Date: January 2nd, 2007
Author: David Meierotto
3 Comments
In my Career College Central magazine article, I discussed a few “boulders” keeping career colleges from reaping the full benefits of contact centers. Another boulder I thought I’d save for my blog is … pride. We are sales people and we do not like others touching our leads. Many sales people have a “that’s mine” attitude, and our pride inevitably gets in the way and clouds our judgment.
I remember the first time a director asked the admissions staff to swap leads with other team members. I was furious! No way was anyone else going to touch my leads! I had been working too hard on these leads to have someone mess up the rapport. In all reality, a fresh new voice may have been all those leads needed to enroll.
Instead of looking at admissions support centers as an outside organization possibly messing with our leads, they should be viewed as members of the same team, working toward the same goal.
I sometimes feel the relationship we build with leads can be our downfall. In many cases, we have developed such a good relationship that our leads do not want to let us down by expressing their true feelings. This can cause reps to spend time working leads who don’t have the heart to say that they are no longer interested. This wastes both our time and that of the lead.
Adding a trained ASR to the process can alleviate this issue. Speaking to another friendly, knowledgeable voice representing the school can free that lead to be honest, both with themselves and with the school. It can also serve to increase the lead’s faith that the school is staffed with people who are genuinely interested in their success.
What we must keep in mind is that, though we try, directors and admissions reps cannot be everything to everyone. To get the job done in the best way possible, we have to set our pride aside and accept a little outside help. A fresh new voice, packed with energy and empathy like the ASRs at TASC, can give an admissions department an extra step toward meeting their enrollment goals.
David Meierotto is a corporate admissions trainer and admissions representative with significant experience in all realms of higher education. A former director of admissions, Meierotto is professionally committed to providing prospective students with vision and clients with quality leads.
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Date: August 30th, 2006
Author: David Meierotto
2 Comments
The famous first words ever spoken over the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell on March 10, 1876. Now, if Alexander Graham Bell had written a letter, it probably would not have had the same impact on the astonished Mr. Watson. Alexander Graham Bell created a revolutionary communications tool that would forever have a lasting impression on society. Can you imagine the enthusiasm he must have had in his voice and how quickly Mr. Watson probably came running? Now think about it. That was done over the phone! With that said, why do admissions reps shy away from the phone?
Nowadays, the thought of using the phone seem so foreign to many people. Many people want to e-mail to get their point across. Why, you may ask? For three reasons:
- E-mail has less emotional consequences. The admissions rep will not hear the dreaded “NO.” With e-mail, there is so much left unsaid, or the message is interpreted incorrectly. The only true way to clear up the confusions is to give the prospect a call.
- Everyone is so scared of the “Do Not Call Registry.” I do not believe the “DNC” is in place to prevent educational institutions from reaching out to their prospective students. Its true intent is to stop annoying phone calls from telemarketers who want to upgrade you to super duper titanium credit cards with low interest rates. As for admissions reps feeling they might offend someone, this really means they are scared and probably not going to ask the tough, probing questions that are needed.
- There is no escaping the facts. Admissions reps DO NOT like to make outbound phone calls and are apprehensive to do so. “I feel like a telemarketer” or “I feel like I am being pushy.” Does this sound familiar? This really means that they are scared and probably not going to ask the tough, probing questions that are needed. I have not met one rep who likes making phone calls and it does not matter how much pizza you try bribing them with; their opinion of outbound calling will not change.
My admissions experience started at a little private college in southeast Iowa called Iowa Wesleyan College. My Director of Admissions, Jim Lynes, whose mentor was John Klockentager, had a major impact on my ability to sell the college. Jim’s unflinching belief toward recruiting by use of the phone shaped my ability to be a top performing admissions counselor, coordinator, DOA, trainer and now Trainer/QA manager for Target Admissions Support Center (TASC). I have a firm belief that if you can get a hold of someone over the phone and create a rapport, half your work is done, and you now have a better chance to get them in for the all-so-important campus visit.
If you want to be sure your leads are being called and your reps are keeping busy, leave it to the professionals at Target Admissions Support Center. Whatever ideas you have of a call center, erase it from your mind. We are not a call center but an Admissions Support Center focused only on education. Our Admissions Support Representatives, ASRs, receive training by me personally to have the feel and passion of an admissions department.
We are able to work with your current database, new inquiries and even create solid quality leads based on your school’s specific demographics and warm transfer them directly to your admissions department. With our Predictive Dialer, we are able to make 2500 calls per hour. If that shocks you, did you know that in a manual dialing environment each employee spends over 70% of every hour being unproductive? Now think about – how much pizza do you have to buy to make 2500 phone calls?
If you would like to learn more please visit our web site at www.tascforce1.com.
David Meierotto is a corporate admissions trainer and admissions representative with significant experience in all realms of higher education. A former director of admissions, Meierotto is professionally committed to providing prospective students with vision and clients with quality leads.
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