Reimagining The Higher Education Call Center For A More Engaged Student Experience.

Sextant Marketing offers customized, concierge-level enrollment management services through our Enhanced Student Services (ESS) program. Acting as a true extension of your institution, Sextant ESS offers a seamless solution for expanding your team with knowledgeable, friendly advisors who are uniquely trained and dedicated to helping your students navigate their journey from first time enrollment through to graduation.

The foundation of Sextant’s ESS program rests on years of experience building high performance student recruitment and support teams in the OPM space. It has evolved with the ability to seamlessly integrate at various stages of the enrollment process depending on your institution’s needs. This offers our clients customized operational and financial flexibility to add services as needed or engage to in a full funnel recruitment relationship.

Our Approach To Recruiting & Retention

Sextant enrollment services, including recruiting and retention, rest on strategies for increasing student enrollment built with over 20 years of experience. “We Get Students” because we ‘get’- understand – students, and the ever-changing landscape of higher education. When we partner up with a University to offer expert enrollment support services, we start with this tried-and-true approach.

Marketing

Modern prospective students require a new approach to brand development that involves digital and mobile marketing strategies requiring a new breed of marketing and technical skills. The Sextant Marketing team has developed an unrivalled capability to execute comprehensive integrated digital media strategies and plans that bring together creative and messaging campaigns that we develop with the technical realities of today’s marketing environment.

Technology

With more than 25 years of contact center experience, our technology team has a firm grasp on what it takes to run the tech side of a successful higher education student success center. Our core services are centered around a small, targeted offering of cloud-based software technology that can be seamlessly integrated with our clients’ platforms and we maintain the flexibility needed to execute using client-provided systems, too. Our tech team participates in regular continuing education and we are always ready for emergencies with redundant systems that allow us to operate with little to no downtime.

Data & Analytics

We strongly believe that the success of any long-term engagement is centered on relevant data and a robust reporting environment driven by established metrics. The sharing of that data with our university partners on a regular basis is paramount. Sextant’s client success management professionals and data analysts make proactive recommendations through live, automated, custom reports and performance is constantly evaluated for new opportunities.
We are driven by the concept of constructive dissatisfaction, the belief that no matter how good your performance is, or how many areas of opportunity arise, there is always room for improvement. That’s why we are always perfecting our approach to data and analytics, influencing the success of our strategic enrolment management as a whole.

High-Performing Outbound Telephone Recruitment Team

In the competitive environment of online and residential programs in higher education, the level of effort required to reach a prospective student can be grounds for a recruiting campaign lasting 6 – 12 weeks (if not more) and the ability to call and interact with students from 9am – 9pm within their respective time zones. Sextant partners with our client institutions to expand their teams because we understand that for many universities, developing and maintaining a high-performing outbound telephone recruitment and marketing team can be a challenging endeavor.
We engage with students on their terms, focusing on building relationships that foster continued engagement and progression within the enrollment funnel.

Flexibility (seasonal, expanded hours)

A Successful student recruitment and enrollment seasonal increases in both effort and manpower. Sextant helps our client partners by adding seasonal capacity to support peak enrollment periods and/or providing extended, after-hours coverage. Our Enrollment Support System is designed to offer almost immediate expansion capability with the ability to scale to meet our clients’ individual needs. Think of Sextant as an extension of your admissions team. We can be there when you cannot.

Strict Quality Control

At Sextant Marketing, we have a firm belief that says, “what gets measured gets done.” That belief comes from many years’ experience in higher education and success with measuring results and adjusting strategy or budget accordingly. The quality of conversation that we observe on behalf of our clients isn’t something that we take lightly. We do this independently with each team member on a weekly basis and we complete prescribed quality reviews with our partners.

Higher Education Enrollment Management Services

We don’t follow tradition.

We lead the way.

We learned long ago that you won’t fall off the edge of the world just because you can’t see what’s over the horizon. But, it helps to have a nimble, future-focused partner that can guide you through the next iteration of higher ed marketing, recruitment and enrollment.

Lead Qualifying/Appointment Setting

  • Conduct initial outreach to potentially interested students.
  • Develop a multi-touchpoint plan that includes:
    • Call strategy
    • SMS campaigns
    • Customized E-Mail Communication
  • Sextant Marketing can either perform a warm transfer directly to a member of the institution’s team or we can schedule an appointment.

Lead Re-Engagement & Nurturing

  • Create as much value as possible around the University’s existing and future database of leads.
  • Outreach to past leads that have gone dormant to recoup sunk marketing costs and increase lead to application conversion rates over an extended period.
  • Incorporate a multi-touch point plan like the plan developed for lead qualifying.

Application Completion/Application Re-activation

  • We help create students through personalized attention.
  • Students who have already shown interest through starting an application are more likely to respond to personal attention.
  • Sextant uses a robust infrastructure and tested strategy to outreach to students that did not complete their application to bring them back into the process for the following term(s).
  • We help make your database productive by focusing on previous applicants that did not complete their application to bring them back into the process.

Financial Aid Support

  • Sextant partners with clients as an extension of their Financial Aid team by providing concierge level support for prospective students.
  • We offer FAFSA walk throughs to guide students through the process.
  • Sextant works with students identified for verification to ensure all elements of the verification process have been completed and all documents submitted.
  • This level of service can serve as a brand differentiator for your University with great value to the prospective student.

Retention Services

  • Sextant employs new tools and strategies informed by high-tech data analytics and a deep understanding of students’ motivations and their barriers to completion.
  • Our team draws from decades of student retention experience to build strong recruitment campaigns that lead to sustainable enrollment pipelines.
  • Quality data and automation combined with high-tech personalization help get students back on track. 

Our Enrollment Support Leadership

Jimmy is a recognized leader with more than 30 years in the consumer engagement and operations space both domestically and internationally. He has more than 19 years of experience in the higher education space leading large-scale enrollment management and operations functions.

Jimmy holds an MA from Tusculum College with an emphasis in Applied Organizational Management, a BS, from Milligan College with an emphasis in Organizational Development and Master Certificates from Villanova University in Organizational Leadership and Human Resources. He is also a certified Scrum Product Owner.

Trudi has over 25 years of experience in higher education working as a member of Faculty, University Advising & Enrollment Management and as Assistant Dean within the Office of Undergraduate Students. Trudi’s greatest passion is working directly with students in an advising capacity to help them achieve their academic and professional goals. Her insights provide the unique opportunity to work with Administration, Deans and Dpt. Chairs to evaluate and re-design program admission requirements for student success.

Trudi received her Doctor of Philosophy and an MA, Student Affairs in Higher Education, Counseling from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She earned a BA, Psychology from Niagara University. Trudi also holds a Mental Health Counseling License for the State of Florida.

Client Outcomes

Sextant Marketing’s full-service enrollment and advising call center aligned with Kentucky State University to help take students from inquiry and application through to orientation and day one of class. We engaged potential students and previous KSU learners through phone, email, and direct mail.

Increased Fall Freshman Enrollment YOY 90.2%

Increased Spring Freshman Enrollment YOY 170%

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