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MARKET EVALUATION SURVEYING DATA ANALYSIS BENCHMARKING INNOVATIVE PRACTICES LITERATURE REVIEW

Impact of Call Centers on Student Recruitment and Retention

The following report looks at the impact of call centers on student recruitment and retention. More specifically, it focuses on four main areas of interest:

A Sampling of Institutional Models for Call Centers

The Impact of Call Centers on Campus Recruitment

Findings Related to Call Center Satisfaction

The Growing Need for Multi-platform Communication

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ACADEMY ADMINISTRATION PRACTICE

© 2009 The Hanover Research Council – Academy Administration Practice

SEPTEMBER 2009

Overview

The rise of telecommunications has drastically shifted the way that people around the globe relate with one another, decreasing many of the obstacles for long-distance communication and enabling people thousands of miles apart to have real-time conversations. Perhaps more so than any other technology, Alexander Graham Bell‘s invention of the telephone significantly reshaped the fabric of society once it hit the market.1 The invention of the telephone marked the beginning of a new era and the dawn of the modern world. As one author puts it, "The telephone opened the door to a consumer oriented marketplace without geographic boundaries...[and] led the way to the technological cornucopia built on the exploitation of electrical energy [emphasis added]."2 In today‘s technologically-powered information-driven world, consumers expect quick results at record speeds in almost every realm of life. When it comes to higher education, there is no exception to the norm. In an age where people can book vacations at a few mouse clicks, consumers expect and demand quality service and comprehensive answers at lightning speeds. Similarly, as business has become more global and information ubiquitous, colleges and universities have become more interested in attracting and retaining constituents from a broad global base. In efforts to address these issues, institutions are increasingly turning to technology, particularly the telephone and Internet. And, with this growing need for sophisticated telecommunications, it is important to create organizational structures to properly utilize and manage these technologies. Taking a Student-Centered Approach As technologies have evolved, so have students‘ experiences and expectations. Today‘s students have come of age in an environment defined by around-the-clock access to information and support, and expect immediate answers to their questions. This transformation in expectations has challenged universities to transition from institution-centered to student-centered thinking.3 Dealing with the growing need for ready-access information, institutions face a number of issues and concerns. As a recent report by RightNow, a customer relationship management company, suggests, colleges must confront a number of

1 Gray, C. Reluctant genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the passion for invention. Arcade Publishing, 2006,

427. 2 Schement, J. and T. Curtis. "Tendencies and Tensions of the Information Age: The Production and

Distribution of Information in the United States." Transaction Publishers, 2004, 158. 3 Burnett, D. ―Innovation in Student Services: Best Practice and Process Innovation Models and Trends,‖ p. 3. Available: http://www.scup.org/studentservices/iss-1.pdf

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limitations in determining how best to address students‘ needs. These limitations include:4

Specialization: Within a higher education context, knowledge is often specialized, with certain people having information about some things but not others. While an institution‘s knowledge base is large, the information from this base is rarely centralized and thus in determining an effective student-centered strategy, schools must work to centralize this information, extracting significant input from those who have it.

Fragmentation: Unlike typical businesses, universities often interact with their constituencies in a fragmented manner. When contacting a school, students must decide whether to call admissions, financial aid, the registrar, the bursar's office, the athletic department, or admissions. Even when institutions have an information "clearinghouse," these departments still maintain a great deal of independence from one another. This fragmentation can be frustrating for students and parents who have to call multiple departments to ask multiple unrelated questions, and may or may not know who to call in the first place.

Ad hoc communications: Colleges often lack a streamlined process for receiving and answering requests for information, and calls or emails can often fall through the cracks. Additionally, websites are often out-of-date and provide different answers to questions than a conversation with someone at the university. This struggle can prove especially frustrating for students who want up-to-date information in an expedient manner.

Limited resources: Also unlike corporations and businesses, universities typically do not have the financial resources to facilitate major call departments or information centers. As a result, they are left with students needing answers but no one to provide them with such answers.

