Not too long ago, the use of a teleservices vendor from outside the institution would have been unthinkable. Yet today, more and more of those responsible for increasing enrolment have realized that outsourcing offers a number of advantages. These include: 

-being able to contact large numbers of prospective and currently enrolled students within a short time frame 

-freeing up internal staff and student workers to focus on more critical tasks 

-being able to turn calling “on and off” as needed, without dealing with personnel issues 

-being able to make more calls per hour with dialing technology

If you are considering using an outside calling firm, here are a few tips to make your first campaign a success:

• Make sure you have a “game plan” that addresses:

-your budget

-how to get data from your files to the vendor

-your timelines

-your confirmation process

-your follow-up strategy 

• Insist on digital recordings of all awards. Recordings can be very helpful for quality control. 

• Monitor progress and quality regularly. Most vendors have the technology to allow you to listen in on calls. You can listen from any phone, anywhere. 

• Make sure confirmation is meshed with your calling. The standard should be that a letter is mailed no more than 48 hours after each call. Can your teleservices vendor produce the letter? Even better! 

• Don’t miss opportunities down the road…consider call backs. 

• Insist on good training of vendor’s agents. Make them your ambassadors. Also, test your vendor’s agents on basic information about your school. 

Communicating with prospective students by telephone can be a powerful way to support the achievement of recruitment objectives. Telephone conversations can be held on a variety of topics including visits, financial aid, academic programs and invitations to group events. 

Telephone calls can also be placed to returning students to assist in retention. There are always good reasons to communicate with new and returning students, but institutions do not always have the resources to conduct telephone campaigns on campus. 

Following these tips will enable administrators to make good decisions when selecting a company to provide telephone outreach services.

Tom Wogan serves as the President of Edge Teleservices.