PS&L Blog

It still surprises me a little when traditional undergraduate recruiting teams bristle at the word “sales”. It surprises me a lot when adult and part-time graduate recruiting teams bristle at the word.

As a person who was raised in the Admissions hey-day of the 1980’s when all we had to do was open the doors, put on a smile, counsel prospects through the admissions process, and not say anything damaging to get an enrollment, the title “admissions counselor” was appropriate. In today’s competitive climate, decreasing markets, and aggressive advertising campaigns, “counseling” a student through the process is more of a luxury.

In this past year, as I have worked with numerous colleges’ sales and recruitment teams, I have come across some interesting information about sales and the prospect.

•  Brand is really important in the minds of your prospect
• Anyone who tells you that convenience is not a factor, (a big factor for most), is not telling you how they really feel
•  People are driven by fear, pain, advancement, peer pressure, and urgency
• Even if they don’t say it out loud they are comparing your product to others

Sales people, or recruiters who are effective in their roles know and practice some common behaviors.

•  Focus: it doesn’t matter what you want, it’s all about them
•  listen and learn what the prospect needs, wants and values
•  know your competition as well as you know your own product
•  when you tell them what you want them to know, you come across as pushy
•  Focus: it doesn’t matter what you want, it’s all about them

All the good sales technique literature out there reminds the recruiters that the ability to be able to learn what the prospect wants, and help the prospect to see that your product can meet those needs, is not only helpful but also highly persuasive. When a recruiter tells me that they want to be helpful, its actually means is that with a little tweaking of their approach, they can also be a better recruiter.

Recruiting is sales, just with a more palatable name.