While others may call out the 2nd Line “parade” and Dinner Lab as their 
favorite part of #Converge2015, I’d have to respectfully disagree. My favorite part was getting to meet and sit in on Dan Noonan’s session. Not only was he a dynamic and engaging speaker, he provided some directly actionable items for every admissions department across the country. No smoke and mirrors. Dan opened the doors (and Excel spreadsheet reports) to how he’s converting inbound leads into enrolled students.
13 ways to convert inbound leads from Dan’s presentation:
1. 80/20 – people will forget 80% of what you tell them, they will NEVER forget how you made them feel
2. Everything you do with admissions must have a metric to it – stop throwing money towards initiatives that you can’t prove that they work
3. Texting is the next big thing in recruitment
- The communication channels have changed. People aren’t emailing. Students are ignoring emails from people they care about. Why would they respond to your emails?
4. Ask students where they hang out and get there
5. Stay top of mind between inquiry and enrollment – don’t lose them to someone else while they’re waiting for you to get your shit together
6. Social media – Goodwin doesn’t get a lot of leads but it’s great for top of mind awareness
- Develop a like and follow policy
- Constantly state your competitive differentiation
7. 70/20/10
- 70% budget goes to workhorse initiatives
- 20% on what we believe will work
- 10% on flyers
8. Internet radio – was a flyer and is killing it for them
- Human brain can only interpret 1 audio message at a time – look at your students ears, they all have headphones in
9. Understand financial aid – 80% of his students apply for financial aid, so the financial aid process is crucial to their admissions success
- 29 minutes on average the time to fill out FAFSA
- 3:13 – average time on a website internet wide
10. The ISIR – Institutional Student Information Record
- They receive an ISIR every day – follow up on them – enroll more students
11. High touch is more important than high tech
12. Create an enrollment cancellation procedure
- Follow up via phone to figure out why they really cancelled and then solve their problems
13. Admissions is a 24/7 job – no great way to handle off hour follow up – you must follow up ASAP to see if the individual has questions, you don’t have to do work, you just have to show the applicant you’re willing to work to help them
Ready for more great information on what’s new and next in higher education? Reserve your spot at Converge 2017 in Palm Springs and save with early bird pricing.
