Author's Posts

What Are the Components of a Strategic Enrollment Management Plan? (plus free SEM plan template download!)

by Drew Griffin

"He who fails to plan is planning to fail," Winston Churchill famously said. While he was speaking about war plans in World War II, his words of wisdom hold true for contemporary enrollment management. 

Having a strategic enrollment management plan for your institution means you’re more likely to succeed in establishing priorities, combatting uncertainty, and achieving your student enrollment goals. We know, though, it’s not always easy to create a plan from scratch. 

This article walks you through creating the plan step-by-step, and you can download a free strategic enrollment management plan template to customize

Use the information in this article and the free template to create and communicate guiding principles and priorities for the next two to five years.

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Topics: Enrollment Builders Tool Box, Enrollment Management 101

Why You Need a Higher-Ed-Focused Call Center to Help With Enrollment

by Drew Griffin

There’s no shortage of leads coming to your higher ed admissions department every day, but your team still struggles to grow new student enrollment. 

They are overwhelmed and stressed. There’s overall dissatisfaction among your employees, which looks like high turnover or counselors with decades of seniority who now function as little more than seat warmers. They dislike being on the phone all day, making and answering calls.

They say they’re being asked to do work they weren’t hired to do. They’re bored, resentful, and desperately want the bandwidth to do the work they’re passionate about: counseling potential students and leading them to enrollment. 

You’re not sure what to do next or where to turn.

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Topics: Working With an Enrollment Management Partner

4 Ways to Create More Collaboration Between Admissions and Marketing

by Drew Griffin

“When enrollment is up, praise marketing. When enrollment is down, blame admissions.” 

If you’ve heard this quip on your higher ed campus, chances are there is a strained relationship between those two offices. At most colleges and universities, the admissions office and marketing department are separate, having two distinct functions. 

The main goal of the marketing office is to generate awareness and interest for the institution’s brand. The focus of the admissions office is to engage with prospective students and cultivate those relationships throughout the recruitment and enrollment process. 

Some institutions have worked to correct this problem of division, either establishing a recruitment marketing function within the enrollment management division, or having the vice president oversee both enrollment and marketing. However, even with this setup, there can still be friction between the two offices. 

In order to hit new student enrollment goals, though, your higher ed institution needs both departments functioning optimally and working together. 

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Topics: Enrollment Management 101

Ignoring Your Enrollment Problems is a Costly Mistake

by Drew Griffin

You’re working hard to lift enrollment numbers. You’ve identified the problems in your admissions process, and you’re ready to work with a partner who can help you. 

You’ve built excitement around a solution but are shot down when you seek purchase approval: “That’s too expensive! Can’t we do this in-house?” 

Maybe you’ve heard this before from leadership

How can you convince your leadership that change is necessary?

You can hope that you are able to do enough without investing in additional resources. 

But, hope is not an enrollment strategy.

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Topics: Enrollment Management 101

What is a Contact Center Cadence and Why Should I Care?

by Drew Griffin

Institutions have thousands of leads and wonder why they don’t turn into students. The answer is that the institution doesn’t build a relationship with each lead. Colleges and universities flood prospects with email, one-off calls, and print pieces designed to inform the prospect about the institution. When there’s no consistent, systematic approach to building a relationship with those prospects, then the “relationship” that’s built is simply transactional (e.g., Apply Now! Complete your FAFSA!). Think about it. In your regular life, that me-centered approach is not how you get a date. It’s not how you make a friend. How does it make sense, then, for one-way, transactional communication to create enrollments? EB knows that this just isn’t the most effective way to create long-lasting relationships.   

Here at Enrollment Builders, we’ve worked with many traditional and non-traditional institutions, and we know what it takes to engage your prospective students. In the end, you need to provide each prospective student with an engaging, consistent experience. To stabilize the admissions funnel and ensure that no interested prospective student is missed, Enrollment Builders has created cadences.

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Topics: Enrollment Builders Tool Box

Am I Doing Enough with my Prospects & Inquiries?

by Drew Griffin

Being down in enrollment causes panic for any admissions executive. During this stressful time, any number of thoughts run through your head. You’ve either heard it said or thought to yourself: “If we had more leads at the top of the funnel, we would have hit our goals.” Sure, because more in equals more out, right? 

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Topics: Enrollment Management 101

What Will Your Enrollment Leaders Ask About Contact Center Partnership?

by Drew Griffin

As the person ultimately responsible for ensuring enrollment growth at your institution, you will be challenged with “defending” and advancing any changes to existing plans. You may find yourself wondering ..."What will leadership (and my team) want to know about my plan to introduce a Contact Center partnership?"

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could guess what questions might be asked of you before these presentations?

Well, look no more!

This Contact Center Guide contains all of the answers to common questions you may be asked.

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Topics: Working With an Enrollment Management Partner