TRANSITION. From everything you ve told me, I know that (name of school) can help you.

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1 TRANSITION What is the purpose of using a transitional statement? Whether on the phone or during the interview, the transitional statement allows you to smoothly change direction or topics. Without it, it will seem like you are jumping around from one topic to the next and in return, you will sound choppy and scripted. Let s take a look at some sample transitional statements on the phone and when they are used. Let me ask you a few questions so I can better help you. This brings you from taking control and getting the basic information from the inquiry, to asking open-ended questions to find out the prospect s motivation. From everything you ve told me, I know that (name of school) can help you. This brings you from asking questions of the prospect to confidently letting them know that they have called the right place. This starts to set you up for the appointment. Now let me tell you a little bit about (name of school). (Give some basic enticing benefits such as you ll get hands on experience, etc. This brings you from asking questions to making them feel like you are giving them some information but you are actually just stating some points of difference on your way to the appointment. (Name of Prospect), you seem serious about this are you? (Pause) My job is to help you simplify the process. So here is what we are going to do. This brings you from asking questions and giving feedback to setting the appointment. (Don t forget to always go for the today appointment). Using transitional statements will help your dialogue flow smoother and be more believable.

2 Are you performing up to your potential? 1. Do I believe in the education we offer our students? If you answered no to this question, then please stop and ask yourself if you are in the right career! 2. Will I give 100% to help the company reach its goal? If you won t don t expect to go places. There are many average employees who give just enough. 3. Will I give everyone who calls an enticing, motivational and urgent reason to come into the school? Don t give up on your prospect by calling them a bad lead. You may be the only person who can really help to change their life. 4. Will I give every interview the necessary time to uncover all the obstacles and overcome them, motivate the prospect, understand the prospects needs, create value to the education, give a benefits oriented tour, and commit the prospect to start? This is a must if you are going to reach your goals. There are no short cuts! 5. Will I take the responsibility to make sure I communicate effectively with all coworkers? Promise to be a better listener and take the time to understand their position. Make your environment a fun one, get along with everyone! 6. Will I commit to making each day better than the previous one? If not, your life will stagnate and so will your job performance. Personal goals make us strive to continuously improve and your job performance will as well. 7. Will I be a team player and leader? A team without a player who can lead is a losing team. 8. Will I always look for solutions rather than complain and use excuses? Problem solvers are usually looked upon as highly promotable individuals. 9. Will I do my part to get my share of student referrals? These are the people who shine and exceed their start goals. 10. Will I do the necessary follow-up to ensure a high show rate when classes start? After all the effort you put into these individuals, isn t it worth a few extra minutes a week to keep them motivated so they start school? Remember, your work just begins when you accept an enrollment! If you answered no to more than two questions, then you are not performing at your peek. Seek some help from co-workers, maybe they can help you overcome your current feelings and

3 give a boost to your attitude. If you answered no to more than four questions, then you are just taking a paycheck from your employer. If you answered no to more, you probably need to get a new career.

4 THAT S A LONG TIME! As we all know, many of our prospects have been thinking about a particular career or returning to school for a long time 6 months, a year, 2 years, 5 years, etc. We also know that many people procrastinate when no urgency has been created. (That is why deadlines work so well.) So let s take a look at a question we usually ask our prospects on the phone and a response that works so well and why. Admissions Rep: Prospect: Admissions Rep: Prospect: Admissions Rep: Prospect: Admissions Rep: How long have you been thinking about being a medical assistant? A couple of years. That s a long time (pause and wait for their confirmation). I know it is, but (they will either stop after agreeing and you will continue on with the next question, or they will continue and tell you why they didn t pursue it sooner). Why haven t you pursued it sooner? Or, Why is now the time? (While the prospect is responding, she is selling herself on why she can and needs to do it now.) It may not have been right then, but it certainly sounds like it is right now. This time, together, we will see to it that you don t put it off. Can you see all the benefits associated with this type of dialogue? It makes the prospect realize it has been a long time (bringing out the procrastination in her), it causes her to verbalize why now is the time, it allows her to build a trust in you, and helps in creating the urgency to schedule an appointment. Make a commitment to use this dialogue for a long time!

