Day 2 Insight - Noel-Levitz 2009 Conference

Two down, one to go at the 2009 Noel Levitz National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing, and Retention.

I have write-ups on sessions by Indiana Wesleyan's Daniel Solms on the topic of relationship building , and Craig Engel from Noel-Levitz on the fundamental recruitment mistakes made by graduate and professional programs.

Getting Back to Basics: Reaching Enrollment Goals Through Relationship Building- Daniel Solms, Indiana Wesleyan University

“The more elaborate our means of communication the less we communicate”
 Joseph Priestly, 1800’s

In one of the most interesting sessions of the conference, Daniel Solms, director of admissions at Indiana Wesleyan University got back to basics. Relationship building is the core competency of college admission offices, and despite the tools and technologies, human beings want to connect personally with others.

Students’ base their enrollment decisions on relationships and comfort – how they fit and see themselves on your campus. Be practical: get them in the funnel; get to know them; get them on campus; and get them connected to your campus community. Prepare to share stories of your campus.

IWU follows four guiding principles for recruitment:

1. Strike a good balance between messages about your institution and learning about students
2. Be personal
3. Be sincere
4. Communicate as they communicate

What are some successful strategies they employ for prospective student recruitment?

   1. Travel
        * Catered high school lunch visits for admitted students
        * Starbuck nights – meet-ups with prospective students
        * Family visits
   2. Phone
        * Prepare staff to make effective phone calls (talking points)
        * Implement tickler calendar for follow-up
        * Make calls to follow-up from a mailing or email
        * Treat parents like more than a messaging service
   3. Social networking
        * Create ways for the students to engage with each other
        * Demonstrate community – photo contest
   4. Campus Visit Tools
        * Decision cards
        * Take notes and follow-through 

With the current interest in social media and other technologies to connect online, it's nice to see an enrollment manager embrace an admissions core competency.

Ten (12) Fundamentals for Graduate/Professional Recruitment Programs - Craig Engel, Noel-Levitz

In one of the first sessions of the day, Noel-Levitz’s Craig Engel presented on the 12 fundamental

Recruitment mistakes made by graduate and professional programs. The session was actually entitle 10 fundamentals in the program, however Craig threw in some bonus mistakes.

Graduate students, on average in their mid-30’s take a leap of faith when pursuing advanced education. Colleges and universities shouldn’t leave these enrollments to chance. Instead careful planning, focusing on recruitment and recruitment marketing, and engaging leadership and faculty are foundational.

Mistake 1: Little influence from the ‘top’ (Provost)

Successful graduate and professional program recruitment starts with enrollment leadership. Clear goals, accountability, and a directive that recruitment is an essential function of faculty are essential.

Mistake 2: Decentralized recruitment

How do you centralize, a decentralized process? Graduate and professional programs have many recruitment arms, may provide inadequate training among those who are in contact with prospective students, and execute little follow-up at all stages of the enrollment funnel.

Mistake 3: Desire to shape the class, not grow the class

Faculty may argue quality over quantity. At one institution, the provost issued a directive to support the growth of the university. When faculty pushed back about the need for more resources, the provost responded by saying he had 3 million dollars. The money will go to programs that are growing.

Mistake 4: Virtually ignore the top of the funnel

In higher education enrollment, colleges and universities have a unique ability to model the student pipeline from initial interest to enrollment.  Build your funnel through four primary means: solicitation (e.g. advertising, list purchase), referrals, travel, and self-initiated student contact. All inquiries should be inputted into a central database, with an initial date and source of the inquiry. Be sure to track multiple contacts.

Mistake 5: Inadequate database to track all funnel activities

Graduate and professional programs have non-existent or multiple databases. Understanding and training across the organization is typically uneven across the many outreach arms and contact points.

Mistake 6: Don’t have an annual recruitment plan

A written annual recruitment plan provides transparency to the institution’s current enrollment

situation, historical data, goal setting, strategies, and action plans.

Mistake 7: Very little personal relationship building

Graduate and professional education programs haven’t historically valued the role of recruitment. Personalized and segmented communication is required.

Mistake 8: No communication management

There is little thought into the make-up and timing of the communication flow to ensure prospective students getsinformation in order to make an informed decision. Often there is too little communication, if any and follow-up at the department level is inconsistent.

Mistake 9: No qualification or grading of the student pool

Prospective students are treated the same regardless of their – or your institution’s level of interest. Qualifying is assigning a numerical value to the student’s level of interest in your institution. Grading represents your interest in the student.

Mistake 10: No plans to attract out-of-state or international students

There is no planning to shape or enrich the class with out-of-state or international students.

Mistake 11: Unsuccessful coordination of faculty/graduate directors

Planning should occur in concert with the department with clear delineation of responsibilities of what the department will do versus the graduate admissions office.

Mistake 12: Ineffective use of scholarships and financial aid

There is a pervasive myth that all graduate students must be funded. Look at the data to verify these claims. The financial aid office may lack the expertise to support the needs of graduate students and the institution may offer little institutional aid outside of assistantships. Applying financial aid leveraging concepts can produce greater enrollment results with limited financial aid dollars.