Your October CRM To-Do List
Month: October 2024
Let’s Prep for Reading Season
By Jennie Bayless and Chris Gonzalez
By Jennie Bayless & Chris Gonzalez
October is here and we’re certain your office is abuzz with recruitment efforts! Let’s make sure your team is ready to successfully manage the influx of applications and campus visits that come with this time of year. Don’t let these important proactive steps take second place on your agenda.
Application Review
Application review season officially kicks off this month, and for schools with rolling admissions, this means heavy application review is underway. No matter when you start seeing those apps roll in, make sure you’re keeping applicants informed about the status of their applications — including any missing documents — by sending automated, recurring emails. 📧
Here are the other top areas to focus on:
- Update App Review/Reader Forms: Ensure your review forms are current and reflect any changes in your review process.
- Create App Review Dashboards: Unread apps per counselor, apps missing items, read apps — dashboards allow you and your readers to get a feel for the funnel.
- Staff Training: Make sure your staff is trained to read applications and fully understands your process.
- Automations: Don’t forget to check and update your automated bin movement rules.
- Scholarship Calculations: Make sure your scholarship calculators are updated to your new model.
Pro Tip: Get organized! Ensure that documents (transcripts, letters of recommendation, test scores, and personal statements) are set up appropriately in your CRM.
Hey Slate Users: Are you getting ready to use Reader AI when it’s released later this year 🤞?
Decisions & Deposits
Prepare for smooth decision releases and deposit season by making sure everything in these three areas are in place:
- Financial Aid: In addition to ensuring students are aware of available scholarships and deadlines, help them and their families understand the financial aid process and where/when they can find their package when the time comes. (Thinking about digitizing your financial aid packages? Learn more about why it’s a great idea.)
- Payments: Is your system set to receive deposits? Have you made a test payment to confirm the process is easy to complete and, most importantly, works?
- Decision Letters: Don’t forget to update signatures, dates, and years, and build in excitement. (Slate users: Did you know you can customize the colors and type of confetti that rains down with your acceptance letters? 🎊)
Pro Tip: Ensure your CRM is functioning efficiently. When peak student activity takes place, you don’t want to be rushing to rewrite those legacy queries and reports in modern architecture (that’s Configurable Joins in Slate speak).
Campus Visits
We all know how important campus visits and open houses are for prospective students, so let’s make sure their visits count! 🏛️
- Promote, Promote, Promote: Make sure everyone knows about upcoming events by posting about them on your social media accounts and emailing students and their families with personalized invitations.
- Virtual Events: Consider hosting virtual events (1:1 appointments work wonders) to reach a broader audience. Virtual tours and webinars are fantastic ways to engage students who can’t visit in person.
- Data Insights: Identify patterns in applicant demographics, acceptance rates, and yield rates. Use this data to refine your recruitment strategies and improve your admissions process.
Pro Tip: Foster collaboration and open communication within your admissions office. Encourage team members to weigh in with ideas and try out new approaches. Remember, happy staff leads to peak productivity! 🙌
By focusing on these key areas, your admissions office can navigate October’s challenges with confidence and efficiency.
Let's Get Across the Finish Line Together. 🏁
Need a hand? With our flexible SparkAssist service, you can learn with us and become an expert on all things Salesforce, Slate, and Element451. Or, hand us a project for onetime completion. No project is too small or large for us!
- Drip campaigns development and automation
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- Database efficiencies
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2024 College-Bound Student & Parent Surveys: Download the Reports
Month: October 2024
|October 1, 2024We know that as a higher education professional, you are intimately familiar with the state of college and university admissions. However, we have a feeling you’ll probably still be surprised by some of the findings from Spark451’s 13th annual College-Bound Student Survey Report and our latest Parent Survey of College-Bound Students.
This summer, Spark451’s Education Research Division gathered feedback from more than 5,400 students and more than 1,100 parents across the U.S. Download the reports to gain access to all of the valuable information for college admissions professionals, including:
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- The Class of 2028’s social media habits
- How regional political and social attitudes influence admissions decisions
- Which communication tactics resonate most with students and their parents
- How AI and technology were utilized in the college search process
- The impact of FAFSA frustrations on students and families
- And much more!
Download the reports now. Then, reach out. We’ll be happy to help you determine if your upcoming admissions marketing and student search plans are fully in line with the latest data from students and their parents.
