• Internet Conversions
• Switch to Call Center site
• Who's Surfing?
• 1. Demographics
• 2. Psychographics
• 3. How They Find You
• What's Next?
• 4. Conservative Strategy
• 5. Moderate Strategy
• 6. Aggressive Strategy
• Worth Knowing
• 7. Helpful Tips
• 8. FAQ
• 9. Successes

Worth Knowing: Helpful Tips

Types of Internet Leads

Internet leads usually fall into one of 4 categories. These categories will affect your approach to the follow-up process and your communication objectives. Read on for more details on how to approach each type.

1. Hard Leads
The most promising and straightforward leads are called hard leads. These are considered the Internet's "best-case scenario." They share the following characteristics:

•	Prospective student e-mails you directly, using a response form
•	They fill out information forms fully and appropriately
•	Prospects supply their phone number
•	Prospective students explicitly request a phone call

Hard leads provide more clear-cut opportunities for follow-up. You have all the information you need to contact them. You can simply start at the top of the "Lead Conversion Flow Chart" for your Conservative, Moderate or Aggressive strategy.

When communicating with these leads, keep in mind where they are likely to fall in the decision-making spectrum described in the previous section. The prospects were willing to fill out the contact form and provide all requested information. They explicitly request a phone call. By doing this, they demonstrate a fairly strong commitment to researching career education.

Hard leads seek information proactively and assertively. This means that your main job will be to sell them on the benefits of attending your particular school.

2. No-Phone Leads
These leads are almost the same as hard leads. However, there is one notable exception: They don't provide a phone number. That omission has a big impact on the issues you will face during follow-up. You will not be able to begin the process by phone contact.

If the lead is local and has provided their full name and address, you may consider searching for a contact number in a telephone directory. This approach has both strong advantages and disadvantages.

1. Advantage: If you find the phone number, calling is a much more powerful way to establish dialogue and rapport with a potential student. It's always possible for leads to mistakenly omit their phone number.
2. Disadvantage: However, the omission may be intentional. If so, the prospect may prefer to communicate by e-mail. In these cases, they may not react positively to unsolicited phone contact.

There is no way to know for sure. However, the other information provided on the contact form may give you clues about how to proceed. For instance, if they asked for you to contact them by phone but provided no number, the omission is probably accidental. Use your instincts, and begin at the point on your strategy flow chart where you feel most comfortable.

Whichever method of contact you choose, keep in mind that no-phone leads are generally not as far along on the decision-making spectrum as hard leads. They decided to explore solutions, and they feel education has the potential to be one of them. However, they may not be ready for someone to begin "selling" them on a particular school.

They are still gathering information and considering their options. When following up, remember to ask questions that will help you discover how far along on the spectrum the prospect may be. Tailor your communication accordingly. Be prepared to guide them toward an acceptance of career education as a whole before pitching your particular school too heavily.

3. Soft Leads

Soft leads are also called "curiosity seekers." They do not come in on the usual response form. They submit inquiries via direct e-mails composed by the prospects themselves. These prospects often request specific information from you. And they seldom provide any information about themselves. A typical soft lead inquiry might look like this:

Dear Admissions Representative,
I was looking into taking some design classes, and was wondering what the classes consist of and when they are offered.

Could you please e-mail or mail me a copy of your class schedules so that I may look further into taking these classes?

Thanks!
Lisa Smith
student@prospect.com

Most often, you will have to follow up with soft leads by e-mail. As in the above example, they will usually not include a home address (even though, in the example, the prospect requests the rep to "e-mail or mail" a class schedule).

At first glance, you may feel that soft leads are less committed to career education. The fact that soft leads lack most of the usual information requested on a contact form may make it seem as though they aren't far along in the decision-making process. You may therefore assume that they are less likely to convert.

