Open house
In the Sundays Newspaper add we add "OPEN HOUSE ON MONDAY FROM 8:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M., VISIT OUR ADMISSIONS DEPARTMENT, TOUR THE CAMPUS AND TALK TO OUR FINANCIAL AID DEPARTMENT" This doesn't cost extra but it brings walk-ins every monday. Everything helps.
Hi Cari
Open Houses are always great. How are the results? How many enroll from those who visit? What does the prospective student do when on campus and who gives them a tour? Have you thought of having them sit in on a class? What is done to follow up these leads?
Open Houses are great public relations tools.
Best wishes
Susan
Our Makeup academy has free seminars ("Open House") on Saturdays which we advertise over the newspaper and local radio - demonstrations and our use of our products are explained to anyone who attends free of charge. We have found that students who are introduced to our school in this fashion are more likely to enroll. We also give a small gift to participants upon voluntary completion of a form with their contact info to follow up.
Hi LIly
Open Houses are a great way for a prospect to experience what it is like to be a student. We suggest inviting friends and family of the prospect to come along. Makes going into a new place easier. Also the friends and family are usually great influencers. We have found that sometimes these people enroll as well.
Good job.
Susan
I like this idea. Do you run this every Sunday?
HI Karen
How often to run Open Houses? That's an interesting question. It really could be a good idea to have one every week. Get the community aware that they can see your school every Sunday. On the other hand, Open Houses have to be well orchestrated and take a lot of planning and staffing. If your staff had to work every Sunday they probably wouldn't be very happy! Why not plan one Open House. When you do an evaluation of results you can pose the question - how often.
Best wishes
Susan
Regarding the open houses.Are you still doing them? What is your average class size? How often are you doing them and what % of your enrolement do you attribute to the open houses? Do you keep Stats on this? Does one person ie: the Registrar handle this public? Thank You Dr. Geroge Najemian
Hi George
Great questions. All point to a key element in any strategy put in place - measure, assess, determine what went right and areas for improvement.
Best wishes
Susan
This is a great idea and I can see where we can expand on this to include ads like this in other venues like Health Food Stores etc. Thanks for the tip. Also we should add some past graduates to our Advisory council to assist with getting the word out.
Hi Steven
You are all discovering there are many ways to let your community know about your school. And it is not really necessary to pay for advertising! Graduates should definitiely be on your Advisory Council. In fact, grads are a great source for enrollment in your other courses and referrals.
Best wishes
Susan
How do you mesure this initiative and what do you mean when you say: "Everything helps.
Hi Eldin, Good question. How do you measure results and success? Lots of methods such as paper surveys, web based surveys, interviews, talking with a range of your constituency. Then assemble and analyze the results and bring it back to your constituency. What does the information tell you? What needs to be changed? Watched? Left as it is because it works? What new ideas were generated from the information. How did the results meet or miss the mark you planned? What did you learn? Lots of opportunities when you build in assessment into every project. Best wishes, Susan