With these concerns in mind, one of the hallmarks of student-centered thinking is the centralization and integration of student services. At a number of universities, this centralization and integration has, in part, taken the form of a contact center that handles inquiries from both prospective and current students. These contact centers serve as central points of communication between students and the administration, providing ready answers to student (and prospective student) questions and concerns. One of the major goals of these centers is the development of a ‗living‘ knowledge base at a particular institution, pooling information from various departments in a centralized location for easy access.5

4 "Winning Service Strategies for Colleges and Universities: How to Optimize Recruitment, Retention, and

Operational Efficiency by Providing Easy, Immediate Access to Institutional Information." RightNow Website, accessed September 8, 2009, 4-7. http://www.rightnow.com/files/whitepapers/Winning_Service_Strategies_for_Colleges_and_Universities.pdf

5 Ibid.

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While the contact center model is not without its difficulties, institutions have reaped a number of benefits from introducing contact centers. Benefits cited by university representatives include:

Decreased complaints from students;

Improved morale among staff;

Higher enrollments;

Cost effectiveness;

An improved database from which marketing can draw; and

A platform for increasingly effective outbound campaigns. Synopsis The remainder of this report details the ways in which call centers have been used to address the needs of both students and parents and their impacts upon recruiting and retention. To aid the reader in summarizing this report, Hanover has provided a brief synopsis at the outset. In the first section of this paper, Hanover details several different approaches to developing a call, or ―contact‖ center. Hanover found that a one-stop contact center is increasingly the model of choice among universities. Such one-stop shops provide students with answers to questions relating to every subject imaginable, from meal plans to financial aid-pooling knowledge and resources in a single entity for student access. Research also shows that due to the growing demand for call center services, a number of universities have turned to third-party resources. These outsourced call centers take calls and answer questions from students and prospects, eliminating the need for a physical call center. This model is particularly popular among institutions that do not have the resources to staff a full-scale call center but want dedicated staff available for student requests. Additionally, research shows that many institutions employ current students or recent graduates in their contact centers so that contact center staff relate well to student populations and decrease staffing costs. The second section of this paper provides some generalizations on the impact of contact centers on student recruitment. This section is brief, as resources on the subject are quite limited. However, two general conclusions are worth noting:

Timely answers may mean the difference between a student enrolling or not enrolling

Hiring staff with sales backgrounds can aid in call-center recruitment efforts

In the third portion of this report, Hanover details findings related to call center customer satisfaction. Like with recruitment statistics, studies of the exact impact of call centers upon student satisfaction are fairly limited. Whereas many institutions

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would say that a call center boosted student satisfaction, none would highlight results from a survey on the topic. Cross-industry research, however, reveals that customers clearly link speaking with an actual human being, and short call hold times, with overall satisfaction. Additionally, research shows that customers link good call center service with the overall quality of a product from a business. Translating this finding to higher education: students and prospects may equate their call center experiences with their potential (or realized) overall satisfaction with an institution. The fourth and final section of this report takes a closer look at multi-platform communication strategies. While discussed briefly in the institutional models section of the report, this section provides some specific insights into Customer Relationship Management tools and the prevalence of multi-platform communications strategies. Generally, Hanover found that CRM tools can be helpful, as long as they remain focused on student needs instead of technological outcomes. Hanover also found that the student-focused one-stop service center method is increasingly the model of choice among universities (corresponding to earlier research in this vein).

