1. Effective Retention Strategies to Keep Your Families Enrolled
Rick Newberry, Ph.D.

2. Overview
During this module we will discuss your retention plan to keep your current families enrolled.

3. Retention is part of your overall enrollment management strategy.
Introduction
Retention is part of your overall enrollment management strategy.

4. Tuition and Financial Aid
Re-Recruitment
/ Retention
Tuition and Financial Aid
Recruitment
Marketing
Enrollment Management

5. Develop Your Re-Recruitment Plan
Enlist a Retention Champion and Include Everyone in the Effort
Focus on the Transition Grades
Re-enrollment vs. Continuous Enrollment
Internal Marketing During Re-Enrollment
Measure your Retention Rate
Conduct an Annual Parent Satisfaction Survey
Conduct Exit Surveys with Non-Returning Parents

6. Develop Your Re-Recruitment Plan
Reach Out “One Family at a Time”
Roll Out the Red Carpet
Send Personal Notes
Tell Real Stories
Coffee and Conversation
State of the School Address
Create Community Connections

7. The mark of a great school includes a retention rate of 90% or higher.

8. The Mark of a Great School
Strong Retention – 90% or higher
Strong Parent Satisfaction – 4.0 score or higher on a parent survey
Strong Net Promoter Score – 50 or higher NPS

9. Re-Recruitment
The strategy and process for recruiting your current families to continue enrollment in your school for the next year.
Re-recruitment is the activity that leads to retention.
It is the process of recommitting your families for next year.

10. False Assumption
We can no longer assume that just because a family is enrolled this year they will be back for another year.

11. More Cost-Effective
It is more cost-effective to retain a family than it is to recruit a replacement.
Typically, retention is the greatest issue between the transition years (Preschool to Kindergarten; 5th to 6th grade; 8th to 9th grade).

12. The Value of Your Families
Have you ever considered the value of the students enrolled at your school?
Opportunity to fulfill your mission
Opportunity to make a life-changing impact on the life of a student
Opportunity to gain revenue not only for this year but for the entire span of your school’s grade levels

13. The Value of Your Families
A parent with a Kindergarten student is enrolled in your school; what does this family represent?
A potential student for your class next year
A future student for every grade level
A potential parent to tell other parents in the community about your school
More opportunity to accomplish your mission
An opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child during their key formative years
Tuition revenue for the next 8 years

14. Tuition Revenue Lost
If tuition is $15,000 at your school then this child will result in $180,000+ in additional tuition revenue (not including tuition increases, fees and annual fund gifts) from 1st through 12th grade.
What’s the financial impact if the student leaves?
After Kindergarten = $180,000+ is lost to your school.
After 5th grade = $105,000+ is lost to your school.

15. Retention in Higher Education
Vincent Tinto wrote a book called: Leaving College in 1987 and revised it in 1994.
The key to effective retention, Tinto demonstrates, is in a strong commitment to quality education and the building of a strong sense of inclusive educational and social community on campus.

16. Retention in Schools
The same principles apply for schools in regards to retention:
Parents will most likely continue enrolling in your school when they are satisfied with the overall educational experience.
Parents will most likely continue enrolling in your school when their family is connected to the community (friends, faculty, groups, activities, etc.).
Parents will be more likely to continue their sacrifice and investment in your school when they are satisfied and connected.

17. Do you know why families leave your school?

18. Why do families leave your school?
Financial reasons
Rising cost of tuition
Moving / Relocating to another area
Desire a “free” education at a public school
Lack of programs
Disciplinary issues
Conflict with school philosophy or specific issue
Perceived prestige of other schools

19. Why do families leave your school?
Other school has more “extras”
Desire for more programs in athletics or arts
Need a specialized program (e.g. learning differences)
General dissatisfaction
Lack of leadership and vision for the future

20. Do you know why families stay at your school?

21. Why families stay at your school:
Overall satisfaction with the school experience
Student and parent connections with faculty, coaches, staff and peers
Environment and community of the school
Commitment to and belief in your mission
Ability and willingness to pay tuition
They believe in the difference your school makes
Desire for the best education

22. Why families stay at your school:
The school’s perceived value matches the actual educational experience and there is a willingness and commitment to stay and pay.

23. The Key to Retention
Parent satisfaction is the key for retaining families at your school.
The higher the satisfaction level, the higher the commitment and likelihood of your parents to stay and pay for another year.

