Taking an enquiry through to enrolment

Every applicant starts as a new lead, whether they arrived through the website, a phone call or a walk-in. Recording the enquiry at the point it happens is what makes the pipeline count mean anything later.

The early stages track the conversation rather than the paperwork: contacted, then a tour scheduled. Families drop out most often here, which is why these are separate stages instead of one.

• New lead — recorded, nobody has spoken to them yet.
• Contacted — a real conversation has happened.
• Tour scheduled — a date exists in the calendar.

Application sent, then documents pending. Documents pending is deliberately its own stage because it is where applications sit longest, and a pipeline that hides waiting cannot tell you where the delay is.

Under review means the school now has what it needs to decide. Interview scheduled means a date is set with the family. Both are states of the school's process, not of the family's.

An application ends in one of four places: offered, enrolled, rejected, or withdrawn. Withdrawn and rejected are kept apart on purpose — a family that chose another school is a different fact from one the school declined, and mixing them makes conversion figures meaningless.