USjournal.com generates qualified inquiries for our exclusive list of U.S. colleges, universities and English Language Programs. The success of our clients, in terms of generating Return on Investment via tuition dollars, depends on what they do with those inquiries upon receipt.

We know for a fact that many colleagues struggle with the art and science of follow-up, because we communicate with students who use our site, and ask them directly about their experience. Most international admissions offices have some sort of automation set up to deal with inquiries; well, students expect much more than that.

Here's what your competition is doing: Phoenix University attempts to connect with inquiries via telephone within two minutes of the prospect submitting his / her number on an online form. Call centers in the U.S., Rotterdam and Dubai engage Phoenix University admissions counselors when the prospective student is ready to take action, no matter the time zone.

While that approach may be a bit extreme (and expensive), we encourage our clients to think creatively about providing the best (and fastest) possible response to initial inquiries, at least in your target markets. For example, set up your database system to identify prospective students from Korea, and automatically forward those inquiries to your partners in Seoul for immediate response from a real, live person who speaks the language.

Here's how USjournal.com can help: All clients can specify different e-addresses for each academic program they promote. This (complimentary) service is particularly helpful for clients with multi-lingual campaigns. Inquiries about ESL programs, generated via http://www.USAcademics-cn.com/ for example, may be sent to that particular campus' agent in Beijing, within a few seconds of the student clicking send on our inquiry form. If that same client prefers that all MBA inquiries are forwarded to the dean of their graduate school of business, we can do that, too.

Just let me know how we can help you connect the dots of your existing promotions: cheryl@USjournal.com. I would be delighted to speak with clients (and their I.T. Departments) about how to take advantage of simple technology to increase conversions of inquiries to enrollees: cheryl@USjournal.com (There is no additional charge for this service.) For subscribers who are not current USjournal.com advertisers, please see our Space Reservation Form: http://www.USjournal.com/en/educators/multilingual09.pdf

We welcome input about what you'd like to see and hear during these opportunities to learn more about the latest eRecruitment Trends and Techniques: cheryl@USjournal.com

• Monday, 16 March, Webinar: 3 p.m. EST
• Tuesday, 26 May, Workshop: 8 a.m. until noon PST
• Wednesday, 27 May, Session: 8 a.m. until 9:15 a.m. PST