Higher education lead generation? We may not initially think of this need for colleges and universities, but many schools are not entirely equipped with the latest technologies and sufficient staff for those busy months in the fall. That goes for the rest of the year, too—an outsourced call center can provide several benefits for these institutions year-round.
So, if you’re wondering how to boost leads and turn more of them into students, consider that a call center can offer:
Read on for our list of the top eight benefits a contact center could offer your school.
As we hinted above, one significant benefit of enlisting higher education lead generation is how it can elevate the experience for your students and their parents. Call center agents are trained to understand the ins and outs of your college, meaning they’ll be prepared to answer most questions proficiently and provide useful information without the wait times.
Today, many people—especially younger audiences—prefer a chat option over calling, which means another platform for your team to manage. But when you partner with a university call center, they can provide chatbot services for your school’s website, taking this off your plate.
Additionally, call centers can provide multilingual services. In higher education, where diversity and inclusion are expected now more than ever, you can connect with students from a broader range of places and backgrounds. In turn, this can support your efforts and enhance the culture of your campus.
Another perk universities enjoy with a call center in their corner? Reduced costs! Since their agents are experts at lead generation and equipped with the latest technology and equipment, you won’t need to spend money and time on these areas—no need to train your team and have them spend time on duties that aren’t their expertise.
Outsourcing also means you won’t have to hire additional team members. Bringing on more admin team members or even student workers is costly. A call center can offer extra support during your busy fall season and provide cost-effective coverage during slower times, meaning you don’t have to go through the process of hiring seasonal help.
They can scale their services according to your needs. And when you save on these areas, more of those funds go back into education efforts!
Outsourcing your higher education lead generation and answering services will reduce wait times for your students, parents, staff, and other stakeholders. Whether calling in to ask questions, get financial aid information, or find support for any topic.
This even goes for after-hours answering and message-taking. In fact, many call centers provide 24-hour answering service. Students and others will receive answers right away and won’t have to wait for a callback. If they need more personalized attention, the agents will take a detailed message, and the caller can rest assured they’ll receive prompt follow-up. This makes for a much better experience than leaving a voicemail and wondering when they’ll hear back.
Shortened response times allow you to handle high volumes better and are another way you can improve the student experience.
We don’t have to tell you that your college or university is enormous! You’ve got seemingly endless departments and faculty members, all of whom could receive calls and messages at any time. Directing countless calls, chats, and emails and ensuring none slip through the cracks can overwhelm your team.
A higher education call center can quickly and easily direct inquiries to the correct faculty member or department within seconds.
But what about those callers who don’t know exactly what they need? No worries! Your call center agents will have background knowledge and know where to direct callers who may not be sure who they’re trying to reach. They’ll essentially integrate with and act as an extension of your team.
So, how do you get leads in higher education? And once you do, how do you handle the growing volume? Or what do you do during slower seasons?
An outsourced call center can easily add more or less staff to aid in seasonal fluctuations of your college, which ties back to that staffing issue we mentioned earlier. For example, you might experience a higher volume of questions at the beginning of the year. Or you might receive many inquiries about financial aid and loans between quarters and semesters.
This third party can also help your school scale by using a team to run outbound communication campaigns. They can support your enrollment management by assisting with recruitment and marketing—another way your team won’t have to take on more tasks, and you can save funds.
Speaking of busy times and scaling, your university’s financial aid department is likely the busiest regarding incoming calls and emails. A higher education call center’s employees are trained to:
By staying on top of students’ timely financial aid needs, your call center will strengthen your higher education lead generation.
Of course, effective lead generation for colleges also requires data. An outsourced call center will store and collect student data and can even provide reports that help your university get to know your market on a new level. They can even perform regular data cleansing to ensure you have the most updated lists for outbound campaigns.
These insights can help their marketing department in the future, showing you patterns and trends you can use to make smarter decisions and improve the student/parent experience. Again, database management is another area where you won’t have to waste your employees’ time on data entry and reporting.
Finally, let’s talk about how an outsourced call center will actually increase your higher education lead generation! They know all the most effective lead-generation strategies and are versed in sales-type conversations that lead people in the right direction. Your partner can provide solutions to help your college expand its reach and generate more leads, like:
When it comes to higher education lead generation, this list only scratches the surface of what a call center can do for universities! Yes, your team can take on all these tasks in-house, but it would be much more expensive and time-consuming for your school.
With a call center at your side, you can mitigate complaints, speed up processes, and improve the overall student experience. This can help boost your reputation and enrollment with a cost-effective solution, allowing administration and faculty to focus on their areas of expertise and more of your funding to stay toward education.
To learn how Chameleon can help colleges and universities during their busy season or even year-round, contact us today.
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