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Institutional Models

In the section that follows, we outline four different call center staffing models and delineate, as much as possible, their effectiveness in addressing student and prospective-student needs. Across the nation and across the world, college and university contact centers vary widely in both scope and scale. At some institutions, contact centers are very small and staffed by only two people, whereas at others contact centers are rather large, taking the form of a one-stop-shop that offers a range of services and functions in addition to handling calls. At some institutions with larger call centers, telephone services are integrated with the web so that administrators can customize the user experience for each and every student. While the methods vary, research shows that institutions are increasingly turning to contact centers to meet their needs and enhance their presence among both students and prospects. Outsourced Labor Some institutions outsource their call center function to a third-party organization that fields calls for them. By taking this approach, they can avoid having to form, train, and house a calling department. As a result, institutions can avoid purchasing expensive contact management software or having departmental employees get pulled off onto calls for information. If the call center service is not able to provide answers to a particular caller, they will often pass such callers‘ information along to the university at the end of the day, so that the appropriate person can follow up at his or her convenience. Such an approach enables administrators to get appropriate information to both prospects and students, while minimizing the call center‘s impact on overall workload and budget. One campus using the labor outsourcing approach is Swinburne University, located in Melbourne Australia. This model is fairly common across Australia; Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney, Deakin University, La Trobe University, the University of Canberra and the University of Newcastle all also use outsourcing to meet their university call center needs. At Swinburne, university administration uses a call center service offered by the multinational student recruitment and enrollment management company Hobsons to recruit international students. The Hobsons call center staff come primarily from Asia and India, but are Swinburne-trained and are tasked with reaching out to prospective students from their home countries. A Hobsons representative notes that 99% of communication occurs via email, and the call center is open from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Australian time.

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Whereas before-with university departments handling calls-universities risked sending inappropriate responses to prospective students (e.g., duplicate copies of the same brochure), the Hobsons call center staff not only respond to queries, but also take students through the application process all the way to enrollment. In addition, the Hobsons service guarantees a 24-hour turn-around time on every student inquiry. Swinburne vice-chancellor Ian Young notes that ―[the] more than 20 per cent increase in the institution‘s international enrolments for each of the past two years can be attributed to this professionalization of the marketing and enrollment processes.‖6 Swinburne‘s success is not the only mark of this service‘s effectiveness. Hobsons‘ managing director, David Harrington, noted that during the past seven years of operation, ―Hobsons‘ Melbourne-based centre had grown to the point where it was recruiting about 25 per cent of a participating university‘s international student enrolment.‖7

Drexel University also outsources its call center function, ―outsourc[ing] a financial aid hotline for all inquiries from prospective and incoming students.‖8 The primary purpose of the call center, operated by Edamerica, is to answer the financial aid inquires of prospective students. The hotline, which operates year-round, employs up to 12 representatives at peak times. If these representatives cannot sufficiently answer a prospective student‘s inquiry, the question is forwarded to University personnel at end of the day. Drexel also uses the call center for ―outgoing call campaigns, both pre-recorded and live.‖9

In fiscal year 2005, ―the call center handled 4,700 inbound and 4,800 outbound phone calls related to financial aid packages. In fiscal year 2006, the center handled 8,500 inbound calls and 16,000 outbound calls.‖10

Campus staff handle all inquiries made by enrolled students, which Drexel officials find to be more complex, requiring a greater degree of expertise.11

Student-Staffed To make their call centers more affordable, and more efficient, some colleges hire current students or recent grads to staff their call centers. Because they are familiar with the day-to-day issues facing most students, as well as the campus environment in

6 Guy Healy, ―Even student recruitment migrates to call centres,‖ The Australian, October 3, 2007. 7 Ibid. 8 Briggs, L. ―Can a Dedicated Call Center Boost Enrollment?‖ Campus Technology, January 24, 2008.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/57709/ 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid.

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general, such individuals are often highly effective at their jobs. Below, Hanover details a model from St. Johns University, who has employed this method. The 18,000 students at St. John’s University in New York, in addition to prospective students, are served by a 10-12 person call center that fields calls for four departments – admissions, financial aid, the registrar‘s office, and the bursar‘s office. The center is open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. St. John‘s staffs the center with St. John‘s graduates. ―Former students can inject a personal touch when they advise students who are jumpy about leaving home for the first time to study in one of the world‘s most chaotic and exciting cities,‖ says the executive director of auxiliary services.12 Training is intensive; staffers are given one month of training in each of the four departments the call center serves.13 They are also drilled in phone etiquette.14 Once they have completed the training program, the center‘s employees normally work in four-person shifts. Computer databases connect each call center staffer to the same student records and online financial forms that an admissions officer accesses.15 The intensive training and integrated access pays off – a recent SJU study showed that only 15 percent of the queries had to be transferred.16 Staff are paid $11 to $12 per hour.17 In addition, SJU offers full-time call center staffers free tuition.18 The center averages over 1,000 calls daily.19 During daylight peak hours, staffers answer calls approximately every three minutes.20 Cost effectiveness studies have shown the call center saves the university over $50,000 in payroll annually.21 The center also saves departmental staff considerable labor hours.22

