Admissions Counselors vs. Territory Managers
Many admissions directors push themselves to identify the records their team should be reaching out to. While this can be effective for young staff it can result in more turnover, as staff get bored by just doing what is assigned to them. Additionally, it can limit creativity and put more on the shoulders of a director who is often already pulled in too many directions. To overcome this, admissions directors should look for ways to turn their admissions counselors into territory managers.
THE DIFFERENCE
What is the difference between an admissions counselor and a territory manager? An admissions counselor follows through with the lists and tasks they are provided. A territory manager is actively evaluating their data to identify new opportunities. They complete the lists and tasks provided, but seek new opportunities. They are strategic in their travel and outreach and bring new initiatives to their supervisor. They are your future leaders.
HOW CAN YOU ELEVATE YOUR ADMISSIONS COUNSELORS TO TERRITORY MANAGERS?
Provide Them Access to the Data They Need
If you are using Slate, the proper access to data includes reports, queries, and Voyager. Encourage them and teach them how to understand the data available to them. Ask what else they could be doing in their territory when they have downtime between already provided lists. Are there specific markets they could be targeting? Consider records with similar interests like records coming from certain geographical areas or other data associated with their records that might require a specific message.
Ensure your CRM is set up to make it as easy as possible for team members to pull queries and manipulate them to pull the data they need. In Slate, this may mean adding default queries and creating exports and filters in your query library that your team can use. Create documentation and provide training to help your team learn how to get the data they need.
Give Them a Budget for New Initiatives
You have an army of people working for you. Encourage them to understand their territory and identify new events, local spots they could grab donuts for the school, or even a gift idea for a specific population. Your “records” will feel loved and your territory manager will feel empowered! (Note that I said records, because gifts and outreach may also be helpful to influencers such as parents, guidance counselors, and CBO leaders.)
Provide Clear & Trackable Metrics with Calls to Action
Review which initiatives have worked in the past for you and your team. As you are putting together your metrics, be sure to include what calls to action are effective. If your purpose is relationship building, what helps you get there? If your purpose is getting your prospective students to take the next step, how might you phrase prompts? Dive into your data to discover what works and teach your team to do the same within their territory. You may notice differences in what’s effective based on the region, type of record, or other demographic data.
Use this data to create a process for adding specific interactions in your CRM to track these types of interactions. In Slate, this could mean that if visit or meeting pushes are impactful, you might have an interaction just for a “Visit Push Phone Call.” A better idea would be to use the Phone Call to Student Interaction with a pre-planned subject line of “Visit Push” to later pull and track the data.
CONCLUSION: TEACH, TEACH, TEACH
As you probably noticed from above, the idea of teaching your team methods that incite action and aid matriculation and how to analyze data is the key to helping them really understand what it means to be territory managers. While your one-on-ones will transition to individual tutoring sessions, it gives the team ownership of their territories. They will be prouder of the work they do. It will create synergy as new ideas that work (and some that don’t) emerge. It will energize your staff, help them become territory managers, and provide the extra lift that your office needs.