24. Collecting the Data

25. Collecting the Data Understanding your Retention Situation
Measure your Retention Rate
Conduct an Annual Parent Satisfaction Survey and measure your Net Promoter Score
Conduct Exit Interviews or Surveys with Non-Returning Families

26. Measure Your Retention Rate

27. Retention Rate It is important to track your school’s retention rate.
(# of students re-enrolled in new year)
Divided by
(Total number of students in previous year minus graduating class = students eligible to re-enroll)
By Division, Transition Grade and Grade Level

28. Retention Rate
A weekly enrollment dashboard report should be produced showing the number of students that have completed re-enrollment by grade level:
Number eligible to re-enroll
In-process
Contracts received
Deposits received
Cancelled

30. Conduct Research

31. Parent Feedback
Survey your parents annually by conducting an overall parent satisfaction and perception survey.
Look for areas of dissatisfaction to improve the quality of the school.
Report findings from the survey back to parents.
Best time to survey parents is Oct/Nov and Jan/Feb/Mar.

32. Parent Survey
It is important to measure parent satisfaction on an annual basis by conducting a parent survey.

33. Exit Survey
Conduct exit interviews when parents choose not to re-enroll at the school.
Survey
Phone Survey
In-house versus Consultant

34. Action Steps Understanding your Retention Situation
Measure your Retention Rate
Conduct an Annual Parent Satisfaction Survey and Net Promoter Score
Conduct Exit Interviews or Surveys with Non-Returning Families

35. Developing Your Re-Recruitment Strategy
Effective strategies to retain current families at your school for another year.

36. Part 1
Working the System: Reorienting Your School Community Around Retention
Parent Satisfaction
Leadership and Vision
Enlist a Retention Champion and Include Everyone in the Effort
Roles of Faculty and Staff

37. 1–Parent Satisfaction

38. The Key to Retention
Parent satisfaction is the key for retaining families at your school.
The higher the satisfaction level, the higher the commitment and likelihood of your parents to stay and pay for another year.

39. The Key to Retention Academic programs College preparation and R.O.I.
Communication
Community
Customer service
Extracurricular programs
Faculty and staff
Safety and security of the school environment

40. 2–Leadership and Vision

41. Leadership, Improvement & Vision
The vision and drive toward school improvement—increasing the quality of the educational experience—will be critical to your ability to increase retention.
The confidence of the parents in the leadership of the school will have a significant impact on retention.

42. Leadership, Improvement & Vision
Envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities.
What is your vision? What is your picture of the future?
“Leaders have a desire to make something happen, to change the way things are, to create something that no one else has ever created before.” (Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge)
Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations. Is your vision shared?

43. Implementation of Vision
The implementation of your vision will be critical for creating enthusiastic support for your school. It will also empower word-of-mouth marketing.
It’s been said that:
“Vision without implementation is hallucination.”

44. 3–Retention Champion

45. Who is responsible for the re-recruitment strategy at your school?

46. Implementation of Vision
While retention is the responsibility of everyone at your school, it must be “championed” by someone.
This retention “champion” should lead the strategy and should report directly to the head of school on the initiatives and results.
The Head of School, Principals or Director of Enrollment are typically the best leaders to “champion” the retention effort.
In addition, your leadership team should be focus on retention issues that can affect enrollment.

47. Responsibilities
Develop and implement the re-recruitment strategy and process
Present issues to the school leadership that impact retention
Report on retention of students and families on a weekly basis to the leadership team
Develop intervention and follow-up with families and students “on the fence”
Lead the re-enrollment effort

48. 4–Roles of Faculty and Staff

49. Everyone’s Responsibilities
Retention is the responsibility of every faculty and staff member at your school:
Performance
Relationships
Quality
Communication
Service

50. Every moment in your class, in the hallway, on the field, on the stage, or in your office is a:
Brand moment in your school
Recruitment moment in your school
Retention moment in your school
Marketing moment in your school

51. Every member of your school’s team—faculty and staff—is a brand manager, customer service specialist, marketing director, word of mouth ambassador and re-recruitment advocate for your school.
It’s everyone’s business and responsibility.

52. Some Gripes and Concerns
I don’t have the time.
I don’t know what to do.
I don’t like sales.
It’s the job of the admissions and marketing staff.
Visitors are an interruption to my class.
Parents are a pain.
That’s not my area.

53. #1—Serve with Excellence
Your first and primary role at your school is to serve the school with excellence in your area of responsibility.
You are your school’s brand.
What you do best that only you can do.
Everyone is equally important in this effort.

