follow up call
what will be the proper time frame to follow up with a student if they still interested in the classes or courses from previous visit?
Thank you, Maria!
This sounds like a good way to reach today's prospective students. It's true that most of them are extremely busy - raising families, working, possibly caring for a parent. Adapting our communication to their schedules is key to effective follow-up. Keep up the great work!
Dr. Jean Norris
call the student in the evening that is the best time to call or leave messages, some students work nights. for me that works best, the student most of the time calls me back or sends me emails. I usually schedule them with an appointment on my late days.
Mandy,
You are most welcome! I'm curious, are you leaving the same message each time?
Elizabeth Wheeler
I try again. And again! I'll attempt to contact them at different times of day/different days of the week. Thanks again for your feedback!
Mandy, Excellent! Doing what you say you are going to do is such great customer service. Follow-up is most of the battle! What happens when you don't hear back from a student that you left a voicemail for, as well as sent an email?
Dr. Jean Norris
We have recently started stating at the end of a meeting the timeframe in which we will be following up w/ the student.
This not only lets them know we will be checking in within a particular timeframe, but also shows them when we say we're going to follow up, we do.
If I need to leave a voicemail for a student who has expressed interest in the past, I will immediately follow up with an email. Sometimes that can be an effective way to connect, too!
Holly,
Can you share some more details on your follow up?
Dr. Jean Norris
If I met with the prospective student, I typically follow up with them within the next 2 days.
Sabrina, Great question! I admire your tenacity and dedication! You bring up a key point- that student's are busy with their lives, and might be distracted. Knowing that piece of information, what is something you can say on voicemail that might entice them to call you back?
Dr. Jean Norris
Dr. Norris,
I want to take this topic and go in a slightly different direction. I am relatively new in Admissions and have a question regarding follow up calls. Here is the situation I have.
I have two people I am following up with after meeting with them and going over the program who claim they are interested and want to enroll. It has been about two months since our initial meeting and even though I have spoken with them one time and they claim to want to enroll, they have not made an appointment to come in do so. I have contacted them multiple times since then, telling them class sizes are limited and have the potential to fill up, but I am not hearing back. I am not sure what else I can say to create urgency in them to come or to have them call me back.
I do not want to stop contacting them as I have had other people enroll after following up with them for an extended period of time. They just needed time to think about things or had the busyness of life distract them and were grateful for my call.
However, there is only so much I can do. Is there a good final follow up call to make?
Thank you for your insight.
With each person having a different situation and not knowing how you establish your next steps, it's difficult to say. What I can offer is the suggestion to set a specific date and time to follow up with every person you talk to. There is a great difference between 'I'll give you a call sometime tomorrow' and 'What time are you available for a quick check-in call tomorrow to answer any additional questions that may come up while talking to your spouse?' Taking the time to build rapport and understand your prospective students can give you a lot of great information to utilize during your follow-up calls and messages. I'll open this up to the forum for other suggestions too.
Dr. Jean Norris
In my first voicemail I usually say I am giving them the courtesy phone call, that we set up when we met, to see how they (student and support system) were feeling and what the decision made is. I leave my contact information so they can get back to me. After several calls, with no answer, I try to sound a little more urgent by stating that we are holding a spot in the program for them in the start date. I tell them that we need to have confirmation if they are starting class or not for the semester and ask them to call me back. Do you feel it would be more affective if I was more urgent on the first phone message instead of after several attempts?
Establishing next steps including a specific date and time to follow up with every prospective student is a great practice. This practice typically increases your chance of future contact though as you pointed out, doesn't ensure that they will answer the call. What is your typical voice mail message when this occurs?
Dr. Jean Norris
For me, the proper time frame follow up depends on the individual. For instance, the prospective student goes through the whole enrollment process, but does not sign the registration form because they have to talk to their spouse (who might not have been able to come to the interview). I make a follow up call appointment on my calendar with them before they leave. I find it hard though, when you cannot get ahold of them for a response, after several attempts.
So if I'm understanding this correctly, you follow up the same day as the appointment to extend your appreciation for the visit and then again 2 weeks after the appointment? Do you set a specific date and time to follow up with the prospective student?
Dr. Jean Norris
Follow up call for me will be 2 weeks but being appreciative of their fist visit will be the same day.
Thank you for the clarification. One of the best practices we observe during our campus assessments (mystery shops) is to set a specific date and time to follow up with the prospective student at the end of every campus visit or phone call. By establishing next steps during the campus visit, the phone call to follow up will be quite natural.
once they have visited the campus and hey were interested but for any given reason they haven't decided in what will be the best for them
Yamileth,
I guess I need a little more information. Is this after you have conducted a campus visit or interview call? Did they at some point say they were interested? And I would also like to know what you think the best practice is based on your experience?