In-House Specialists

Other institutions prefer to staff their calling centers with specialists dedicated full or part-time to taking calls. Sometimes, if a calling department is large enough, certain individuals will be assigned different areas of specialization, enabling students to call

12 ―Center Fields 1,000 Calls Daily and Scores Big Savings,‖ Enrollment Management Report, December 18, 2003. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 ―Do the Math on the Call Center‘s Stats,‖ Enrollment Management Report, December 18, 2003. 16 Ibid. 17 ―Center Fields 1,000 Calls Daily and Scores Big Savings,‖ Op. cit. 18 Ibid. 19 ―Do the Math on the Call Center‘s Stats,‖ Op. cit. 20 Ibid. 21 ―Center Fields 1,000 Calls Daily and Scores Big Savings,‖ Op. cit. 22 Ibid.

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in to a main number with a very specific question and be directed to a specialist. For the sake of illustration, Hanover has detailed two institutions employing this approach, Sinclair Community College and Montgomery Community College.

In August 2002, Sinclair Community College opened a dedicated call center. Originally, the call center was established to serve four departments – administration, registration, financial aid, and the bursar‘s office. In time, however, it has expanded to become a point of contact for more general inquiries by prospective and current students. The call center staff ―answers the majority of inquiries directly; for more complicated questions, particularly about student financial aid, representatives may redirect the caller to the appropriate department.‖23 The center estimates that they receive 18,000 to 45,000 calls per month, ―all routed through one central phone number.‖24 In terms of staffing, in a 2006 article the supervisor of Sinclair‘s call center noted that the ―ideal staff size is 15 to 18 representatives, primarily part-time employees.‖25

In response to student complaints about getting the ―run-around‖ from administrators, Montgomery County Community College in Philadelphia, PA, opened a new call center on one of the College‘s two campuses to serve both its 24,000 current students and prospective students.26 The call center is ―part of a larger ‗Student Success Center‘ that serves walk-in student traffic with such services as registration and financial aid in a single location.‖27 The College now answers 80 percent of its calls within 30 seconds with just two full-time staff.28 If recent call statistics are any indication of current call volume, this means that during a peak period, staff are responsible for responding to 800 calls a day.29 It should be noted that during peak times such as lunchtime, support staff are added.

To ensure that a staff of three (two full-time, one part-time) could handle such a large volume of calls, Montgomery‘s call center uses a Siemens HiPath 4000 switch and a HiPath ProCenter call center server, which allows incoming calls to be sorted and routed by staff to the appropriate expert.30 The system also helps administrators by collecting data on when call volumes are heaviest, enabling center managers to determine when supplementary staff will be most needed.

MCCC also invested in an intensive training program. Staff members are trained by working for extended periods of time in a variety of topical areas for which they will

23 Jackson, A. ―Open Lines,‖ National Association of College and University Business Officers, December

2006. http://www.nacubo.org/x8590.xml 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 Briggs, L. Op. cit. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid.

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be responsible.31 To assist in the training process, ―coworkers in various areas provided a list of ‗top 10‘ questions students ask of them, leading to a detailed list of possible questions and answers.‖32 As a result of intensive training, staff members are able to immediately answer 80 percent of incoming calls and efficiently route other calls to the most appropriate contact.33

With the new system in place, MCCC officials indicate that complaints have virtually disappeared.34 Administrators believe that the call center has been a contributing factor to MCCC‘s increasing enrollment. ―Certainly, when you can answer a prospective [student‘s] questions instantly, as opposed to it going into a voice mail box where they might not hear back from someone for a few days … maybe by then they‘ve [chosen] another college.‖35 The call center has also helped MCCC achieve its goal to ―free up staff members working in the Student Success Center for face-to-face work with walk-in students, without the phone interruptions that used to be common.‖36 Reports are monitored regularly to make sure service quality goals are being met.