In reality, the fact that a soft lead comes in as a regular e-mail has little to do with the commitment level. In fact, the prospect may actually be giving more information than a hard lead. In the example above, for instance, we learn that Lisa Smith is interested in the design program. We also know that she is concerned about the schedule. Notice, too, that she makes no inquiries into the program's cost. A perceptive admissions rep should conclude not only that Lisa is concerned about the schedule, but this is her greatest concern about her ability to enroll; greater than cost. Lisa may well be an extremely committed, valuable lead to follow up with immediately!

When it comes to soft leads, you must judge from the information provided. Don't judge from the information that is lacking to determine where the prospect falls along the spectrum. For example, what if you received a second soft lead that looked like this?:

Dear Admissions Representative,
What is the cost of your programs? Do you offer financial aid?
Thanks,
Bill

Clearly, Bill is not as far along on the decision-making spectrum as Lisa. Also, you probably wouldn't want to address the issue of cost in a reply e-mail. This could make it more difficult to create a dialogue and set an appointment.

4. Out-of-Area Leads

The final type of lead you will encounter is an inquiry from outside your school's geographical area. The lead may or may not have filled out a response form. Either way, you should consider it an out-of-area lead if it's not within your standard recruiting radius. A typical out-of-area lead might look like the following:

Subject: Information Request First Name: Bai Last Name: yingcheng Address: No10 xinongroad yangling shaanxi china City: Yangling State: NA Zip: 71200 Phone: 029-7014086 E-mail: baiyingcheng@163.net Program of Interest: Hospitality Graduation Year: 2003 Best Time to Contact: 4:30 p.m.

This type of lead is part of what makes the Internet so unique as a recruitment tool. Think about it. What other advertising or recruitment medium produces leads from around the country – or even the world? Most every other recruitment effort for career colleges are local in scale. But if you had the opportunity to advertise on national television for the same cost as local, wouldn't you take advantage of it?

For this reason, out-of-area leads are relatively new to most school recruiters. As with many new and unfamiliar things, you may regard them with a level of skepticism. It is true that out-of-area leads do not seem to hold initial promise for successful conversion. Nevertheless, these leads often hold hidden potential.

First, you should take into account that people do not often relocate to a city or town where they do not know at least one person. They may have an entire network of friends, family and acquaintances in your area. Aside from the possibility that they are looking to relocate, you also don't want to pass up other hidden potential: This prospective student may be an excellent source of referrals!

Out-of-area leads, however, are not merely potential referral sources. They are excellent candidates for conversion themselves. If someone has found your school on the Web, they probably already have a great deal of information about you, including your location. They already know you are not located close to home. But if those people go to the trouble of requesting more information by sending an e-mail, there is clearly the potential for relocation. Why would someone research your school and request more information if you weren't at least a possibility?

Finally, another unseen benefit of out-of-area leads is the potential to convert to a cash-paying start. When leads come in from other locations, they are obviously willing to relocate. You must also assume that they will have resources to finance such a move. If a prospective student has the funds to move, he or she can most likely also afford at least partial tuition. Students who can pay cash for tuition are particularly desirable to schools facing "90-10" problems.

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Sales Process
A decision-making process usually involves 4 basic steps. You should be able to understand and apply these to your process of converting leads. These 4 steps can provide valuable information on how to get more leads to enroll. You may also find out more about where to start when dealing with different types of leads. These decision-making steps can also illustrate why Internet leads hold special potential.

Step A: Being Aware of a Problem
The first step (A) in any sale is for the prospect to be aware that he or she has a problem. This may be as simple as realizing hunger. This awareness may ultimately motivate a food purchase. In the school environment, Step A translates to this: The prospects realize that they are not happy with their current education/work situation. Maybe they are stuck in a dead-end job. Perhaps they were laid off and lack the skills needed for a new job. Most all leads start off at this point. If not, your first task as a salesperson is to convince prospects that they have a problem. They must realize it and buy in before you can sell your institution as a solution.

Step B: Deciding to Solve the Problem
In the second step (B), prospects must decide that they want to solve the problem. Someone may realize that he is unhappy with his job (step A). But he doesn't necessary decide that he is unhappy or motivated enough to change his situation. As a salesperson, your job when dealing with leads in this phase is not to convince them that they have a problem. Your job is to sell the value of solving it in some way. The solution, of course, is a better future, higher self-esteem, more respect and so forth – all of those things they will find at your school.