54. On the Inside
Karl Speak, Beyond Marketing Thought
“The brand on the outside is only as strong as the brand on the inside.”

55. #2—Focus on Retention
Focus on intentionally retaining students and families within your sphere of influence.
Encouragement to remain part of the community.
Promote the next grade level and continuing through graduation.
Recruit students to the highest division in your school.

56. #3—Work Together as a Team
Make every effort to make this one school where everyone works together toward the same goal.
Eliminate silos and your own “kingdom.”
The admissions, marketing and communications team must work together with the faculty and staff as one team.

57. #4—Be United in the Message
While there are many areas to focus at your school, it is critical that we all believe in and communicate consistent key messages about your school.

58. #5—Diffuse Negatives
You have the opportunity and responsibility to turn negative conversations and gossip into positive brand moments.
Administrators
Faculty & Staff
Parents & Students

59. #6—Celebrate
Celebrate the successes of your students, parents and colleagues.
As a community, we need to be intentional about taking the opportunity to celebrate the successes of our students, parents and colleagues.
As we celebrate, we openly share stories that lead to positive word of mouth.

60. #7—Welcome Visitors Welcome visitors on campus.
When a prospective parent or student visits your classroom, stop what you are doing and introduce yourself and your class to them.
When you see a prospective parent or student on a tour, take a moment to welcome them to your school.
Create a welcoming environment.

61. #8—Reach Out
Through your natural contacts, you have an opportunity to be an ambassador for your school by inviting friends to visit the school.
Nudge friends to consider the school.
Invite at least one key influencer or friend to visit your school.

62. #9—Be Personal and Communicate
Take the time to make personal connections with parents and students.
A handwritten note.
A positive about their child.
A birthday card on their special day.
Something memorable that will be talked about.

63. Personal Notes
The power of a personal note of encouragement about a child can go a long way in making a positive connection with a parent, alumnus or donor.
100 Faculty and Staff X 5 Personal Notes/Week
500 Personal Notes Every Week
26,000 Personal Notes During the Year

64. #10—Capture the Moment
As we work to tell our story, we will effectively communicate who were are internally to our parents and externally to the community. We have great learning experiences that take place everyday and we need you to capture these moments so that our story can be told.

67. Capture One Moment Every Month
If every faculty and staff member captured one moment every month, your marketing staff would have a ton of stories to tell.
Think about how you can promote your area and capture the best moments to share with the team.

68. #11—Write a Blog or News Post
Write one blog post showcasing your educational expertise on a topic that will be of interest to current and prospective parents and students.
Write a news post showcasing something that happened in your area.
Promote your expertise and the great things happening in your area.

69. #12—Share Your Story
As you share your story of why you love working at your school with the enrollment and marketing team, we will be able to better tell the school’s story online.

70. #13—Provide Outstanding Service
Provide outstanding service to the families at your school.
Roll out the red carpet for your families.
Create a “WOW” experience for your families.
Respond to parents in a timely manner.

71. Part 1 – Action Steps
Working the System: Reorienting Your School Community Around Retention
How satisfied are your parents? Are you measuring parent satisfaction?
Is your leadership leading with vision?
Assign a retention champion.
Discuss roles with your faculty and staff.

72. Part 2 – Parent Outreach Identify and reach out to your families.
Grade Your Families
One Family at a Time Outreach
Transition Grade Level Outreach

73. 1–Grade Your Families

74. Grade Your Parents
By giving your parents a grade on their likelihood to return to your school, you can focus on those that are in question.

75. FMS
Grade all of your students eligible to re-enroll using the following grades:
F – Firm = very likely to return
M – Moderate = on the fence
S – Shaky = unlikely to return
Z – Cancel = will not return

76. Plan Interventions Indicators of at-risk students and families:
Academic performance
Disciplinary issues
Disgruntled families
Late tuition payments
Students and families not plugged into the community and lack of involvement

77. Plan Interventions
Plan interventions to work with at-risk students and families.
Personal meeting and team approach
Progress steps toward better integration

78. 2–One Family at a Time

79. ”One-Family-at-a-Time”
Hold personal meetings with families as part of your “one-family-at-a-time” approach.
Focus on the level of commitment to continue enrollment
Deal with specific issues and objections
Better forecast retention earlier on in the school year

80. Plan Interventions
Plan interventions to work with at-risk students and families.
Personal meeting and team approach
Progress steps toward better integration

81. 3–Focus on Transition Grades

82. Focus on the Transition Grades
A school will typically lose the most students in the transition grades.
Therefore, the re-recruitment strategy should focus on the transition grades (Pre-school to Kindergarten; 5th to 6th grade, 8th to 9th grade).

