Archive for November, 2014

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.

CounselorTrainingSeries270x150By 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.http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-four-image2632063

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.]

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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 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. – See more at: https://www.longmire-co.com/HigherEdBlog/#sthash.Sg5bOkJf.dpuf
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. – See more at: https://www.longmire-co.com/HigherEdBlog/#sthash.Sg5bOkJf.dpuf

Facts Tell, Emotions Sell

November 3rd, 2014

Think about the last time you purchased something that you knew was too expensive or frivolous but you bought it anyway. I’m talking about something that was a discretionary expense. Maybe it was a pair of expensive shoes, or a digital camera, or a new car when your current car ran just fine.

StudentWithHeartSign270x270You may have done quite a bit of research on the item you wanted to buy and you most likely came up with perfectly rational reasons why you needed it.

But the act of pulling out your wallet or signing on the dotted line was motivated by your desire to have it.

You acted on emotion.

The facts, as you perceived them, simply supported your desire.

Facts tell, emotions sell.

And therein lies a lesson for college admission counselors. In fact, in our recent co-sponsored study on the college selection process, we found that a student’s excitement about attending a particular college outweighed other key factors, such as cost and perceived quality of the institution, by a ratio of 2-1.

When prospective students are searching for a college and talking to admission counselors they ask a lot of questions. They need information. They need to know about programs, costs, opportunities and time frames. They need facts.

The facts, however, won’t generate excitement.

The attraction to the school will come from elsewhere. It may come from a sense of community that they felt on a campus visit.

Or it may come from an encounter they had with a professor or another student.

Or it may come from an affinity they developed with your college when their brother or sister attended.

Ultimately, the student will have an emotional attachment to your college that transcends anything factual.

That’s why it’s so important that we appeal to prospective students on an emotional level in addition to providing the necessary factual information.

They need more than facts and information from us.

As counselors we need to show them what their lives are going to be like as students on our campus and in our community.

When we talk to a prospective student, our job is to spark their excitement – to engage their emotional commitment to our college.

When we do that effectively, we become that new pair of shoes, that digital camera, or that new car they just have to have. We’ll be able to give them what they need and, more importantly, give them what they want.

For more information about how you can create greater excitement among your prospective students, click here.

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.