5 EVALUATE YOUR TEAM In order to continuously improve our admissions skills, we must be able to see our strengths and weaknesses. This means that after each class start, we should be evaluating our admissions department by individual performance and office performance. The key to doing a good analysis is to make sure we cover all the details of the previous start. In doing so, look at all the conversion rates and evaluate each representative s performance. The following categories should be evaluated individually and as an office: inquiries to contacts; contacts to appointments; appointments to interviews; interviews to enrollments and enrollments to starts. Be sure to emphasize TOTAL STARTS and percentage of goal met. This type of evaluation creates awareness and ownership while allowing us to easily see an individual s strengths and weaknesses. It also gives the admissions representative a clear understanding of where they are in comparison to the school s expectations and what they need to do to improve their performance. Then plan the training for the next start accordingly. The forms on the following pages are to evaluate the individual performance and the office performance. The Individual Performance Evaluation is self-explanatory. THE NUMBER ONE PLAYERS form allows you to list the name and percentage of the top representative for the start under the appropriate category. To the right of each category, list the overall percentage for the office. REMEMBER, as in all evaluations, stress the positive and create solutions for the negative.

6 INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION Start Date:_ Representative: Date: Totals for Start: Goal Actual % of Goal Inquiries: Inquiries to Contact Contacts:_ Contacts to Appointments Appts: Appointments to Interviews Intvws: Enrolls: Interviews to Enrollments Enrollments to Starts Starts Cancels Referrals COMMENTS: AREAS TO IMPROVE:

7 THE NUMBER ONE PLAYERS! OFFICE % Inquiry to Contact Contact to Appointment _ Appointment to Interview _ Interview to Enrollment _ Enrollment to Start _ Inquiry to Enrollment _ Referrals _ STARTS THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO THIS START!

8 CONVICTION!! When conducting a training session with new or seasoned admissions representatives, we can never place enough emphasis on belief in the product. Without this, admissions personnel cannot overcome the obstacles and challenges that are presented to them on a daily basis. Let s take a look at the key steps to the enrollment process and you will see why. 1. APPOINTMENT SETTING: Setting an appointment that shows requires excellent telephone skills which include: a strong dialogue, good telephone voice, excellent listening skills, control and conviction (belief in your product). Result without conviction: Over the phone, your voice and what you say are your only selling tools. If you lack belief in your product, it can create hesitancy, a loss of control or even make you feel like you have to defend your school or programs. The final result is no appointment, an appointment that doesn t show, a poor image of your school and a prospect s life that may not improve. (Representatives may refer to these calls as bad leads.) 2. THE INTERVIEW: The components of a solid interview are: establishing rapport, an opening statement, probing, overcoming obstacles and potential obstacles, giving exciting school and career information, CLOSING and conviction. Result without conviction: The prospect sells you on why they shouldn t do it rather than you sell them on why they need to do it! 3. THE STUDENT TOUR: The tour does many things; but, most importantly, it helps the prospect to visualize working in their chosen career. Result without conviction: The prospect feels that this career (or school) will not satisfy their needs. 4. THE ENTRANCE EVALUATION: Helps to make the student feel more comfortable with their abilities. Helps to minimize their fear of failure. Result without conviction: The prospect does not believe the test results and feels that they cannot do it! 5. COST OF EDUCATION: It is not expensive to get an education, it is expensive not to! A prospect must be shown and believe in the value of education. Result without conviction: When the value of the education does not exceed the cost, the prospect does not enroll or does not start if they do enroll. This is when you hear the line, it s too expensive!

9 6. THE CLOSE: This is where you gain the final commitment necessary to motivate the prospect to enroll. Your confidence will help to lessen their fears of the unknown while eliminating excuses. Result without conviction: The prospect is not comfortable with his fears. Help him by speaking with total confidence while explaining that it is normal to have concern and that most successful people start out feeling the same way. 7. FOLLOW-UP: Keeps your student motivated to class start and beyond. Your motivation comes from your belief and enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm. Result without conviction: Your student loses the necessary enthusiasm and does not start school. Some people have already been second-guessing his decision he needs your continuous strength and conviction! THE LEVEL OF YOUR CONVICTION WILL DETERMINE YOUR LEVEL OF SUCCESS!

10 DELIVERY IS EVERYTHING! Whether it s your phone dialogue or your interviewing skills that seem to be on the blink, I can almost assure you that part of your problem is in your delivery. I have often been asked by admissions representatives, What is going on with my show rate? I m following the telephone dialogue verbatim, or I m following the interviewing techniques to perfection; but, for some reason, I m having difficulty getting the enrollment. The key to success is to have a proven telephone and interviewing dialogue then, you must have the ability to delivery it correctly. You may be wondering, what is the correct delivery? Here are the components of a good delivery both on the telephone and in the interview. 1. Rapport: You must establish this first! 2. Be yourself: You must sound natural. Don t ever sound like you are reading a script. 3. Enthusiasm: Have it at all times. You must radiate enthusiasm in your voice. Be excited! 4. Fluctuation: You must be animated in your tone of voice. Speak at more than one level. Accentuate certain words and phrases. 5. Conviction: Have conviction in what you are saying! Feelings are easily transferred. 6. Your rate of speech: It must be fluid. Don t talk too slow, too fast, choppy, or hesitantly. 7. Confidence: Use words that make your prospect feel that you know what you are talking about. IN OTHER WORDS, SOUND LIKE YOU ENJOY YOUR JOB AND YOU HAVE A REAL INTEREST IN HELPING YOUR PROSPECT! We all sound different and have different accents. This doesn t mean we can t project the type of voice that will show our prospect enthusiasm, conviction, understanding, knowledge, etc. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Role playing with your co-workers on a regular basis will help you get back on track and meet your goals!