One-Stop Shops

Many institutions are now providing one-stop service centers that do everything from recruiting and admissions functions to academic advising and counseling functions. Institutions are increasingly taking such an approach towards student service in efforts to streamline student communication and minimize the hassles that students and prospective students often face when interfacing with a university. The University of Delaware created one of the first of such one-stop shops in the 1980s, which has served as a model for many similar centers since then.37 One-stop centers, says institutional innovation expert Darlene Burnett,38 generally consist of the following:39

Employees that generally fall into one of three categories: Generalists (20 percent), specialists (10 percent), and self-service (70 percent)

Redesigned service processes

Added value with each interaction (move from transaction to relationship)

31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 Burnett, D. "Innovation in Student Services: Best Practices and Process Innovation Models and Trends."

Society for College and University Planning, 8. http://www.scup.org/asset/48492/iss-1.pdf 38 Darlene Burnett is an independent consultant who helps institutions create student-centered experiences and

works with IBM‘s Best Practice Partner Program in this regard. For more from Darlene, see http://www.scup.org/page/pubs/books/pss

39 Burnett, D. Op. cit.

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Consistent, positive brand experience

Cross-functional teams

Technology to support information access of student and university data

Flexible space

Measurements of effectiveness and success

Back office process redesign, document management and workflow

Burnett also notes that it is important for one-stop centers to maintain flexible hours, as individuals often access school information on the web after normal working hours.40 To cite one example, the University of Cincinnati has a one-stop student services center, which handles everything from tuition payments and financial aid information to course registration and transcript requests.41 The institution‘s service works in conjunction with their website and enables students to choose between visiting a physical office with questions, handling issues over the web, or using a call-in service during normal business hours. By streamlining all student-related issues, the Cincinnati made a clear move towards student-centered services, which afford students with convenient, easy, real-time access to university staff and resources. The benefit of such a service lies in its ability to provide students with on-demand service without bogging down the schedules of the university staff at large. Students feel valued and cared for while the general administration can focus on the tasks needed to keep the university running smoothly.

40 Burnett, D. Op cit. 41 ―About Us.‖ University of Cincinnati One Stop Student Service Center Website

http://www.onestop.uc.edu/about_us.html

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Impact of Call Centers on Campus Recruitment Capabilities

Whereas determining models is a helpful part of this discussion, it is equally important to determine how effective call centers actually are in boosting enrollment and student satisfaction. Looking first at enrollment, research did not uncover exact statistics on how implementing a call center changed or enhanced recruiting at a particular campus, but some general conclusions can be made. Firstly, a well-staffed call center can be a determining factor for students deciding whether to attend a particular school. As Linda Briggs at Campus Technology suggests,

When a prospective student phones a college for information, answering questions quickly might mean the difference between enrolling that student and having that student decide to go elsewhere.42

Students want, and increasingly demand, quick but appropriate answers to their questions. Just as a call to a customer service hotline for a business with a long wait annoys customers, calling a university and having to wait several minutes to speak to someone may annoy students, and divert their attention away from a particular institution. On the other hand, if an institution is able to provide excellent service over the phone, they have proven to prospective students that their university is tightly run and efficient, and offers quality products and services. Secondly, properly implemented call centers can drive campus ―sales.‖ For example, Rick Fort, owner of four Sylvan franchises in the 1990s, added several salespeople to his call center team and saw a boost in sales and revenue within four months of adding the new staff.43 Borne out of his education-sales centered idea, Fort founded Education Sales Management LLC, a virtual admissions service focused upon boosting enrollment through a sales-driven approach.44 ESM quickly expanded into higher education and the company now has offices in multiple states. ESM‘s success suggests that forming a call center is only part of an effective strategy to recruit students; the other part is staffing a call center with the kind of people who will put callers at ease and translate requests for information into effective sales conversions.

