Picture this…
Your sales team just got off their 11th call of the morning, they’ve spoken to 6 voicemails, 3 people said they weren’t interested anymore and 2 sounded promising but said he would “call you back later”...
… Not ideal. Is it?
We have had so many clients confess they have wasted countless hours chasing leads via sales calls to no avail.
I’m not saying sales calls are dead but there’s ways of using sales calls and other methods to get through to potential students and get them enrolling.
Read on to discover:
The sales pipeline can be broken down into steps so clutter can be eliminated.
This also highlights the many other ways of getting through to potential students to supplement sales calls.
The first step in the pipeline is making contact with your lead. As I talked about in “Leading the leads: How to get better quality leads minus the time, money and frustration” the first point of contact with a lead is about collecting their details.
You want this first step to be small and low commitment. Just ask for a name, number and email.
We need to crawl before we walk.
Then make step-two further engage with your lead in a follow up email or even on a ‘Thank You’ page and make the call to action another small step.
Small steps are better than making giant leaps because the more effort you’re asking someone to do, the less they’re going to follow through.
Step-three is where you can nail down an exact time and for a more in depth phone call.
It’s a multi-step process so again, small steps, small actions, and then slightly increase the commitment as you go.
The sales team are there to close this deal, but at the same time, they're there to build a relationship.
Even if the lead doesn't enrol immediately, the sales team are actively cultivating a relationship that is vital if you’re selling a somewhat commoditised product like a school.
HOT TIP: If you want to get out of competing on price, build a personal relationship and focus on lead nurture.
Building up your S.A.L.T and getting these prospective students to know and like you and that’s so valuable!
This is what will ultimately keep you at the top of mind and show the prospective student that you are the only choice for them.
As I said before, sales calls are not dead but that’s not to say there aren’t a few friction points...
I know when I get sales calls and they ask me too many things, I just tune out.
In all honesty, recently I was interested in getting another qualification while we were in the first lockdown, so, I put my details down at an RTO and when they called me back they basically wanted my whole life story.
They tried to take down all my details in our first phone call.
It was too much too quick.
Truthfully, I was turned off the course because it felt like too much effort to give them everything they needed.
Another brick wall we found is that 50% of students don’t answer the phone or even take sales calls at all.
I know if a phone call comes in it’s not a number that I know, guess what I'm doing? I'm not answering!
And if it's important, they'll leave a voicemail. But if they don’t leave a voicemail, there’s pretty much no chance I’m going to follow it up.
C’mon, I know I’m not the only one who does that!
If you're ready to bypass dead-end sales calls, let's chat!
Look, it’s easy to give up when you’ve spoken to more voicemails than people.
It wasn’t long ago that I was a student myself so I know, just as much as you do, that students like to be contacted in different ways, not necessarily just on a phone call.
A way of getting to younger students is to make your presence known on the main social media platforms they use.
You’re probably already on Twitter and Linkedin but you should try Instagram, Snapchat or Tiktok.
Another way is to implement a live chat feature. Switch on the DM feature on your social media sites to your landing page so now you’re connecting via a different way that is more convenient for them.
Let’s make it as easy as possible for them to reach out.
This process can be duplicated on your landing pages as well.
Clear your landing pages! Give your leads one clear action you want them to take.
Remove all distractions and clutter and lead them down a clear funnel that requires minimal effort for them and gets you all the important information you need.
Get ready to totally blindside your competitors and overtake them when they can’t see you coming.
At LiveSwitch, we have used this method to optimise landing pages and social media ads and achieved a 359% increase in enrolments for multiple RTOs.
The method we use is called split testing.
Split testing is essentially when you try multiple different messages, a lot of different headlines and pages to see what's going to connect.
From there we can see the difference in what pictures, headlines, videos or any content attract 5 out of 100 people and what creatives grab 70 out of 100 people.
Then, we start refining our messaging and start optimising content.
The more you do it, the quicker, faster, easier, you’re getting more knowledge on your ideal lead and on top of that you’ll notice enrolments start flooding through.
The best part is, you can start doing this straight away!
Try it with your minimal viable product so you can test the market with minimal- low risk.
It’s not a new theory here but used effectively, it can be the tool that takes you to the next level, before your competitors even realise what you’ve done.
Now, you’re moving so fast your competitors won't know what's hit them. And better yet, they won’t know how to duplicate your process.
HOT TIP: If you’re in a large company or you have a lot of executives who may take a long time to make changes, once you prove the concept on your minimal viable product you can replicate it with bigger projects.
If you want continuous business growth and better leads for your RTO and would like to know more about this or other topics, please book in a call with one of our senior digital strategists.
Thanks for reading, catch you on the next one!
--- Steph from the Liveswitch Team
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