Capturing leads in education has been 4RevOps' core business since the beginning of our activities.
Since then, we have learned a lot about what to do and what not to do in marketing and sales campaigns. In fact, we have seen inbound sales become the main and most effective sales strategy for educational institutions.
Continue reading and learn how to scale your enrollments with these 8 inbound sales tactics!
1. Active Listening
Active listening or, in good Portuguese, active listening, is the process of paying more attention to what the student has to say than to what you want to say.
This change in perspective places the student at the center of the sales process and allows rapport to be established, that is, a relationship of mutual trust, which reinforces the potential student's bond with your institution.
Active listening is essential for the success of inbound sales in higher education because the educational consultant has the chance to get to know the prospect in more detail, understand their difficulties, their dreams and their expectations regarding graduation.
This way, enrollment is completed with better quality and the student feels more confident with the decision.
2. Copywriting
Copywriting is a writing technique that aims to overcome customer objections through persuasive texts, which take the reader to the next step in the process of shopping day.
It is important to make it clear that this is not about trying to convince the student at any cost. A good copywriting strategy generates value, adds information, and clarifies doubts.
The educational consultant uses copywriting to maintain a dialogue with leads and prospects, using the marketing automation as a support tool to keep them nourished throughout the entire purchasing journey.
3. Assignment Selling
Assignment selling, or sales by assignment, is an indispensable component in inbound sales. It's about encouraging leads and prospects to learn more about your educational institution, its courses and infrastructure, before they come to see a consultant.
As you may have noticed, strategies for inbound marketing and content marketing, such as the production of e-books, infographics, cases and other pieces of content, with the aim of educating these students.
This way, when the educational consultant assists them, they do not need to repeat information such as the qualifications of the teaching staff, forms of entry and curriculum matrix. Service becomes more assertive and registration is carried out in less time.
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Inbound Sales
Artificial intelligence is transforming inbound sales in educational institutions. With it, it is possible to analyze large volumes of data and better understand the behavior of leads at each stage of the journey.
These insights allow for strategically personalizing approaches, increasing the chances of conversion. AI identifies patterns, preferences and even the ideal time to contact each potential student.
Another highlight is the use of chatbots and virtual assistants, which offer real-time support, answer common questions and direct leads to the next steps. This improves the user experience and optimizes the sales team's time.
Integrating these solutions with tools such as educational CRM makes the sales process smarter and more scalable. In a competitive scenario, this automation becomes a valuable differentiator for capturing and nurturing leads efficiently.
5. Social Selling
Social selling, or social sales, are sales strategies applied to social networks, platforms where the majority of users are exactly the age group that an educational institution seeks to address. Therefore, it is another inbound sales tactic to be applied when attracting students to educational institutions.
Once again, it is necessary to emphasize that this strategy does not consist of approaching social media users with ready-made proposals or sending massive advertising messages.
The idea is to establish contact, nurture a relationship and generate engagement with this audience so that each lead walks naturally through the process of the sales funnel.
READ THESE ARTICLES TOO:
- How to capture leads with inbound sales in the education sector;
- How to capture qualified leads in a digital marketing campaign?
- What is CRM and how can you use it to boost your student’s capture?
6. Smarketing
Alignment between marketing and sales, also called smarketing, is essential to increase the recruitment of students to educational institutions as both sectors seek the same objective: generating more enrollments.
For your inbound sales strategy in higher education to be successful, marketing must do its part by creating ways to attract students interested in entering a degree and transforming them into qualified leads for the inbound sales team.
Continuity of work occurs with closer contact with consultants, nurturing prospects with sales letters and emails more focused on the conversion itself.
7. Interactive Content and Engagement
The use of interactive content, such as quizzes, polls and online calculators, is gaining prominence in inbound sales strategies. These formats encourage active participation from leads, providing a more engaging and personalized experience. In addition, they facilitate the collection of relevant data, allowing for more precise and effective segmentation in communication with potential students.
8. CRM
The concept of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) goes far beyond the use of customer management software. The term refers to a set of strategies that aim to provide value to the student by placing them at the center of all processes at their educational institution.
This way, it is possible to understand what needs your educational institution can meet, what types of differences it can offer and how to promote two-way communication, based on active listening and continuous feedback.
CRM as an inbound sales strategy for educational institutions provides precious data for customizing sales strategies capturing leads in education, such as the behavioral profile of the educational institution's audience, most frequently asked questions and the nutrition time needed to reach enrollment.
9. Targeted Microcampaigns
In an increasingly competitive educational scenario, targeted microcampaigns emerge as an effective strategy for reaching specific niches. By segmenting campaigns to groups with common interests, such as specific courses or age groups, institutions can communicate more assertively, increasing the chances of conversion and strengthening the relationship with the target audience.
10. Lead scoring
Lead scoring consists of segmenting your lead base according to the purchasing journey, identifying those who are most prepared to enter higher education and, consequently, become students.
This inbound sales tactic can be applied in different ways, but the center of it is to set a score for each lead and each interaction they have with your educational institution. When the score reaches the “qualified lead” level, your team of consultants takes action to achieve conversion.
Caption: Person analyzing growth chart on a notebook, representing increased enrollments through inbound sales tactics.
11. Offer consultancy, not courses
In their eagerness to close more enrollments and hit ongoing intake targets, many sales teams literally “push” courses that have nothing to do with the student’s profile. That's why in inbound sales, we don't talk about salespeople or the sales team. We talk about educational consultants.
The role of the sales team is to guide students, providing all types of information that helps them make better choices, according to their needs, dreams and desires.
More than closing a goal, the educational consultant must have a long-term vision, enrolling those students who will certainly remain at the institution until graduation.
Consultative sales are focused on quality, much more than the quantity of students enrolled. It's better to have a room with 20 students who have attended your educational institution for the next 4 years than to have a room with 60 who won't make it halfway through the course, do you agree?
Summary: Scaling enrollments with inbound sales requires tactics such as active listening, CRM, AI, social selling, lead scoring, and interactive content. With a consultative focus and automation, educational institutions qualify leads accurately, reduce dropouts, and increase conversions more efficiently.
How to use inbound sales to increase enrollments in education?
What is inbound sales and why does it work for educational institutions?
Inbound sales is an approach that places the student at the center of the sales process, focusing on active listening, personalization, and relationship building. Instead of “selling courses,” the team acts as consultants, guiding the student in the best choice — which increases conversion and reduces dropout.
What are the most effective inbound sales tactics in higher education?
The main ones include active listening, use of CRM, lead scoring, social selling, interactive content, automation with artificial intelligence, segmented microcampaigns, and consultative sales. These strategies integrate marketing and sales to capture students more accurately.
How does CRM help in student acquisition with inbound sales?
CRM organizes lead data, identifies behaviors, records interactions, and allows you to create personalized nurturing flows. This way, your team knows exactly when and how to approach the student, optimizing the process until enrollment.
What is lead scoring and how can it be applied to educational institutions?
Lead scoring is the score that measures the level of interest and engagement of each lead. By assigning values to actions such as opening emails, downloading materials or visiting course pages, the institution identifies who is ready to talk to a consultant and focuses efforts on the most qualified leads.
How important is active listening in educational sales?
Active listening allows you to understand the real pain points, doubts and desires of the student. This generates trust, creates a bond with the institution and makes the enrollment decision more solid. It is one of the bases of consultative and effective sales in inbound sales.
Is inbound sales just automation and technology?
No. Although tools such as AI, CRM and automation help a lot, inbound sales also depends on a consultative approach, empathy, continuous dialogue and a focus on the quality of enrollments. The goal is to attract the right students, not just fill vacancies.
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