By Jeremy Tiers, Senior Director of Admissions Services
1 minute read
You want to find out why a senior who seemed really excited and engaged at a recent college fair or high school visit hasn’t started their application.
The common way I see admissions counselors and enrollment marketers approach this is to send an email that says, “What questions do you have?” Or, “Is there anything I can answer for you?”
Both usually get no response or the same response that we give the server at a restaurant who has done an average job of taking care of our table: “We’re fine.” We don’t want to hurt their feelings, we don’t want to get into a big discussion about why we feel the way we do…we just want to pay our check and leave.
Prospective students avoid like we avoid – it’s normal human nature. But, it’s important you uncover what concern has developed or what’s holding them back if you’re going to persuade them it’s worth taking the next step.
Here’s what I want you to do. Ask a more direct question that gets students to picture what they’re thinking and then describe it to you. Let me give you two examples:
- Instead of asking, “Can I get you more information on anything?”, ask, “<First or Preferred Name>, what are you still trying to figure out about us when you imagine yourself being a student here?” That phrasing takes you inside their head, and gives you a picture of what they’re visualizing.
- Instead of asking, “Are we still one of your top choices?”, ask, “If you were going to decide not to apply here, what do you see being the #1 reason why we wouldn’t be a good fit?” Again, that gets them to picture it, and then relay those images to you.
You can apply this simple concept to almost any aspect of communication with prospective students or parents and it will give you better insight into what they’re really thinking, and how they really feel.
If you’d like to talk more about something I said I’m happy to connect. Simply reply back, or email me here.
And if you found this article helpful, forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it.