11 THE FIVE UGLY WORDS As we all know, sales is a transference of feelings. Therefore, how you express yourself is very important. Your tone of voice, your body language, and the words you select determine your level of success. So, let s look at what I call the five ugly words in sales or communication. THINK: GUESS: I think we can help you. That sounds totally different from, I know we can help you. I guess what we could do is. NO, NO, NO! What we need to do is ` POSSIBLY: Can you possibly return tomorrow? No asking! Let s have you return tomorrow MAYBE: IF: Maybe coming into the school will help you Of course it will! Come in to the school so we can If you enroll, you would need to complete this application and pay Assume they are enrolling! When you enroll You must express yourself with total confidence. Remember, they are coming to you for direction, guidance, encouragement, etc. Do not let them down by sounding like you are not sure about what you are saying. They need to feel your confidence in order to feel confident themselves. Often times, an ugly word can give them an out and sometimes they take it. Then everyone loses especially our prospect. By the way, how would you like it if a doctor told you, I think you need surgery?!?

12 WHAT TO SEND AND WHY The best information piece is one that gives NO detailed information and answers NO questions. Let s discuss why. But, before we do, let s agree that mailing information to a new prospect does not work. If it did, we wouldn t need admissions representatives we would just mail information to all inquiries and wait for them to line up at the front door. As we know, it takes the talents, techniques, and the knowledge of an admissions representative. So, first and foremost, we must remember that mailing information is used for out-of-towners and on-line only classes. Now, if we do mail what do we want our information to do? Answer questions? NO Create more interest? YES! Here is why and how we do this. WHY? If we answer questions such as class starts, schedules, courses, etc. we are filling our prospects with features instead of benefits. Features do not sell, benefits do! Features do not create value, benefits do! Features do not build emotions, benefits do! Features do not offer solutions, benefits do! PEOPLE BUY SOLUTIONS HOW? We create more interest by ing or mailing information that is exciting and talks about the benefits of having an education. Information such as the job market outlook, placement statistics, testimonials, and action pictures. The information should look good, be upto-date, short and easy to read. Remember that in order to entice the prospect with the information, we must first get them to read the information. SHORT, EXCITING AND TO THE POINT! Often times I visit schools whose information package is so large and lengthy AND filled with course outlines and descriptions. If there is too much to read, they will not read it! (How many of you have read your complete catalog?!?) And again, if sending course outlines worked, we in admissions would certainly be replaced. Our prospects need us to help them realize the value and benefits of an education. We can t let them down by freely mailing information or by mailing the wrong information!

13 TEN ATTRIBUTES ALL WINNERS HAVE IN COMMON 1. A winner makes commitments. A loser makes promises. 2. A winner says: Let s find out. A loser says: Nobody knows. 3. A winner sees an answer in every problem. A loser sees a problem in every answer. 4. A winner says, I will and succeeds. A loser says, I ll try and fails. 5. A winner is not afraid to be wrong. A loser has a compulsive need to be right. 6. A winner believes that we make our own luck, either through what we do or what we fail to do. A loser believes in bad luck. 7. A winner is not afraid to lose. A loser is secretly afraid of winning. 8. Winners do it NOW! Losers procrastinate. 9. A winner knows that the secret to winning is to be who you are and become who you were meant to be. A loser thinks he can win by fitting in. 10. A winner says It may be difficult, but it s possible. A loser says It may be possible, but it s too difficult. From Betting on Yourself by Dr. Robert Anthony, 1991

14 PROFITABLE PRINCIPLES FOR PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE Every problem is an opportunity. Problems present possibilities. Smile. Be polite. Don t burn bridges. Take problems seriously and yourself lightly. If you are ultimately going to do something, do it now, or as soon as possible. The only right way to do something is the way that works. Effort is important, but don t confuse effort with results. Efficiency means doing things right. Effectiveness means doing right things right. Don t try to do it, just do it. You get what you expect and EXPECT SUCCESS!