42 Briggs, L. Op. cit. 43 McGaw, R. "Beating the Recession: Higher-ed admissions role driving hiring need at ESM." Denver Business

Journal, May 15, 2009. http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/05/18/story8.html 44 For more information on Education Sales Management, please visit their website at http://www.education-

sales.net/index.cfm

http://www.education-sales.net/index.cfm

http://www.education-sales.net/index.cfm

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Call Center Satisfaction

One of the biggest challenges when considering recruitment and retention rates as they relate to call center structures at colleges and universities is that many institutions do not closely monitor the direct impacts that call centers have upon student recruitment or student retention statistics. Further, these outcomes are difficult to measure in the first place, as it is often unclear exactly what driving forces serve as tipping points. What is clearer, meanwhile, is the level of customer satisfaction associated with call centers, a likely indicator for both recruitment effectiveness and student retention. While research revealed a lack of specific satisfaction studies among university calling centers, some general industry studies – detailed below – are helpful in this discussion. When it comes to call center satisfaction, a recent article from Harvard Business Review entitled ―What Service Customers Really Want‖ is especially illuminating:

Our recent research demonstrates that when customers contact companies for service, they care most about two things: Is the frontline employee knowledgeable? And is the problem resolved on the first call? Yet those factors often aren‘t even on customer-service managers‘ dashboards. Most service centers continue to measure time on hold and minutes per call, as they have for decades. Such metrics encourage agents to hurry through calls—resulting in just the kind of experience customers dislike.45

Citing research from relationship management company Convergys, the Harvard Business Review suggests that as they work to increase efficiency, call centers are often missing the bigger issue of customer satisfaction. In looking at this consideration, Hanover has included a graph from Convergys‘ U.S. Customer Scorecard which helps to distinguish the factors driving overall call center satisfaction (See Figure 1A). Another figure from Convergys 2008 scorecard further elucidates this discussion. As readers can see in Figure 2A, Convergys found that a majority of customers, 68%, still prefer speaking directly with a customer service representative over any other communication method. In addition to overall satisfaction, Convergys also looked more specifically at the impacts of customer dissatisfaction. In general, Convergys found that upset customers often disappear without any indications. And in an economy where companies are looking to rebuild their brands, poor call center customer reviews are the last thing that organizations need. 46

45 Dougherty, D. and A. Murthy. "What Service Customers Really Want." Harvard Business Review, 2009.

http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/09/what-service-customers-really-want/ar/pr 46 Ibid.

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With Convergys‘ findings in mind, universities looking to closely monitor the relationship between college student recruitment and retention rates and a university call center should distribute call center satisfaction surveys, collect behavioral data on individuals who used the call-in service, and record actual conversations between call center agents and actual students (or prospects).47 In 2007 another study, by Beta Research Corporation, surveyed over 3000 panelists on their satisfaction with the call-center experience. After analyzing results from the survey, the company came to the following conclusions regarding call center best practices: 48

Telephone inquiries should be answered within a relatively short period of time – 6 or more rings before being connected is unacceptable.

Most prefer to speak to an actual person rather than an automated system – respondents who were initially connected to a "live" operator were significantly more likely to be satisfied with the service experience than those connected to an automated menu (78% vs. 49%).

Being put on hold for 3 or more minutes can have a negative impact on a company's image – 43% of those who were put on hold for more than 3 minutes said they now had a lower opinion of the company that they called.

And, eight in ten (80%) agree that the quality of the service received from a customer service representative is a good indication of the quality of that company's products or service.

Unlike Convergys, Beta focused its findings on technical indicators rather than actual customer ratings. However, both Beta and Convergys found that those who utilize call centers generally have high expectations. They expect timely, courteous, and appropriate answers to their questions. Correspondingly, when prospective students receive calls from schools, they expect clear, concise, and engaging pitches on what a particular institution can offer. Callers do not want to spend a long time waiting for answers or listening to a long pitch, rather they want quick but effective results.

