By Jeremy Tiers, Vice President of Admissions Services
1 minute read
I’ve explained in previous articles that casual questions lead to better responses.
Here’s another communication secret when it comes to increasing your chances for a response from students. It’s a strategy that I continue to see very few admissions counselors utilize:
Ask them what they don’t want, and what kinds of colleges are wrong for them.
“Negative questions” are some of the best questions you can ask students. As humans it’s much easier for us to talk about what we don’t want or why we don’t like something. You’re likely to get a way more honest answer.
Even though a lot of suspects, prospects, and inquiries aren’t 100% sure what their ideal college or university looks like, many have a much clearer idea on what the wrong fit looks like. If you can get that defined, and have a discussion around it, you’re going to find that you’ll stumble into the information that you’re looking for, which is (by default) what size of school, location, type of academic environment, and what kind of community and atmosphere is right for them.
So, instead of asking, “What are you looking for in a college?”, ask, “At this point, what kind of college environment/location do you see being completely wrong for you?”
Implement this strategy and you’ll find it’s going to add a whole new dimension to your recruiting conversations.
Want to talk more about something I said in this article? Reply to this email and we’ll start a conversation together.
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