I simply say I have a student in my office and would love to give the person on the line my individual attention and would it be ok if i call them back in 5 10 15 minutes?
I tell the caller I would love to talk with them but I have someone in my office. What is the best number to call you back on.
I'm sure your students appreciate the individual attention and the courtesy of letting them know that you will do that for them. What do you think following through as promised (the call back in 5, 10 15 minutes) says to the student?
I have always taken the phone call while with a student, gathered the information and gave them a call back but after reading your repsonse, I may approach the situation differently. The difference with my campus is that our receptionist is not as efficent as your's seems to be.
Helping every student to feel important is an interesting challenge. What will you do differently moving forward?
All of our incoming calls come directly through the main number and are answered by our receptionist. Our receptionist has a list of the admissions representatives appointments for the day as well, so this alleviates any interruptions during our student interviews. This works well and allows us to speak with the prospective student in a relaxed and uninterrupted atmosphere. What I encounter almost daily is that the interviewee is the one who receives the incoming calls and "disrupts" the meeting. As time goes by, this seems to be norm, at least, with my student population. I have yet to post a "Please turn-off cell phones while in the office" sign, but I do think about it quite often.
Thank you for sharing the process you use at your school. Your approach seems to be helping reduce the number of interruptions you might encounter during an interview. I think you are also realizing that today's student is changing and that we need to have flexibility with the changing population. Great awareness!
When I have a prospective student in the office I don't take any calls. The person that I am meeting with is the most important at that time. There are several over admissions reps that can take the call if the caller needs to speak with someone immediately. My office will handle interviews in a separate smaller interview room, that way we don't have the distraction of the telephone. Once the meeting with the student is over, I check my voicemails and call back whomever was trying to contact me. Hopefully the caller left a voicemail.
I agree with you. It is important to keep the attention of the student we have in the office at that time ,so that they feel more comfortable and willing to listen to all the information concerning the course they want to apply for.
That's a great practice Chantal. When institutions have a team approach and can work together to handle inbound calls there seems to be great success. Thank you for your post!
I offer my full attention to the student who is in front of me. I want them to know that they are just as important as an enrolled students as the perspectives who are inquiring about our school. As soon as the student leaves I check my voice mail and call the perspective right back. I also want them to feel important.
All of our calls come throught the same line to the front desk. Our Receptinist is awesome at taking messages, transfering to VM or helping get some information from the caller so the rep is not interrupted during student meetings. The student in front of me is the priority.
I'll bet your student's appreciate the focused attention and making them a priority when you're meeting with them. How can you improve the process so that the students calling (especially for the first time) can get the same feeling when they call your campus?
I just say Can you excuse me please answer the phone and take their name and number (read the number back to them to make sure I've written it down correctly) and let them know I am with someone and will call them back in a few minutes.
That's a good approach James. Do you ever have more than one phone interruption while with a student? How do you handle multiple interruptions?
Dennis this is the same approach that I use, I believe that the perspective prospect in my office deserves all my time, yes our staff is professionally trained to take a message, send and email or send the call to my voice mail (after announcing that I am currently with a student and if they would like to leave a message on voice mail)
I also do the same thing. I tell the person on the other end that I am in a meeting with another student and that I will return their call as soon as possible. I never want to alienate the person on the phone or the student in my office. So, it is important to try to find a happy medium.
I gather as much info. Then ask if its ok to call them back in a few minutes. Or pass them to someone else that is not with someone at the time.
It seems to be a common approach when representatives must answer their own calls during an appointment. How do the students sitting in your office typically respond to this approach?
Thank you for sharing your approach Benjamin. Could you tell us more about how you transfer the call to someone else during an appointment?
