If your recruitment and communication plan include outgoing calls to prospects, then your team has been (hopefully) making many calls over the past few weeks. 
What happens when the call isn't answered? Do you leave a voice mail? If so, do those prospects return your calls?
Over the summer, I have had several coaching conversations with recruiters about the best ways to handle voice mails. I get questions like:
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What do I say in a voice mail if I've already left a message previously that wasn't returned?
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How long should my messages be?
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How many voice mails is too many?
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Great questions, right?
Here's the inside scoop with phone calls: they really aren't that different than emails. You still have some type of information you want to convey to your prospect, and you have an action that you want the prospect to take.
To help improve your response rate, here are three tips that will better engage your prospects:
TIP 1: Don't say, "give me a call any time."
If you're reason for calling is important, then you should have a valid reason for them to return your call. Using the phrase, "call me any time," suggests you're call wasn't very important. Instead, try being more direct with this: "Can you call me back this afternoon between 4 and 6?"
TIP 2: Give them your cell number - and tell them it's your cell number.
Now, I am not suggesting you give a prospect your personal cell number. If, however, your institution has provided you with a cell phone, then you should provide that number to prospects. You can absolutely choose not to answer those calls if they come outside of your work time.
If you do offer your cell number, try adding this to your message: "Can you call my cell between 4-6? If that doesn't work for you, you can also text me a couple of times you're available for me to call tomorrow."
TIP 3: Don't repeat your message during a follow-up call.
If you are calling for a second or third time, then you should ensure the message you leave for those subsequent calls is different than your original message. If the message you left on Tuesday didn't get the prospect's attention, why do you think the exact same message would work on Thursday?
On your first call, you may mention that you want to answer questions the prospect has. On the second, you may ask if you can learn more about her education goals to help determine if the program is the best fit.
Just be sure you are trying to provide a message engages the prospect.
In a world with fewer prospects and growing pressures for enrollment, it often only takes these small, some times miniscule changes to see a difference in enrollment. Imagine if each recruitment team member were to have 4 more conversations with prospects each week.
If you can convert only 1/4 of the prospects you are able to speak with, that could be an additional new student per recruitment person, per week. As we wrap up the busy season, we are scrambling to get those last few students to enroll. These added conversations could be an additional 10-20 new students.