Step C: Selecting a Solution
The third step (C) requires the prospect to decide upon a particular solution to the problem. From a school recruitment standpoint, prospects must conclude that education is indeed the answer to their problem. In other words, once prospects arrive at this phase, your task is to convince them that career education will help them overcome their obstacles. There will almost always be multiple solutions to a prospect's problem: changing jobs, resolving issues with coworkers, counseling, etc. However, you must sell the value of career education as the best method of solving the problem.

Step D: Committing to Specific Action
The final step (D) of the decision-making process is where the prospect must to commit to a specific solution and take action. In our industry, prospects must decide on the particular school where they will pursue their preferred solution (education). They then commit to the decision by taking specific action: enrolling in your school. At this point, prospects have realized they have a problem, they want to fix it, and they agree that career education is the best solution. They want to get education, but they haven't yet decided upon your school. As a salesperson, you must guide prospects through the appropriate steps so they arrive at this final stage. Then you can close the deal by getting them to commit, take action and enroll.

Decision-Making: Television Leads
Television is a fast-paced medium of fleeting images and constant action. Moments of opportunity arise suddenly. If not seized, they disappear just as rapidly. They are driven from the screen (and from memory) by new and compelling images. As a result, television advertising – and particularly direct-response – must appeal to our impulses. It must quickly start us down the road of the decision-making process and spur us to immediate action.

The impulse-driven nature of television advertising means that TV leads will typically start out closer to the A or B stage of the decision-making process. Viewers are not actively seeking information on education when they see your ad. However, your commercial may have motivated them to contact you. This indicates that they have most likely realized they are unhappy. In calling you, they have taken the first step toward deciding to fix the problem. It is possible for TV leads to be further along in the process, but they are typically acting on impulse. As a general rule, they are in the A to B phases of the decision-making process.

Newspaper Leads
As a general rule, newspaper leads begin the decision-making process at stage B or C. If your ads are running in the classifieds or area employment papers, you may make several assumptions. The first step of the process, realizing they have a problem, has already been completed. In addition, because they are actively seeking information, they have also decided that they want to solve the problem – step B. They are actively looking for how and where to find a solution, putting them at step C. Your task, then, will be different than it is for the typical television lead. You must start with different goals in mind. You must now convince the prospect that career education is the answer, then close the deal with an enrollment.

Internet Leads
As we discussed in earlier sections, Internet leads often reach you because they are further along in the process. They have actively been looking at education web sites or searching for career information. Often, they realize that they need more training to get the career they want. You can typically assume these leads are at least as far along in the decision-making process as newspaper leads – perhaps further. And now they are requesting information about your school.

Internet leads are more likely to have gathered more information than other leads. This often means they have made a stronger commitment to the decision-making process itself. That translates into a stronger commitment to career education. With these considerations in mind, we can easily conclude that Internet leads will fall somewhere between steps C and D. Ideally, this will make your job easier. But you still need to tailor your recruitment efforts to the lead by emphasizing the appropriate steps in the decision-making process. In fact, you may need only to convince the prospect that your school is the best place for them. Then you can move to close the deal by encouraging them to enroll.

Points to Remember
How does all this sales theory apply to your job of converting Internet leads? First, you know that Internet leads often display a high level of commitment and interest before ever contacting you. You can usually conclude that they will be further along in the decision-making process than "traditional" media leads. Each step can bring resistance and obstacles from the prospect. The fewer steps you must move the person along in the process, the higher your chances are for successful conversion. As an admissions rep, you can use these ideas by following these 3 guidelines:

1.	Evaluate where the prospect is in the decision-making process.
2.	Customize your approach by emphasizing the commitments required by each step.
3.	Guide prospects through the process until the enrollment is complete.

The Internet helps create highly qualified and committed leads. These prospects are often very close to enrolling by the time they contact you. It is crucial to understand the steps in the decision-making process in order to convert these leads successfully.