PS&L Blog

Small class sizes. Great faculty. High academic achievement. Wonderful facilities. The list goes on. I could place this list of features onto countless colleges and universities. I call them the “vanilla features.” On the surface they look alike.

Five years ago you could tout these features as differentiators and it might have been enough.  Not now.

Maybe you learned how to build benefits from features earlier in your career.  But most likely you were building the benefits of those so-called differentiators I mentioned above.  So yes, it is better to talk about the increased learning possibilities – the benefit – rather than the small class size, but those features and benefits are so ‘90’s.  Now we need to tackle the really hard ones like; what is the value of a Jesuit or Franciscan tradition, how does a Christ-centered education help you find a job, why does a multi-cultural student body really matter? How do you build a case for the value of values?

Dr. Bob Cialdini, the author of ‘Influence – the Psychology of Persuasion’ and one of my favorite business authors, offers two concepts that we can apply to growing enrollment.

In a recent article Cialdini talks about how the current economic climate makes people feel uncertain and, as a result, they freeze. “They sit on the fence. They just don’t want to move because they’re just unsure of what they should do under those circumstances.”

When people are in this state, there are two principles of social influence that work powerfully. The first is social proof, or what we can call “consensus” and the second is the principle of authority.

With social proof, people who are unsure look outside themselves for answers. But not just to anyone, but to people like themselves.

In the world of college admissions, you can apply this principle by showing how others have benefited from your advice. Cialdini states that this influence “comes from the side, rather than from the front, and it’s dramatically more powerful as a consequence.”

The concept of using “like people” is nothing new. It’s been a part of advertising for decades.  What is new is the need to be much more granular in what we describe as like.  Millennial like me isn’t enough. Now it is Millennial, close to the edge of GenZ, who is Hispanic.  This takes a lot of work and imagination to develop all these stories, but this hard work is what we need to do.

With the principle of authority, people who are unsure “look to legitimately constituted authorities — true experts in the arena — because that’s another way to reduce their uncertainty and allow them to get off the fence and take a step that is in everyone’s best interest.”

Who are these experts?  They are the faculty, your alumni, even your current students.  More than ever you want to have those people speaking for you.  When these people, your experts are speaking in blogs, or news articles or video make the effort to link to that information.  Make the effort to learn their stories and tell them yourselves.  Cialdini says that if you can get that evidence you will be able to bolster the power of your desired message.

To read more from Dr. Bob Cialdini and for some ideas outside Higher Ed that you can apply to your enrollment go to http://www.power8marketing.com/Cialdini/.   If you are interested in applying these ideas to the work of your admissions staff, consider setting up a SMART seminar on your campus. During the two-day, on campus seminar SMART 2010 goes over these principles and many others, all in the hopes of maximizing the effectiveness of your recruiters. Find out what’s covered and how to schedule a SMART 2010 at your campus

Think about the College Landscape, but not in the sense of a metaphor. Think about the true landscape that includes the trees and flowers and architecture. Whether comprised of concrete and a surrounding metropolis – or of paths, grassy slopes, flower gardens and ivy covered ivory towers – the landscapes around institutes of higher learning are, in my opinion, the most beautiful developed real estate around.

Historical landmark buildings . . .circular walkways designed to show off manicured lawns and hillsides . . . enviable flower gardens painting the school logo with topiaries, perennials and flashy annuals. . . or urban campuses with the unique decoration of student expression and energy. College campuses have a unique feel; locations unmistakable for what they are!

No other industry that I know of has as many acres as well as buildings to offer. The investment and expense of maintaining a campus is well documented, but I wonder how many college decisions are made due to the appearance of the campus and the “feeling” that it generates?

Color stimulates the mind. There is a connection between visual attraction and comfort.

As a gardener I appreciate the effort taken by institutions to beautify their space. I really enjoy visiting colleges and observing their landscape creativity. I have spent a lot of time on a lot of college campuses and cannot think of a lovelier and more energized environment in which to work. I have not been to every campus in the world yet. There are a lot more to see.

To all the campus landscaper designers out there – great work!

The Winter Olympics go for 16 days, but the college winter Olympics last for months.

While the “events” aren’t the same, many of the lessons for success are.

Let’s look at figure skating. Shen & Zhao decided last year to re-enter competition and go for the gold. After more than 15 years skating together they think less about the big moves and more about the tiny details and how they all inter-relate. If you watched, their technique and artistry were amazing enough for anyone to recognize.

The take away for recruiters – love what you’re doing and by paying attention to the devil named detail you can win the gold too.

Let’s go to the slopes. Gold medalists Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White both spoke about preparation. They both said (and I paraphrase), “I have prepared so hard for this, I could not have worked harder. I am so much more prepared than my competition and I know all I have to do is go out there, relax and do it.”

Take away for recruiters – all that hard work you do in the fall does pay off when it comes time to bring in and sign up your enrollments.

Curling is a sport of strategy, technique, and, believe it or not, stamina. And you don’t think of it as very emotional. Well this year, in the middle of the match between Canada and world champions Great Britain, 5,000 fans belted out ‘O Canada.’

Take away for recruiters – all that strategy and stick-to-itiveness will eventually be noticed, and applauded when you meet or exceed your enrollment goals.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Let the enrollment games begin.