to create student excitement about your institution; much like Steve Jobs and the Apple team did back in 2007. Every promotional brochure, email, campus tour, press release, personal conversation, every single effort you have put forth to make your class, has been designed to emphasize your college’s unique attributes in a way that will spark the enthusiasm of your prospective students.

Now it is time to ask each and every student in your pool this crucial question: “What is your level of excitement about attending our college?”

If you get the answer you want, terrific, it is time to close the deal. But, if not, follow-up with questions that will lead you to your end game:

  • “Is there another college that excites you?”
  • “What about that school is exciting to you?”
  • “What would amp up your enthusiasm for us?”
  • “What can I show you here that you really want to see?”
  • “Who can I introduce you to that will tell you what it’s like to attend here?”

1_Key_Question_300x172The reason most counselors don’t ask these questions is because they are afraid to. Counselors often hold themselves back from asking penetrating questions because they’re afraid students will perceive them as being intrusive. That’s so unfortunate. For both the counselor and the student.

Admissions counselors who employ the direct approach tell us that they are often surprised by the answers they get when they specifically ask about a student’s level of excitement. 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, effective and a WIN-WIN for all. That’s something to get excited about!

Asking direct questions about how a student feels and how excited (or not) they are about your college is crucial to understanding what you need to do to generate the kind of excitement that will lead to enrollment.

So, try this: The next time you’re talking to a prospective student, ask this simple question, “On a 10-high scale, what’s your excitement level about coming to our school?” Give them permission to be honest by telling them that they won’t hurt your feelings. If you get an answer that’s anything less than a 10, follow up with the sincere and honest question, “What would get you to a 10?” Listen to what they say. Listen for how you can help them.

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.

If you would like a copy of our Excitement Factor report as soon as it is released you can CLICK HERE  to send us an e-mail to put you 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.

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.

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

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Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push – Spark Excitement with Storytelling

March 16th, 2015

[This is Part 4 of the Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push, offering actionable and effective strategies for the closing weeks of the yield season.]

Right now, you are most likely having dozens of conversations every day with the students in your admit pool. I don’t need to tell you that those interactions are crucial during this pivotal point in the recruiting cycle. And, the most successful admissions professionals know that you are more likely to win more recruits if you frame your discussion of the value you provide by matching the unique attributes of your college to what is most interesting and exciting to the individual student.Yield-Enhancement-Series

Want to make those conversations more powerful? Try the technique of storytelling and you’ll find that you are able to spark a student’s excitement – to engage their emotional commitment to your college.

One of the best examples of this was shared with us recently on the east coast campus of a mid-sized college (let’s call it College “A”) where we were conducting an Interactive Counselor Training Workshop. The counselor was working with a student, Jamie, who had narrowed her college choices down to three options; College “A” and two others. The dilemma was that the student’s family had a last minute crisis that meant she would have to cancel her upcoming visit to College “A”, the only one of the three that she had not yet visited. Jamie told the counselor that she was leaning toward one of the other schools because she had felt a great connection with the current students she had met there.

Brett, the counselor, was sure that Jamie would thrive at his school if only he could give her a taste of the College “A” experience. What did he do? He pulled together a group of four current students that had some commonality with Jamie (one shared her major interest, two were active in a number of organizations she had expressed enthusiasm in, and the fourth had similar personality traits as Jamie) and he organized a Skype get together.

Here is the best part: Brett instructed the students to “tell stories about your life on campus and be completely honest.” That’s all. He didn’t even sit in on the session so that it would feel more natural. (Although he did confess that he could hear the laughter all the way down the hall on numerous occasions during what turned into a 2-hour session.)

You have probably guessed how this story ends: Jamie is now a successful junior at College “A,” and even serves as a student ambassador in the admissions department.http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-vintage-inscription-made-old-typewriter-story-success-image45305668

In this example, the counselor creatively used current students to tell the story for him, but you can, and should, use this technique to give greater emotional depth to the conversations you have with students and parents.

