Danielle, thanks for sharing your process with us. It sounds like the group has everything dialed in. I wonder, is there anything that you might change?
Dr. Jean Norris
All of our incoming calls come directly to the receptionist which are then transferred to admissions or financial aid, depending on what the student has called for, I answer any questions they have right away, but i always encourage the caller to make an appointment to go over everything in person. If they are new to the school, I enter their info in our system, if they have inquired before i make sure we have their current info in our system.
Jena, that seems like a great process. How has it worked in the past?
Dr. Jean Norris
Jean-Max, great! I am glad that has helped. Is there anything else you plan to try?
Dr. Jean Norris
I tried the smiling technique while talking, It has helped a lot promoting my school.
Currently, our inbound calls are answered by 80% myself. The remaining 15% are answered by our representatives and the last 5% are answered by first-available. After the call is answered by me, I find out who they are and what they are inquiring about. If they are a first time caller, I add them to our system and then route the call to the appropriate representative. If they have called before, I find out which representative they have been speaking with (since the rapport has already been built), and then transfer them to that person.
Our inbound call process for when a prospective student calls in, is that it is first answered by the front desk, the front desk answers the phone quickly, effectivly, with a smile, and speaking slowly and clearly so the caller on the other line can understand and hear the front desk. Once the front desk has taken down the name, city of which caller is calling from, their phone number,and source of how they heard from us (marketing). Once the front desk has taken the information it is then sent over to the admissions department to set up an appointment with the caller.
We can improve this process by making sure that we get the correct spelling of the callers name and source for our marketing department.
Deborah, thanks for sharing your process. It looks like you like to build rapport with the student by finding a mutual interest. I like that you have identified some improvements and things to work on. Let us know how that works out.
Dr. Jean Norris
Currently: I generally say Hello and then say "you are interested in Massage Therapy, Great". Tell me what is it about massage that interests you. I try to gear the person also to personal interest or listen for children in the background and comment. I steer away from giving to much program information on the phone. If the person connects with you it is more likely they will show for appoinment just to meet you.
Improvements: to remember to slow down, I tend to go to talk to fast.
Chris, interesting point. It sounds like you have a plan to move forward. Keep us posted with how the call log works for your process.
Dr. Jean Norris
I believe for the most part our call-in make it to the school at that point that information is logged. I fell it would be a good idea to use a call log to monitor the flow/times of call and interests.
Diane, thank you for sharing your experience here. It sounds like you already have plan in place to make sure all messages are returned in a timely matter. Keep up the good work.
Dr. Jean Norris
We are a small 3 person office. We have 1 line for phone calls and we have someone answering each call. We demonstrate a very comfortable, personal attitude toward our students and get positive feedback from this.
One improvement that we strive to make is returning calls promptly. We are contantly making improvements to ensure we return calls as soon as possible
Audra, interesting point. It sounds like you have thought this through and want to improve the process for efficiency and to increase customer service. Tell me, what are the next steps you will need to take in order to implement this plan?
Dr. Jean Norris
Our inbound call process is simple. The callers can call our direct line or an 800 number which will route them to the appropriate campus.
There are two front desk representatives who answer these calls. I would like to see the system change from the front desk screening, to the callers having the option to select who they transfer to.
Since the front desk cannot answer financial aide related questions, I feel time can be saved and other callers assisted if financial aid or specific admissions questions went straight to the proper person.
Tien, thanks for sharing this. It looks like you have been working already on a plan to improve the call process. Keep up the good work.
Dr. Jean Norris
We are a small insitute so I am the only one receiving all incoming calls. I am the Receptionist/Admin Assist at the location that I work at.
When we have an incoming call I am the one who will answer the call. I usually screen all calls first by asking for their name, ask why they are calling, take down some information if they are a new inquiry and transfer them to the respective person that they are looking for.
The number one improvement that I will like to see is our voicemail messaging system. When we get a call it bounces from one phone to another and we never get the voicemail or for some reason we get it days later. That is something I've been trying to get fixed but it's taking a while.
Sarah, thank you for sharing your process. It sounds like you have some new ideas and tools to help you make a connection with others on the phone. Keep us posted to your progress.
Dr. Jean Norris
Currently our inbound calls go through our front desk and are all directed to me. We have an online call log program that helps us keep notes on each person we speak with and when they call. Currently my focus is to sign potential students up for a campus tour, however I want to try focus on the use of the different areas for gathering information before actually making the appointment. This would allow the other Admissions Representatives to prepare for the students tour before they meet with the student instead of gathering all of information on the spot. I never considered asking about their "buying committee" but it would help make them feel more at ease with their decision knowing that we want to include the people they are discussing it with.
Chris, this sounds like a great plan! Please keep us informed as to your progress.
Dr. Jean Norris
