An e-zine snapshot of fun, fast, flexible and measurable ideas to ignite profit and learning in higher education

In this issue:

• Top 10 Secrets to Improved Admissions

• Good Performance Unrewarded

• Webinar:  Your Choice

• Using Board Games to Improve Student Learning

• The Science of Happy

• Does Your Faculty Need to Know This?

• Monthly Contest

The Energize Success e-zine is published monthly by L+EARN.  If you would like to add someone to our mailing list, or would like additional information about our products and services, please contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com

© L+EARN, Russell Martin & Associates, 2007

Give Thanks for November!

Here in Indiana it is finally looking like fall.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to those of you in California who have been impacted by the horrible fires and to those of you in the south who have been impacted by tornados and torrential rain.  What strange weather we have had.  Still, we have so much to be thankful for in this amazing country.     

ACCET

Welcome all our new friends from ACCET.  Lou and Leah enjoyed meeting all of you in Lake Tahoe.

Congratulations!

Kudos to MedTech for the Grand Opening of their Greenwood, IN school.  Best wishes for great success.

"Remember flexible structure; at all times have a plan, and at all times be ready to change it."

The Top 10 Secrets to Improved Admissions

In this issue, we will talk about the second secret to improved admissions (if you missed last month’s article on Headquarter Leadership, email Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com and she’ll send you the article).   Over the next nine months, we will drill down into each of these success factors.  This month we focus on the admissions process.

# 2:  A Repeatable Process

The trick with admissions is balancing the need to be compliant with the need to allow a great rep to influence in a way that is best for success.  At L+EARN, we call this Flexible Structure - enough structure to help new people get started and stay compliant, enough flexibility to build relationships with all different kinds of prospects.   

The admissions process involves more than just the face to face time with the potential student.  Admissions breaks into four phases:

1.       Initial contact / scheduling

2.       The interview

3.       Close

4.       Follow-up

Initial contact / scheduling:

This is the phase that begins the contact with the prospects.  Quite often this is done through a phone interview but in online programs, it most likely takes place through email.  This process will involve:

·         Ideas for lead generation OR the process for getting the leads from the provider (sometimes through software)

·         A script for the initial phone call or email

·         A ‘hook’ to entice the prospect to the next phase

·         A clear process for ‘next steps’ whether the prospect agrees to meet or not

The interview

The interview, whether online or face-to-face, breaks into clear steps:

·         Build Rapport

·         Identify the priorities of the prospect

·         Match the benefits of the program to the priorities of the prospect

·         Facilitate a seamless transition to Financial Aid

·         Close and schedule

To be successful, a script is the best way to keep reps aligned to compliance and start goals.  However, the script needs to be written to allow the reps to add their own style to build rapport with the prospect.  In addition, reps must be taught to ask great questions, listening more than talking.  The best reps know how to get the prospect to sell themselves.

Close

During the close, the rep will reiterate what is important to the prospective student and ask again what the program has that meets those needs.  After the student has the opportunity to express what was appealing and any remaining concerns, the rep must ask for the business.   Every school has very specific paperwork to teach regarding enrollment.   If the prospect does not commit, the rep must end the interview with specific follow-up points to maintain interest.

Follow-up

Whether the student enrolls or goes away to think about it, good follow-up is the difference between an average rep and a great rep.  Staying in contact with everyone is a great way to get referrals.

L+EARN can help you build, improve and roll-out a polished, start-improving admissions process.  Contact Leah at lcolville@lplusearn.com or review the Admissions section on our website www.lplusearn.com for more info.

With just a little effort and a game from your childhood, you can turn one of your most dreaded classroom topics into a fun learning experience.  Consider the following ideas:

Clue:  In the game of Clue, players have to guess the person (murderer), the room and the weapon.  When teaching a methodology, teams can take turns getting clues and guessing the role, the phase and the tool used in the methodology. Using project management as an example, assume the answer is The Project Manager (role), The Project Charter (phase) and Scope Diagram (tool).  The clues could be: coordinates meetings with the project sponsor, defines the business reason for the project and others. 

Sequence: In this game, players reorder the cards received randomly in ascending order by replacing one card at a time from either the draw or discard pile.  You could use this game to teach your students good interview techniques, for example, prepare a resume, schedule the interview, research the employer, send a follow-up letter, etc.  

Scattegories: This game is great for review or brainstorming.  Teams try to come up with all the ideas they can about a topic, but they only get a point for a unique answer (or for variation, an answer that is the same as some other team).  

Cranium: Cranium is a popular Starbucks game which combines four types of exercises to tap into all four quadrants of the Whole Brain (Ned Herrmann).   Now, each of the four games is available by itself.  These include using clay to create a metaphor, or sketching (blindfolded, left-handed, etc.) to communicate, answering trivia (content question) or figuring out terminology and definition kind of questions. 

Television Game Shows: GameShow Prep is a software package that lets you put your content in to games like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Millionaire, etc.  It's very fun and effective and has great sound effects.   Contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com for a demo of this product. 

L+EARN specializes in growing your faculties' creativity as well as improving your courses.  Got a boring topic that's hurting your retention?  Contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com to learn how L+EARN services can improve your courses and faculty.  

Check out Lou Russell's book The Accelerated Learning Fieldbook: Making Learning Fun, Fast and Flexible for more ideas to accelerate learning.  Order the book at our Yahoo Store before 12/1/07 and get a signed copy with free shipping.
 

The Science of Happy

Employees who laugh more than cry, and use sick days more for illness than hangovers, aren't just happy, they are also more productive according to "21st Century Well-Being, Commitment, and Productivity," It turns out from their research that workers with upbeat moods-and those without-affect the dynamics of your whole office. Here are some key findings from the Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital study, led by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D.  L+EARN has assessments to check how happy your teams are to work together.  For more information, contact Leah at lcolville@lplusearn.com.

Does Your Faculty Need to Know This?

Forward this newsletter to faculty, friends, staff or your network, put info@lplusearn.com in the CC: field and we will send you an Amazon gift card ($5 for each email you forward). 

November Monthly Contest:  Show Your Training Talent!

This month we'd like to test your creativity.  Come up with a creative approach to teaching the phases of admissions discussed in the article in this issue    Send your answer to Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com.  The top 3 winning entries will be featured in next month's issue.  The winners will get a free 1 hour webinar for their faculty on Accelerating Learning.