There is actually scientific research that delves into this subject. This excellent article from Lifehacker, “Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains” by Leo Widrich, COO and co-founder of Buffer, does a great job of explaining the science in laymen’s terms.

 “If we listen to a powerpoint presentation with boring bullet points, a certain part in the brain gets activated. Scientists call this Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. Overall, it hits our language processing parts in the brain, where we decode words into meaning. And that’s it, nothing else happens.”

“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.”

Storytelling serves as a powerful method of supporting your college’s 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.

We help colleges and universities with their recruiting efforts every day, especially now during yield season. If I can help you, please let me know.

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_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, Your Value Proposition

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Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push – Find Your Unique Selling Proposition

March 11th, 2015

[This is Part 3 of the Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push, offering actionable and effective strategies for the closing weeks of the yield season.]

Admissions teams across the country are in the midst of their most exciting, and yes, most stressful, time of year. Every communication you have with a prospective student right now could be the ONE that seals the deal.

No pressure, right? Consider this your review before the final exam. Here are a few key insights (backed by extensive research) that will help you frame the conversations you are having with the students in your admit pool in a more compelling way and help you win more enrollments.Yield-Enhancement-Series

First, get rid of assumptions. “I am going to cross Brandon off my list because he made it clear that he couldn’t afford us unless he got more financial aid,” or “Jessica’s mother told me that she wants her daughter to commit to XYZ University because we are just too costly.”

Not so fast. Before you give up on Brandon and Jessica consider this: As important as the issue of cost is in the college decision process, it may not be the driving force you have assumed it is. Actually, less than 27% of the students in our current “Excitement Factor” study (with over 13,000 participants) considered cost to be the overriding factor in their ultimate college selection.

Plus, 70% of students and parents told us they would reconsider a college they originally thought to be too expensive if it can demonstrate greater value. (See our report Your Value Proposition: How prospective students and parents perceive value and select colleges.)

We know with certainty, through our research and providing counselor training workshops on college campuses across the country, that Brandon and Jessica (and every other student in your pool who has expressed cost sensitivity) represent an opportunity for you to demonstrate your school’s unique value proposition. But first you have to define it. From the perspective of the student and parent. Not yours!

I am willing to bet that you can list 20-plus outstanding attributes about your college right now. Reasons why someone should come to your school. If so, good job.

The problem is: the students and parents you are talking to are hearing the exact same thing from every other college they are considering. That is the bitter truth!

To differentiate your college you must pinpoint the attributes that are unique to your school.differentiate-yourself-from-the-crowd It’s not just what you have in the way of programs, facilities and people. It’s what your institution believes in. It’s the type of students your institution attracts. It’s the type of experience you offer that is unavailable anywhere else.

Try this exercise. It will bring focus to your ability to distinguish your institution from all others. Make a list of all of the things you say about your college and all of the reasons you think a student would find your school attractive. Now, look at each item on your list and ask yourself, “Are my prospective students hearing the same thing from any other college?” Be brutally honest.

If you think other colleges are likely to be saying the same thing that you’re saying about yourself, then cross it off your list. At the end of the exercise count how many items you have left.

We frequently do this exercise in our Interactive Counselor Training Workshops on college campuses all over the country. I can tell you that, in most cases, the big list of “reasons why to attend” gets whittled down to nothing. Then, we challenge the counselors to identify the beliefs, culture and characteristics that are genuinely special about their school.

By forcing yourself to go through this very introspective process you will have discovered what truly makes you exceptional among the many choices available to prospective students.

I guarantee that in many ways your college is truly distinctive. Identifying those attributes allows you to have focused and engaging conversations with the students in your pool.

At this stage of the cycle, every conversation should include a highly-personalized discussion of the value you provide, matching your college’s unique attributes to what is most interesting and exciting to that student. This is your opportunity to demonstrate how your value delivery outweighs your cost.

We help colleges and universities with their recruiting efforts every day, especially now during yield season. If I can help you, please let me know.

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_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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