83. Home Dessert Meeting
Ask parents to hold a dessert “briefing” in their home to discuss the transition to the next level.
All parents in a transition grade would be invited to attend an event in the home of a current parent.
Head of school and appropriate leadership provides overview of the next level and allows for questions to be expressed.

84. “Next Year and Beyond” Meetings
Hold informational meetings for parents at the school to gain an overview of the next grade level.

85. Step-Up Days
Hold “Step-up” days in early Spring for students in transition grades. This will help students experience what it will be like at the next level.

86. Mentoring/Buddy Program
Create a mentoring/buddy program to connect a student in a transition grade with a student in the next level of your school.
Connect older students with younger students in a buddy program.

87. An Example from Eastern Christian
8th to 9th Transition Plan
Monthly series of events.
Folder with an invitation from the principal, a course catalogue so that the families can see all of the great offerings that the high school offers, a calendar of events, and a business card from the director of enrollment.  

90. An Example from Nardin Academy
Personal contacts to parents in transition grades by Principals
Transition grade preview event/meeting
Positive encouragement notes from teachers in transition grades
Teacher involvement in retention
Series of messages/stories

91. An Example from Nardin Academy
Website and Social Media
Stories of the grade-level educational experiences/activities
A day in the life of students
Teacher stories
Why Nardin? Campaigns

92. Part 2 – Action Steps Identify and reach out to your families.
Grade Your Families
Plan your “One-Family-at-a-Time” Outreach
Develop your Transition Grade Level Outreach

93. Part 3 – Continuous Enrollment
Implement the best plan and system to continually enroll your families every year.
Re-Enrollment
Continuous Enrollment

94. 1–Re-Enrollment

95. Why Re-Enrollment?
It is your goal to re-enroll your parents in a timely manner so that you can have enrollment predictability and budget accordingly.

96. Re-Enrollment Strategies
High demand and limited seats
Re-enrollment/matriculation fee
Tuition deposit/down-payment
Discount by early date
Penalty applied if re-enrolled after date
Continuous/Automatic enrollment

97. 2–Continuous Enrollment

98. ?????????????????? The Problem with Re-Enrollment
Why do schools place doubt in parent’s minds every year by asking them if they plan to return the following year?
??????????????????

99. Continuous Enrollment
Three Reasons
Opt-Out
Simpler, Easier Process
Positive Messaging

100. Moving to Continuous Enrollment
Develop a Opt-Out date.
Consider the financial commitment for continuous enrollment.
Consider the penalty for not returning after the Opt-Out date.

101. Tips for Implementing Continuous Enrollment:
Include your Business Department/Tuition Billing staff in the planning.
First year is “transition” from old contract to new.
The benefit for your parents is the elimination of a process to make it easy for them.
Develop your language carefully (“fee” vs “payment” vs. “deposit”)

102. Tips for Launching Continuous Enrollment:
Train your front line so they know the new language and can answer questions
Let parents know you’re serving them through this process, not the school
Communicate, communicate, communicate!

104. Eastern Christian’s Continuous Enrollment Video

105. After Re-Enrollment / Continuous Enrollment Period
Thank Parents – School leaders often forget this step after a family completes the re-enroll process.
Send a school-branded gift
Ask them to write a online review
Ask them to post a Facebook status update on their profile

106. Timeline January and February Continuous enrollment period
Launch internal marketing campaign
Transition grade meetings
State of the school report
Coffee meetings
Parent ambassadors contact parents

107. March Opt-out Date Automatically invoice continuing families
Timeline
March
Opt-out Date
Automatically invoice continuing families

108. Continuous Enrollment Campaign
Re-state your brand messages/distinctiveness
Remind parents of what has been accomplished
Look toward next year present vision
Communicate by using banners, on-campus billboards and small group events
Hold an all-school “spirit” event after the holidays
Enlist grade level volunteers to call parents to encourage re-enrollment

109. Part 3 – Action Steps
Implement the best plan and system to continually enroll your families every year.
Is your Re-Enrollment process/strategy working?
Should you consider implementing Continuous Enrollment?

