| MAXIMIZING ADMISSIONS TELEPHONE EFFECTIVENESS Sean Leffingwell sean_leffingwell@hotmail.24 Integrated Enrollment Solutions |
December 2004
Build and Begin the Relationship. A successful admissions representative’s first objective is to quickly build a relationship with the prospective student. For an admissions representative to personalize their follow-up, is helpful to gain much more personal information than simply name, address, and phone number. To enable your admissions team to accomplish this, you need to identify what information is needed to begin this process and then set up processes to consistently collect and utilize that data.
The type of information collected can vary greatly, but the more personal, the better. Standard categories usually include identifying the student’s career interest, goals, potential barriers to success and their expected start date. If they are an adult student, you will want to know as quickly as possible if they have attended college previously and if so where and when. It is amazing the type of information that can be collected if the representative is skilled at asking probing questions. Prospective students will often tell you much more than you originally asked. All of this information should be collected and stored in an accessible way to make future interaction as personal as possible.
How to say “Trust Me”. Telephone communication skills are critical for an admissions representative’s success. There are some simple rules to follow relating to ‘how’ to effectively communicate that are used when training and coaching admissions teams.
Introductions over the phone should be bright and brief. They also need to clearly communicate a summary of the purpose of the call. For example, “Good afternoon, Susan. Thank you for your interest in City College – my name is Sean and I’d like to talk with you about your career and educational goals."
Smile – it ‘shows’ through the phone and makes a difference!
Mirror the Prospect – the representative’s tone of voice should be consistent with the prospect. This will make the prospective student feel more comfortable and begin to build rapport. People engaged in communication with another will often do this naturally. An effective way to build excitement is for your representative to begin the conversation at a similar level and tone as their prospect, gradually adding energy. This engages the prospect in reciprocating and results in a more enthused prospect.
| "Use scripts for training ...then put them on the shelf." | Be Genuine. There is a lot to be said about using a phone script. It will add consistency in messaging and provide a suggested ‘flow’ to the conversation. Scripts are a great way to teach a representative what to say and ask. However, they often are counterproductive in maximizing the representative’s potential of personalizing the conversation and often inhibit how it is received by the prospect. My advice, use them for training and retraining the “what” should be said and then put them on the shelf. The foundation of any relationship is gaining trust. By using the recommendations above, your message will be warm, friendly, received with more comfort and naturally more personal – all key ingredients to achieving the goal of gained trust. |
Prospective Students Want to Hear Their Story. Prospective students are inquiring because they have a goal in mind. Today’s prospective students are much more savvy shoppers and their service expectations are much higher than in previous years. They want the representative’s main goal to understand their needs. This requires active listening. Unfortunately, most admissions personnel much prefer talking! Admissions representatives need to maintain control to be effective, yet need to insure they listen and understand the needs of the prospective student. Furthermore, as a potential student they want to hear their story versus hearing your college’s story or simply a ‘laundry list’ of services or program offerings.
Tell Them How You Can Help. Once the representative has created a level of comfort, began to build rapport, and listened to the prospects needs and goals, they are ready to start providing information on how your college can help the prospect achieve their goals. All talented admissions staff know there are some ‘basics’ which should be followed in providing college information over the phone, these include:
•Summarize program/product features and benefits.
•Build to your “close” via trial-closes and affirmations.
•Maintain control, yet allow the prospect to continue to give feedback, ask questions, and provide information.
•If the prospect is hesitant to talk – probing statements that begin with statements such as “talk to me about…” can be effective. Representatives should be disciplined enough to not fill the gaps in conversation by simply reciting information.
•Restate the prospects needs, potential obstacles, and that confirm you’re interested in assisting the prospect.
Effective Voicemail Messages will Grab Attention and Pique Interest. Reaching prospective students at home is always a challenge, but especially during the busy holiday season. Its amazes me that so few admissions training programs include a component addressing the topic of effective messages. The result can often lead to dismal attempts of communication which many times are more counterproductive and destructive.
An effective voicemail message will capture the recipient’s attention and pique interest to generate a response (a returned call). The difficulty with leaving such a message is, at this stage of the relationship, a representative does not have enough information to make it personal, unless you begin collecting and utilizing more information at the initial contact stage, attempts to make it personal is not effective.
Quick tips of leaving an effective voicemail message are:
Provide a Fact and Provoke Feeling. This can be accomplished by including information on career outlooks, news and/or statistics.
Sometimes, less is more. Leave a message that intrigues them to respond by creating some suspense.
ALWAYS conclude with confidence!
Telephone skills are an essential part of effective admissions work. Consistent and regular training needs to be provided for even the most experienced representative to ensure effect use of the information collected.
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