Non-Workable Lead
A lead that has a wrong/non working phone number, address, email address...or if the person or persons inform you the person you are trying to contact does not live at or have that phone number is understood to be non-workable...but at what point do you determine a lead to be non-workable when the person states they are no longer interested....many admissions directors feel you file it for now and recall in a month or so....sometimes I call a person only to hear " I have told you many times, Im not interested" and yet we file to call again...I feel this makes the school look bad...what are the procedures for this at some of the other schools...I would really like to know the correct definition of a non-workable lead in this sense
Sharon,
When a prospective client states they are no longer interested, it is time to move on. Those admissions reps who do not respect the wishes of the client are those who turn these calls into a bad situation. The word then becomes that the school will not stop calling.
We hold on to our lead list for about 2 months. After that, they get one call to see if still interested in our school. If we get a negative response, the info is shredded. We can only keep so much paper for so long.
I agree with you and spoke with our President today about this matter and he agreed to move forward with this policy. Thank you for your help
I think your process is one that would work well
A non workable lead is a lead that can not be reached through phone, email, mail, 1411. If you exhaust all the info you have available - there is no where else to go.
Additionally Sharon for me there are two categories of non-workable leads. There are cold leads, who at the present time situational and such they can not pursue school. Then there are no contacts, which are leads that no longer wish to be contacted.
I have also heard other representatives consider non workable leads if they have someone answers and states that I have the wrong number, then I propose the question have they considered attending school.
You are discussing different situations. How can you contact them with wrong contact information? If someone says they are not interested, that is different. Why are they not interested? Are they not interested now? ever? Did they tell you not to call? Were they having a bad day? Were they contacted at work or some other situation where they could not talk. Give them at least 2/3 opportunities to say they are not interested. Try to engage them in a conversation to see what their situation is.
i think when a person tell you that he is no longer intrested it is time to move on
We respect their decision and do not contact them after that. Fortunately, we keep their information in our (inactive) database because there have been a few cases where some will "resurrect".
Milagros,
Many people just want to inquire and not have pressured calls.
Dale,
It is really about understanding when to let it rest.
Robert,
It is active listening that assists you in determining if this is truly a dead end lead.
This is a case by case scenario, every day things change in people’s lives. Maybe they’re not interested one day, yet 2 months down the road they lose their job; therefore the interest may be there. It also depends upon the person calling. If you call a “cold†lead starting off the call with “how’s everything going, just following up on your current situation to see if anything has changed in your life†is much more inviting as opposed to someone trying to sell as visit instantly; that frustrates people. This is a debate that will continue to go on; for there’s no right or wrong answer; only a case by case scenario.
Jenny,
You really have to follow your instincts on how to proceed.
Our lead management software is great at tracking the discussions a rep. has with each call to a prosective student. Those notes in the database help us to avoid continued calls to a student who is not interested. If we have any doubts - we simply review it with the Director of Admissions.
I agree It does make the school look bad as well as desprate!!! Put the contact info in a data base and contact them maybe after 6 months. We dont want to turn inyo hard core sales people this is about education after all
I will continue to call a number that is disconnected. Sometimes the phone bill just wasn't paid on time and week later it is working.
Kimberly,
Thank you for your addition to the forum.
