By Jeremy Tiers, Senior Director of Admissions Services
2 minute read
Stop me if you’ve heard (or said) this one before… “If it’s not in Slate, it didn’t happen.”
Whatever CRM you utilize, the ability for it to take, store, and search through notes from conversations as well as interactions with students is invaluable.
Sure, uploading everything allows leadership to measure (and recognize) your work and progress. It also, among other things, will save you time, improve your customer service, and help you become a better territory manager.
The key is being consistent, no matter how busy you get. Without good habits it’s harder to consistently perform at a high level.
Here are five additional reasons why adding those notes and interactions every day is essential:
- It will help you remember key details and avoid confusion. Given the high number of students that most admissions counselors are responsible for, entering notes will ensure you don’t forget important details from a conversation or interaction. It will also guarantee you don’t confuse one student with another.
- It will help you build stronger, deeper relationships. Being able to reference previous conversations helps you personalize future outreach and make the student (or parent) feel more important.
- It will help your colleagues pick up the conversation. No one is available 100% of the time, so inevitably another staff member (who may be from a different office) will have to lead the conversation when a student calls or visits campus. Without detailed notes, the other person will be unaware of what has and has not been discussed. That can lead to frustration on their part, and on the student’s end if the conversation feels disjointed. On the flipside it will improve collaboration and ensure the student has a positive experience.
- It will help you prioritize future outreach. Engagement is an important metric to use when you run queries or do any sort of predictive modeling. Consistently updating notes allows you to easily determine and segment the students who have interacted with you the most.
- It will help you advocate for additional resources. Showing data to leadership, or leadership being able to show others data, is crucial when it comes to advocating for additional funds or staffing.
And here are a few best practices when it comes to adding your notes:
- Avoid writing long paragraphs or messy notes that are difficult to skim through. Be clear and concise.
- Share details that provide context of key action items or important topics that were discussed.
- Use keywords that are easily searchable after the fact.
- Write down any direct questions that typically result in helpful information.
- Share any next steps that were discussed.
If you’d like to talk about something I said in this article, I’m happy to connect. Just reply back, or email me here.
And if you found this article helpful, forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it.