leave your # twice. I personally hate when they only leave it once--I can never write it down fast enough and then I have to listen to the whole vm again. frustrating. I typically just delete it and don't call back. Sometimes for our students, not leaving a message at all will peak their curiosity--- esp with cell phones and caller ID. They will see a #/missed call and just call back to see who called and why.
Thanks for sharing your ideas, Jason! It sounds like this would be a great place to start practicing. Good luck.
Practice helps in so many ways. Best of luck as you move forward and implement new techniques in your call backs, Jason.
Possibly include that this is a great chance at an education that could change their life in a positive way. Having a skill is value that you can have for life.
This is something that i will have to practice.
That is one way to create urgency for your students, Jason. Deadlines can certainly be a call to action for some individuals. What are some other ways that you might create urgency besides using enrollment and financial aid deadlines?
Glad you found the suggestions helpful, Jason. I'm curious, what might you do moving forward to arouse the student's curiousity in your voicemails?
One method on the module that I have used, would be the urgency.
When i leave a voice mail, we are always at the deadline for enrollment or aid.
Arousing Curiosity, by asking questions in the voice mail. and Mixing it up.
Theses are two things that i never thought to do myself, seems so simple. And a great way to get the student to want to call you back.
Great Ideas.
well me for example i would say: Hi this is "" calling from "" I have great news for you please call me back, as spaces are getting filled up quickly and i know you would be an excellent candidate so please call me at "" when you get this message
These are both great ways to incorporate creativity into your calls. I also get the sense that you take your audience into consideration too. Great practice, Jason.
Enthusiasm and Humor seem to work well...Especially with High School students.
Hi Dr. Norris,
I think it is important to deliver an enthusiastic message that brings a call of action, intrigues the prospect and refers them to calling you back. I like the interjection of saying I have good news to share with you about some recent scholarship announcements, as this usually illicits a response.
It sounds like you do your best to assist in clarifying information for your students to lessen the chance of confusion or miscommunication. I get the sense that you're very thoughtful in the approach you take with your students. Way to go!
I only leave out information that may confuse the student. I try to address the issue voiced on the mssage, in order to addres the concern or question as a priority. It also helps to focus on one question or concern at a time.
Interesting approach, Jeremy. Can I ask you a question, how do you know what information to leave out of the voicemail to get the student to call you back?
Some creative ways to get people to call us back is to leave some information out of the voicemail, otherwise they will not see the need to get back to us. Also, give them bits of interesting information to make them want to call us backto hear more information about what we spoke about on the voice mail message.
Great observation, Alia. What are some of your examples of voicemails with the right tone and wording?
I believe that an effective voicemail has to combine the right tone and wording. The tone must be positve and upbeat even if it is at the end of the day and after a few rejections. As for the wording, I believe it should be brief and to the point. No one wants to listen to a long drawn out voicemail especially if it sounds like a robot.
These are interesting examples for injecting creativity into your messages, Patricia. How do your students typically respond to messages that incorporate mention of scholarships or "good news" and how is it different from other messages that you leave?
