Great approach Cindy! How have the birthday cards impacted your ability to connect with your students?
Dr. Jean Norris
Some of the best practices are sending mail,email and flyers. One thing that works for me the most is sending birthday cards to the student and to their children.
These are great practices Iza. How have your students responded to these methods?
Some of the best follow-up practices I have with prospective students is to do a 24 hour call to see how everything is going. Another one is to send them immediately after enrolling a congratulatory hand written note following with a congratulatory e-mail or text message. It is critical to use all tools necessary to remind our prospective students that we are supporting them 100%.
I always call the students the day after they enroll to congratulate them once again and see if they have any questions. Then I usually follow-up with them weekly. I also send them a letter about orienation and give them a t-shirt. This way we know what is going on with the student and if there are any challenges that have developed since they have enrolled so we can address them before they become a larger issue.
Each prospective student approaches their inquiry to your school at a different place in their research or decision process. Some prospective students are ready to go and others are not. By establishing solid next steps with every student and checking in with them periodically you can partner with the them in their process. Thank you for your post!
following up with students is essential so you don't lose touch with them. I have had students that weren't quite ready to enroll decide to later because I kept in touch with them periodically.
The thank you and congratulations cards are a nice touch! How do your students typically respond to receiving the correspondences?
We like to send thank you cards or congratulations cards for coming in within 24 hours. We will also call and then we follow up a minimum of once per week to see how they are, if anything has changed, and to check in.
I think staying organized and taking good notes helps when following up with students. That way I know what needs to be discussed beforehand. That way I can focus on any new concerns or questions that have come up with since our last conversation. Once their concerns have been addressed I let them know what the next steps are at the end. Staying organized helps me remember what I need to cover.
I like your idea of specifically asking if they discussed school with important people in their life- support is so important and cannot be underestimated! Attending school is hard, and goes beyond that first decision to get started. It takes years and a lot of sacrifice and commitment.
It is important to stay in contact with my students so that they I can help keep them on track. It also allows me to uncover new challenges as they occur. This could make the difference between losing a student and having them move to a later start date.
I fallow up with a student at least three times a week and more if I get permission from the student. I try to be respectful of the student’s time and schedule. It is very effective because it looks like the student is in control.
Calling the student up and re-establishing rapport and checking there pulse on attending school.
Talking with the student again about theire vision and goals once they have finished their education.
The best way to follow- up with your prospective student is to first find out a way to best contact them and know thier schedule of availabilty. This has impacted my results immensely because we avoid playing phone tag, I am able to make direct contact.
I follow up by letting them know when I receive their application paperwork, transcripts and ask about scheduling their interviews. I send them textbook lists and schedules by email and reminders for orientation. I stay in touch with where they are in the process, inviting them to Open House and free seminars we offer. I use both email, phone and letters. This has helped me maintain contact, some students have thanked me for thinking about them and staying in touch.
Catherine, that's great news and it sounds like your students appreciate the time you are taking to respond to their needs. Great job.
Dr. Jean Norris
Our school is online so the preferred method of contact by most students is by e mail messages. We also use phone contacts with students or potential students to follow-up and discuss any continuing challenges. During the courses, students have the opportunity to connect with our school adviser. If a challenge occurs while they are taking the course (i.e., medical or family emergencies), we continue to remain in contact with the student. We check in to see what options the student is using to resolve the issue. The impact has been very positive. Our students have praised us for demonstrating care and concern for their needs.
Renee, thanks for sharing. It sounds like when you call people back you also find an event that would interest the student to make sure they know about it. That's a great way to keep them engaged.
Dr. Jean Norris
We also follow up with phone calls and ask them if they have any more questions we can answer for them. We also remind them of any opportunity that is coming up in which they could take advantage of etc.
