2 Big Mistakes I Want You To Avoid

As you start communicating with this next class of students I thought it would be helpful to highlight two common mistakes I continue to see a lot of admissions counselors, enrollment marketers, and student tour guides make.  

1. Don’t tell new inquiries to sign up for a visit or apply in your first communication. It comes across as salesy, pushy, and disingenuous. Would you ask someone to marry you on a first date? You could, but you’re probably not going to get the answer you’re hoping for. Scheduling a campus visit is a big step that takes discussion and planning not only by the student, but also their parents or guardians. Same thing goes when it comes to applying. It’s a big step that for most students involves a process. In your early messaging focus on learning more about a student’s interests, wants, goals, and dreams – focus on building a personal relationship because students are looking for connections.

   
   

2. Don’t rely too much on scripts. That rule especially applies to all aspects of your campus visit as well as high school visits and college fairs. Students say that repeating something you’ve simply memorized is annoying and inauthentic… which then makes building trust and rapport, and keeping their attention, more difficult. Sounding ‘perfect’ shouldn’t be your goal. That’s unrealistic and putting way too much pressure on yourself. Remember, the other person has no idea what you’re going to say. Focus more on sounding relaxed, relatable, and helpful. We all sound a little wordy from time to time and that’s okay.

   
   

If you found this article helpful, go ahead and forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it. You can also encourage them to sign up for my weekly newsletter.