47 Ibid. 48 "Consumers Who Have 'Positive' Call-Center Experiences Are More Likely to Say that They Are Satisfied

With That Company's Products And/Or Services Overall and Are More Likely to Purchase From That Company Again in the Future." Beta Research Corporation, March 2007. http://www.nybeta.com/news_2007_03_14.htm

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Multi-Platform Communication

As technology continues to evolve, campuses are increasingly using call centers in tandem with other technologies, such as computer-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools. Institutions use CRM tools to keep track of students‘ needs and concerns, and in the process build stronger relationships with their student body and prospective student pools by better understanding those needs. CRM tools are especially helpful for those interested in targeted recruiting. Relating to targeted recruiting, Richard Katz and Associates provide a useful example in their paper ―Web Portals and Higher Education: Technologies to Make IT Personal‖:

Institutions with specific enrollment goals to recruit certain types of students, out-of-state-students or minorities, for instance, can target specific groups and use data analysis to determine which prospects are most likely to apply and why. The school can then launch a personalized mailing or calling campaign targeted at recruiting each student based on his or her interests and background.49

With specific information about each student right at their fingertips via CRM software, either when cold-calling recruits or answering requests for information, calling centers are more likely to effectively address prospective students‘ concerns and make an effective sale. When it comes to implementing and utilizing CRMs, sources suggest that one of the biggest mistakes many employers make is focusing upon the technology instead of the customers (or in the case of universities, the students).50 An institution can build a ―smarter‖ and savvier CRM infrastructure to little or no avail, without first considering students. Do students want a better automated service and shorter call time, or do they want someone on the other line who makes them feel cared for, understood, and valued? As higher education consultant Darlene Burnett notes,

The focus of student-centered services is to ensure that each student‘s ‗touch point‘ with the institution provides the quality, accuracy, and responsiveness expected by today‘s students, whom many think of as customers.51

49 Grant, G and G. Anderson. "Web Portals and Higher Education: Technologies to Make IT Personal"

Richard Katz and Associates, Educause, 2000. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub5006f.pdf 50 Wailgum, T. "CRM Definition and Solutions." CIO.

http://www.cio.com/article/40295/CRM_Definition_and_Solutions 51 Burnett, D. Op. cit, 3.

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Citing the famous sales adage ―the customer is always right,‖ in order to remain effective, centers utilizing CRM tools and web applications must continue putting the customer first-regardless of how technologies shift and change. In efforts to show the prevalence and characteristics of multi-platform communication strategies across higher education, Table A highlights findings from Darlene Burnett‘s study of student services trends at 17 colleges and universities. In general, most institutions utilize a multi-platform approach, whether it is telephone and web; or telephone, web, and CRM-based. However, CRM tools appear less prevalent among colleges and universities. Of the 17 institutions Burnett profiled, only two had fully functioning Customer Relationship Management Processes. However, five of the 17 were implementing CRMs, three were in the process of designing CRMs, and six more were still planning CRMs.52 Only one, James Madison University, had no plans to design or implement a CRM.53 Additionally, Burnett found that thirteen of the seventeen institutions utilized a student-centered service approach and each of those that did either already had or were designing or planning a one-stop service center.54 What this evidence illustrates is that student-centered service generally correlates with the existence of one-stop service, and thus institutions looking to move in a more student-friendly direction should consider streamlining services into a one-stop shop.

52 Burnett, D. Op. cit, 4. See also Table A. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid.

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Relevant Tables and Figures

Figure 1A55

55 "Key Findings From the Convergys U.S. Customer Scorecard Research." Convergys, 2009.

http://www.convergys.com/vision/rm-insights/research/key-findings-us.php

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Figure 2A56

56 ―Key Findings…‖ Op. cit.

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Figure 357

57 ―Key Findings…‖ Op. cit.

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Table A58

58 Burnett, D. Op. cit, 4.

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Note This brief was written to fulfill the specific request of an individual member of The Hanover Research Council. As such, it may not satisfy the needs of all members. We encourage any and all members who have additional questions about this topic – or any other – to contact us.

Caveat The publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this brief. The publisher and authors make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this brief and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. There are no warranties which extend beyond the descriptions contained in this paragraph. No warranty may be created or extended by representatives of The Hanover Research Council or its marketing materials. The accuracy and completeness of the information provided herein and the opinions stated herein are not guaranteed or warranted to produce any particular results, and the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every member. Neither the publisher nor the authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Moreover, The Hanover Research Council is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. Members requiring such services are advised to consult an appropriate professional.

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