Seven Steps to Convert your leads, effectively (Part 1)
Read part two: Click Here
1. Speed Wins
The longer a lead sits, the colder it becomes, which means the speed of your response is key. Automated email responses and voice messages are great tools that allow you to instantly acknowledge an inquiry’s interest and provide them with the information they requested.
What is effective response time to inquiries?
• Phone — calls should be placed within minutes of receiving a lead, and no later than 24 hours
• Email — automatic email responders should be sent within minutes of receiving a lead
Buzz words for market funded schools
I recently attended a conference in Phoenix that had all the top CEO’s, and CFO for some of the top market funded schools in the nation. In attendance were some of the biggest as well.
I had a chance to talk with Brian Mueller (former CEO of Apollo), Michael M. Yu (CEO of New Oriental Education), Barbara Dreyer (K-12 Virtual Schools Market & Connections Academy), Ronald J. Packard (CEO and Founder of K12 Inc.), Chas Edelstein (CEO of Apollo) and Zhengdong Zhu (CEO of China Cast). What a great week it was to talk and be inspired by some of the best CEO’s in the education industry. In addition, to being inspired, I learned so much about the current market and the projected market trends over the next 12-18 months. I have to admit this is one of the reasons I chose to leave my former institution and pursue a career with a market funded school. This recent transition in my life will propel my career and my knowledge so much further than had I stayed in my comfort zones. I never would have had the opportunity to learn from the best in the education industry.
Poor Communication in Your Organization
Typically in any organization there are always issues with communication. All organizations, large and small, are looking for solutions to improve communication. I have been leading people for the past 10 years, during which time I have experienced good communication and poor communication. I have categorized my experiences into three areas to be targeted in order to lend itself to better communication across the board. First and foremost is recognizing that potential barriers exist to begin with. As a leader it is important to recognize that there is always room for improvement and not to become complacent in the first place. 
1. Chain of Command… Remember in elementary school playing the game “telephone?” My teacher used it as an example of how gossip spreads. We were all asked to form a circle. Then Mrs. Woodruff whispered a “secret” message in the first child’s ear. This message was then whispered from person to person around the circle until it returned back to Mrs. Woodruff. She then asked this child to repeat the final message aloud. To the astonishment of us all, that message seemed to be different from the one each of us had received around the circle. Her point was made! It has been my experience leading people that this childhood game still holds true. As messages are passed up or down through the layers of the organization, they pass through a number of different people who can add, take from, qualify or totally twist the original message. In my organization, communication begins with the directors who receive instruction directly from me. They are then asked to share this information with their group of front line agents. One way I try to make sure the directives or communication that I pass down actually get to the front-lines the way I intended is to randomly conduct “round table” discussions. I pull 3-5 front line agents in for a discussion that is very informal and ask specific questions to get a feel for the messages I have passed down and to make sure the director is doing their job. Give this a try, it is an extremely enlightening experience.
The Life of a Distance Learner (part 2)
A high bandwidth is needed for the completion of online courses as the student often will often have multiple browser windows open in order to complete a given assignment or task. Student-to-teacher and student-to-student interaction within a course may require an email client like Microsoft Outlook, or special software to enable online chatting. In addition, there are also files to download and upload. These tasks require a high-speed internet connection, such as DSL, as opposed to dial-up. Many educational institutions use companies such as Comcast and AT&T to offer internet connections for less than $50.00 a month, a fairly reasonable cost.
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