Welcome back to Beyond the Tour where twice a month you'll receive practical tips and resources to help you get better at what you do. No fluff. All business. 

 

Let's do this. 

If You Do One Thing This Week:

💧Water your garden with love. 

Remind your own internal families why they love your school. 

 

This week: Call 3 families just to check in; share something delicious about their child, showing them how they are known and valued. Nurture the relationship and they will feel especially committed to the school. Chances are they will share the love with their friends, “Can I tell you how much I love our school? They called just to share something NICE. I mean, who does that!?” 

 

Bonus points: Call 5 families if you're especially motivated. You won't regret it. In fact, I bet it will help you fall in love with your school all over again, too. 

 

Let me know what happens. 

2 Tips to DO MORE:

💌 Showcase your expertise. Forward emails.  

When your Head of School (or Principal, or Teacher, or anyone) sends out a really good email, share it with prospective families. Give them a window into how your school communicates, and what's to come. You can say something like this: 

 

 

 

True Story: Years ago, I received an email from one of my own kids' teachers about how my child had struggled on the recent Math unit. By all grade metrics, she had “failed.” BUT NOT FOR THIS TEACHER. The letter was full of child-centered language, of this-is-what-I-am-seeing, of here's-what-we-do-with-it. It was a great example of my kids' school's values—excellence without the grade-obsessed pressure. I use that email all the time as a model of how regular communication reflects school values.  

 

And she's doing great in Math now, thanks for asking. 

 

️📊 Use data to manage hysteria.

Track your data on how many inquiries, tours, applications (and soon accepted / denied / parent declined / enrolled) students you have. 

Many schools get half of their eventual enrollment starting the process well after March 1. Knowing the rhythm of your school's enrollment will help prepare you and your school leadership for realistic enrollment trends. 

 

If you have a high volume of traffic, track weekly. 

If you're a smaller school with fewer than 50 new students coming in, tracking every other week or monthly may be enough. 

 

If you're already doing this, great. Look at the data and ask questions of it. Tighten the screws. You got this.  

📣Vendor friends! Each issue of Beyond the Tour reaches professionals in more than 300 schools and other institutions. With feedback like “I am obsessed with your newsletter and comb it through every week,” don't miss out on the chance to get in front of schools eager to get better at what they do. 

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If you like this quick-tips newsletter, join The Hub to keep the conversation going.

 

The Hub is an online group with exclusive content and monthly calls designed for enrollment and marketing professionals.

 

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🗓️UPCOMING EVENT 

 

 

What a treat: A five part series on enrollment and marketing strategic planning, just when we need it most. Join us for this series and learn how to get ahead in mapping out and creating your own enrollment management and marketing plan. The results will astound you and your school leadership. 

Wes Kao gives us helpful, concrete ways to offer feedback that is constructive for our leaders and will help our teams function in a more productive way. Hey, it will probably build your management muscles too. Check it out here.

If this newsletter resonates with you, here are three more ways I can help:

I’m a teacher at heart, and love helping people get better at what they do.

 

Let's get started,

 

Check out previous issues of Beyond the Tour here.