Step 1 – Our Staff is Notified
We have staff on standby to assist your prospective students and inspire them to make an appointment.
The Appointment Experts’ staff is highly trained and tested to insure high appointment setting rates, high show rates, and most importantly, an extremely positive connection with the prospective student.
Our staff provides the skilled and caring guidance that bridges the barrier between your prospective student’s fears, and the next step they need to take to improve their lives: scheduling and showing up for a tour of your school.
Step 2 – Connection is Made
The instant a prospective student inquires about your school, The Appointment Experts call your prospective student back and creates an instant connection with them. We also offer each of your prospective students a live video chat which can create even more connection, inspiration and a high quality appointment for you.
The Appointment Experts has staff standing by to take the inquiry, and rather than call an hour later, or ten minutes later, or even one minute later, we call back instantly. The first big hole in most in admissions offices, where good leads are lost, is the time it takes to make a contact attempt. At best, an admissions advisor receives an email notification about a new lead, and dials within a minute of the lead’s generation. At worst, the admissions advisor is in a tour, or on the phone, or scheduled back to back for several hours, and the contact attempt is delayed.
Every second matters. Numerous studies have shown that a web inquiry that is responded to in less than a minute has a higher contact rate and even a higher enrollment rate than those contacted just a few minutes later. Once ten minutes have passed, the window has often closed, and the person who was exploring improving their life will lose the spark that inspired them to contact your school, and may never answer your calls. This doesn’t serve the school or the prospective student, who for a moment had a dream that they could leave their minimum wage job and start a fulfilling career.
Step 3 – We Set Appointment
We explore their motivations with the prospective student and motivate them to set an appointment with you. The key to effective admissions is the ability to connect in a meaningful human way with a prospective student, and provide them caring and supportive help. The Appointment Experts has a rigorous hiring and training process to insure that the people connecting with your students create the most helpful and positive impact, and leave them feeling excited and inspired by their possibilities. Not only should you see higher appointment setting rates, but higher show rates as well.
The better a prospective feels when they make the appointment, the more likely they are to keep it. The second biggest hole in most admissions processes is the quality of the initial contact. While most admissions advisors intend to be helpful, and are themselves inspired about your program, they often lack the tools to effectively connect with prospective students. They are often much more effective once the person comes to visit for a tour, as their skills and enthusiasm are a better match for this portion of the admissions process.
The Appointment Experts’ process has been developed over many years of analyzing every word of thousands of admissions calls, and considering the effect those communications have on prospective students. There is both an art and a science to providing service, and The Appointment Experts are continually exploring both. Every contact is recorded and reviewed, and staff training is ongoing.
Our goal is simple: our staff is committed, and feels deeply rewarded, by helping your prospective students fulfill their dreams and improve their lives.
Step 4 – Pre-Appointment Followup
We use an optimized leading edge system that includes scheduled phone calls, live video chat, video texts, voice mails, texts, personalized video emails and email campaigns.
The Appointment Experts’ process minimizes the number of leads that are not immediately contacted. It also minimizes the number of contacts that fail to create an appointment. Yet there will be some leads that fail to respond to the initial contact attempt, or who fail to set an appointment after doing so.
The Appointment Experts continue systematic and inspired followup with all leads until either an appointment is set, or the prospective student opts out.
The third hole in most admissions processes is in pre-appointment followup. Most admissions departments are understandably focused on the fresh leads and the excited people they have already spoken with. The folks who hedged about appointment setting are often a low priority, and the pool of leads that has never been contacted is even lower. Yet their are people in this group who will take the necessary step to change their lives, if contact is maintained and they can be appropriately inspired.
Since every lost lead is potentially a lost student, The Appointment Experts’ process insures that no lead falls through the cracks.
Step 5 – Post-Appointment Followup
We introduce your prospective student to your staff with a video email, we make an affirmation call the day before the tour, and we send a text reminder the day of the tour. It is human nature that enthusiasm will wane if it is not fed.
When an appointment is made, our staff promise several additional contacts to prepare for the tour. When these contacts are made, the prospective student is re-inspiredabout your school, and they also notice that the school is accountable – they were given what they were promised.
The fourth hole in most admissions processes is the lack of pre-appointment followup. When a tour is scheduled for more than two one ahead (and especially when it is scheduled for the following week), continued contact before the tour is critical.
When The Appointment Experts’ staff set an appointment, the prospective student is told that they will be sent a video introduction to the person they will be meeting with. Depending on the time frame, they may be also told to expect a short 3 minute call from the person they will be meeting with, just as an introduction.
Affirmation calls and texts increase show rates, and since they are the fulfillment of a promise, demonstrate professionalism and accountability.
Step 6 – Post-Tour Surveys
Once the tour occurs, you can request that The Appointment Experts survey the prospective student about their intentions and their experience with your staff.
These surveys can be scheduled at your request on a percentage of the tours, or on a particular tour you are interested in.
Feedback is crucial to identifying opportunities for improvement. The feedback you receive about the experience of your prospective students during their visit with your school can help you tweak your process.
Ultimately, start rates from tours are the result of tweaks to the post tour process your school employs, and the experience of the prospective students you meet with.