For CDL training schools, speed matters. Every prospective student inquiry — regardless of the source — needs to be received, tracked and answered in a timely manner. In today’s competitive environment, even a short delay can mean losing a candidate to another school.
Be sure to build in redundancy.
This is why it’s important to build redundancy into both your lead-generation process and your social media account management. Regardless of the size of your school — whether you’re running a one-person office or managing a larger admissions team — there should never be a single point of contact when it comes to handling leads.
Consider these best practices:
• Make sure multiple people have access to incoming lead channels, passwords and account notifications. Whenever possible, make sure leads are routed to more than one email address (and more than just one person).
• Responsibilities for responses should be clearly defined. If someone is out sick, on vacation or leaves the company unexpectedly, inquiries still need to be monitored and answered without interruption.
• If you don’t use a customer relationship management system (CRM), make sure you have two different email destinations for your leads. If possible, use two different domains (e.g. “[email protected]” and “[email protected]”).
• Don’t use an individual account (for example, “[email protected]”) if you have more than one employee. Create a generic group email address like “[email protected]” or “[email protected]” where multiple people receive or have access to the leads. If you route leads to an individual email account — and that person is out for some reason — you’re leaving leads on the table.
Even with a lead management tool/CRM, you’re almost guaranteed that at some point there will be an issue with your lead flow integration. If possible, make sure you have an email or spreadsheet back up your leads.
Whether you use Gmail, Microsoft or another platform, there will be options available to create the redundancy.
The same principle applies to social media management.
Schools rely heavily on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to generate interest from prospective students, but problems can arise quickly if only one employee controls those accounts. Make sure administrative access is shared appropriately, login credentials are securely documented and that backup administrators are in place to prevent disruptions.
The bottom line is this: Being responsive to leads drives enrollment.
Schools that create reliable, redundant systems for lead handling and account management put themselves in a much stronger position to convert prospects into students — while avoiding costly communication breakdowns.
Steven Sardelli is director of product strategy for The Trucker Media Group. He has more than 20 years of experience in product strategy, product management, monetization and lead generation.
