In a Changing World with a Small Budget, Christian Brothers University Grows and Evolves with TargetX Recruitment Suite and Premier Services

“My Vice-President had a friendly relationship with individuals at Maryville University in St. Louis who used TargetX with great success,” says Kristi Forman, director of admissions. That relationship led to CBU demoing the TargetX Recruitment Suite and quickly realizing it had everything they needed and more.

The TargetX Recruitment Suite provides the full range of tools needed to recruit more students, convert more applicants, increase ROI, and take an institution’s data further. The communications capabilities of the Recruitment Suite, which allows for targeted, personalized campaigns that optimize emailing, texting, and events management—was exactly what CBU craved. 

The next hurdle was to ensure the CBU team could handle the maintenance and administration of their tools. In a perfect world, CBU would have hired a CRM administrator, but they knew they didn’t have the budget for a new hire. They found a much more affordable option in TargetX Premier Services, which became an extension of their team. They also promoted an eager, and curious staffer to learn the ropes alongside the TargetX Premier staff. 

“The TargetX Premier staff was really great about showing Jordan how to maintain the system and use any new updates or projects we asked of TargetX in the most strategic and optimal way possible,” explained Forman. “Because of Premier Services, we are able to launch efficiencies so much faster and smarter now.”

TargetX Premier Services provides three options for service that go beyond the support received with CRM implementation: Premier Lite, Premier, and PremierX. CBU chose the mid-range option that provides Upgrade Assist, Configuration Assistance, and Webinar Trainings. 

Upgrade Assist is the ability to submit a request for TargetX package upgrades to be completed by a TargetX Specialist as frequently as once per month. Configuration Assistance allows clients to submit a request for Configuration of the TargetX Product by a TargetX specialist with up to 3 open configuration requests at a time. Premier clients also receive 24 Webinar Trainings per year that are live scheduled on topics like: How to use TargetX to help increase event attendance.

“When we have a project that is out of our scope of knowledge or time-sensitive, it’s been a lifesaver to have Premier Services to solve all of our issues,” said Forman. “Not to mention, all the people at TargetX are always so friendly and helpful.”

Results: Increased application and admission numbers without the cost of new hires

As a result of adding Recruitment Suite, Foreman says, “Our counselors have more time to actually cultivate relationships versus just trying to figure out who they called last and who they need to call, because everything is in one place,” Foreman explains. 

The data dashboards and reporting tools have also been a game-changer.  

“We used to run data reports once a week and it took forever,” said Foreman, who is now able to create personalized reports for all of her Deans. “Today, it’s instantaneous with the Recruitment Suite. I can share instant numbers up the chain of command.”

The added efficiencies created by launching the Recruitment Suite and then, optimizing with Premier Services, also meant the CBU team didn’t need to add any new hires in order to grow outputs like admissions numbers. 

“Because of our increased efficiency, our applications and admissions numbers have increased,” said Foreman, “and it was far more cost effective for CBU to partner with TargetX Premier Services than it was to hire a full-time employee, which is great for our budget.” 

With a new president at CBU and an updated goal to increase enrollment by 1000 more students, Forman is relieved to have TargetX on her team. 

“The world is changing out there. TargetX is a flexible system that allows us to evolve in whatever way we need to be successful.”