110. Part 4 – Reaching Parents
Implement strategies to reach your parents.
Communication
Customer Service
Create Community Connections

111. 1–Communication and Storytelling

112. Tell Stories
Communicate stories about your alumni, faculty, staff and students and relate them to your brand.
Parents need to see their child in the story of your school. Therefore it is essential for you to share stories of real people and real stats that focus on your key brand messages.

113. Tell Stories
One of the most important components for your retention strategy is communication with your parents.
Communicate often.
Focus on communicating your brand messages.
Share stories about your graduates making a difference in college and in the world.
Share stories about your faculty and students.

114. Weekly Email Newsletters
Develop an weekly newsletter that communicates important news, events and announcements for the upcoming week.

119. Story-Focused Newsletter
Develop a story-focused newsletter that pushes out key stories from the website to parents and other key constituents. This could be sent monthly or every other week.

122. Video Newsletter
Create a monthly or quarterly video newsletter. This should be hosted by a student and the content should focus on a key area of the school.

123. Video Newsletter Linfield Christian School – Inside the Pride
Santa Fe Christian School – Catch the Spirit

124. Facebook Group
Develop a closed Facebook group for current parents to receive updates about the school and to also share with one another.

125. App
Implement an app that can be used on smart phones and iPads for parents to receive information and news about the school.

126. Coffee and Conversation
Develop a regular opportunity to parents to connect with the principal and head of school for coffee and conversation.

127. State of the School
Develop a annual state of the school meeting to share progress, results and vision for the future.

130. 2–Customer Service

133. Customers are the people we serve.
Customer Service
Customers are the people we serve.
Service is the intentional way that we treat, care for and respond to people throughout the educational experience.

134. Commitment to Service
It is important to have a customer service approach when working with your families.
Take the time to listen
Respond in a timely manner
Always demonstrate care and concern to your parents
Hold all employees accountable to upholding your customer service expectations.
Provide customer service training for your school team.
Treat your families like celebrities!

135. Think about every facet of the customer experience at your school.

136. The Experience First impressions Contact – Phone, Web, In-Person, etc.
Parent need – Question, concern/issue, response to request, etc.
Follow-up – Our response
The total experience, the culture and the “vibe”

137. Robert Spector and Patrick McCarthy,
“The person who answers your phone is your public voice, the voice that tells your customer that you want their business and will do whatever it takes to win their trust.”
Robert Spector and Patrick McCarthy,
The Nordstrom Way

138. Some Advice

139. Our parents are our main customers.
1 – Why is this Important?
Our parents are our main customers.
Without parents, we don’t have students. Without students, we don’t have a school and can’t fulfill our mission.

140. Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience
2 – Just Say Yes
“What if you could find a way to say yes more frequently? What if you trained yourself and your team to think creatively when a customer has an unusual request? What if, instead of saying no, you asked yourself how?”
Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience

141. 3 – Create A “WOW” Culture
Roger Clodfelter, Director of WOW at HPU:
“Here, we think big. If we have to pull back later, we do, but we always start by thinking as big as we can. We decide what we want to do and then we create systems for getting it done.”
Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience

142. Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience
4 – First Impressions Matter
”It’s the first impressions that you make on a customer that lay the foundation for the rest of the relationship.”
Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience

143. Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience
5 – It Takes a Team
“You can develop a slick marketing campaign that includes a catchy slogan, the perfect colors, and a fabulous web site, but if you and everyone involved with your company do not deliver the goods, you might as well throw the marketing materials in the wastebasket.”
Donna Cutting, The Celebrity Experience

144. 6 – Customers Aren’t Always Right
Just because a parent is a paying customer doesn’t mean that they are always right.

145. 7 – Be Unforgettable
When you serve your parents or students in an exceptional way or do something that is memorable, this creates a moment that will be shared by word of mouth.

146. 8 – Be Exceptional
Exceptional customer service can help your school stand out in a crowded marketplace!

147. 3–Community Connections

148. Community Connections
Families are more likely to remain enrolled when they are connected to groups within your school community.

149. What can you do to intentionally foster community connections at your school?

150. Community Connections
Begin with new students and parents
School-wide events
Mentoring programs
Student to Student
Parent to Parent
School spirit
Head of School/Principal coffees, chats, etc.
Home dessert vision casting

152. Develop an annual plan to intentionally create community connections at your school for students and parents.

153. Part 4 – Action Steps Implement strategies to reach your parents.
What communication strategies do you need to implement at your school?
Have you provided customer service training for your faculty and staff?
Do you have an annual plan to intentionally create community at your school?

154. Q&A

155. Rick Newberry, Ph.D.