My girlfriend and I get calls constantly; not because we’re popular but because we own credit cards, we applied for the super savers card at the local grocery store, we subscribe to magazines, we’ve ordered something online, etc. Our information has been distributed and sold to the highest bidding corporation whose aim is to sell us a product or service we don’t necessarily need, or more importantly something we don’t necessarily want. As a society we have dealt with this for years and now we don’t answer the phone if we don’t recognize the name on the caller ID, we hang up the minute we hear someone introduce themselves as “Jim from ABC company…,” we ignore anyone who sounds like they’re trying to sell us something. It’s become ingrained in our behavior as an automatic response to just say “not interested” or to simply hang up the phone. Even when they get us to hear them out, do we really listen? As admissions counselors, this is the cultural environment in which we have to work and the stigma we’re trying to overcome.

Our prospective students are no different than us when dealing with telemarketers and sometimes it feels like we’re fighting an uphill battle just to give them information about our program. As admissions counselors, we know that our client schools provide a quality education, we know our prices are competitive, and we know how convenient this can be for most of our prospective students. It’s just getting past that first wall of apprehension and uncertainty that proves to be most difficult. So what can we do to overcome this? We have to consistently separate ourselves from these salesman and telemarketers. We need to use different verbiage and be forthcoming with our students. We need to respect their boundaries and not be pushy or aggressive. We need to be better listeners and need to be experts in what we’re advocating We need to make sure that it’s their decision and that we are simply there to give them the information and guidance they need. The minute we get desperate, withhold information, misinform or use fear we get lost in the shuffle and become the very thing that we’re all trying to avoid.