50 Campus Visits Concordia System

50 Campus Visits
In One Year:
The Highs and Lows
Jeff Kallay, The Experience Evangelist @targetx.com

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Let’s Manage Expectations
- Much to cover in short time - I strive to overwhelm
- “Big Picture” thinking - it’s about change
- Experience Economy 101
- Recap Ten Steps that make the difference between
a tour and an experience
- The Lows (let’s hope your school isn’t featured)
- The Highs (featuring a near perfect experience)
- Questions along the way and at close of session
- Give-a-ways (did you submit your business card?)
- PDF available online; www.targetx.com/ithink

“I Love My Clients!”
- I’ve got the greatest job thanks to them and TargetX
- I couldn’t do what I do without them
- They are the ones with courage and vision to bring
me to their campus and listen to my consultation
- The Lows - they know already and are correcting
- The Highs - more often than not
- All have highs and lows
- Did I say, how much “I love my clients!?”


Welcome to the
Experience Economy

Pine & Gilmore

The Experience Economy 101

on
Experiences
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ro
cP
mi

Text
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Service/Info
co
fE
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Industrial

Agrarian

Experiences = Memories


Experience marketing
is about:
1. Repelling commodization
2. Charging a premium price
3. Persuading consumers to pay
when they never did before
4. Selling “Memories”

Remember,
“The experience is the marketing.”

Arts & Science Group Student Poll 2004


The experience is higher
education marketing
- 84% use the web most heavily in
researching colleges
- 71% say the campus visit is the
most trusted source of information
Eduventures 2007 Survey of 7,867 High school junior and seniors.
Reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education “Prospective Students Rely on Campus Visits and Web Sites to Learn About Colleges, Report Says”


Experiences = Effectiveness

Noel-Levitz 2009 10 Most Effective - click here to download the entire report


10
Ten Steps that make
the difference between
a tour and an
experience

1. Integrate the four E’s
Higher Education is the experience economy: 4 E’s

Absorption

Entertainment Education
Passive Participation Active Participation

Esthetic Escape

Strategic Horizons, LLP Immersion

2. Craft a mini campus experience
- Customize the Experience
We all want what we want - accommodate the various
levels of interest of guests to your campus

- Eliminate negative cues
- Accent positive cues
- Look for missed cues
Elon University

- Engage ALL the senses
“83% of marketing appeals to sight, leaving a paltry 17%
to the other senses. Surprisingly, smell is the second most
important sense after sight, and not sound. In fact, 75% of
all emotional connections are based on smell.” Adweek review of Brand Sense

Centre College The Ohio State University

- Mix in the memorabilia - “ticket stub”

California Lutheran University

3. Set the expectation
- Before guests arrive (online, email, & mail)
- Explain route (will and won’t be seen)

Map courtesy of
Lenoir-Rhyne University
and Sketches


4. Spend no money
- Engage the “sense of the butt”

Millsaps Albright
College College

Saint
Hampshire
Joseph
College
University


5. Tell stories not statistics
- Stories render authenticity

Hendrix College

Albright College

6. Reveal your school’s nomenclature
7. Keep it real - do what’s authentic to
your campus and experience

Millsaps College California Lutheran University


8. Do you have a signature moment?
Westmont College

Concordia Wisconsin

Concordia
Irvine

Hampshire College

9. Mystery shop your tour
(and your competitors)

West Virginia University

10. Top Ten Tidbits for Tour Guides
1. Interact as if you’re giving your sibling a tour
2. Answer questions honestly and directly, but remind them it’s your perspective
3. Watch your pronouns - “We” is exclusive, “You’ll “is inclusive
4. Tell stories - yours and your friends’
5. When you walk backwards they look at you, not the campus
6. If you feel negatively about any other school - don’t name names
7. “Tour guides” is boring - you’re bright, come up with a memorable name
8. Find connections with your audience and ask open-ended questions
9. Is asking “Do you have any more questions?” the best way to end a tour?
10. Don’t be a “Tourbot” and have Fun!


The Lows


Expectations Not Managed
- Difficult to find “Visit” information on
websites “How many clicks?”
- No email, phone, or mail confirmation
- Not fully explaining how long to be on
campus and what all a visit entails
- Just kind of sit and wait in office or
visitor’s center

There’s better parking in Hell
- No visitor parking
- Not enough visitor parking
- No wayfinding signage
- Country Mile from Admissions


Am I in a Doctor’s office?
- Or a funeral parlor?
- Dark, depressing Admissions Offices or
Visitor’s Centers
- Harsh fluorescent lighting
- Chairs around the walls or crowded
- No music, computers, or refreshments
- Nothing you want to read or look at

Am I in a Doctor’s office?


Negative Cues


Model Rooms That Aren’t


Tours That Are Too Large


Disengaged Tour Guides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS1P5LleRDk


Disengaged Tour Guides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avYUL1A-WUM


The Highs


Expectations Managed
- Easy to find “Visit” information on
websites “1-2 clicks?”
- Email, phone, or mail confirmation
- Explaining how long to be on
campus and what all a visit entails
- Engaging pre-tour experience in office


It’s like parking in Heaven
- Easy to find visitor parking
- Tons of visitor parking
- Wayfinding signage
- Close to Admissions Southern New Hampshire University

Occidental College University of Delaware


Not a Doctor’s office!

Albright College


Troy University


Eckerd College

Eckerd

Birmingham-Southern College


Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith

See more at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ExperienceEvangelistCollegeAdmissionAndVisitorCenterImages

Aesthetic/Esthetic


Assumption College

Aesthetic/Esthetic


Transylvania University

Stories & Storytelling

St. Edwards University



Engaging Tour Guides,
Memories and Memorabilia
Albright

Albright College American University


Lenoir-Rhyne Unviversity Northern Kentucky University



Centre College


A Near Perfect Visit
Experience


Hendrix College
- SACAC school in Conway, Arkansas and member of
Associated Colleges of the South
- United Methodist
- 1350 students, 12-1 faculty ratio, 100% Ph.D
- Top Tier National Liberal Arts college
- $192 million endowment
- $38,934 annual estimate (Princeton Review Best Buy)
- 0 Fraternities and Sororities
- Loren Pope’s CTCL, “...most beautiful campus...”

Welcome to Ellis Hall
1,500 Individual Day and 15 Hendrix Experience Days

Text


Managed the Expectations


Customized
parking
and welcome


Interaction with Campus
First greeting at Ellis Hall Lobby Desk

Text


No bulky folder:
simple trifold
customized brochure


The “Helicopter” Lands

Parents stay in Admission Visitor Center while
prospective student is “walked” to and attends class

Interaction with Campus
Attend a class - good chance it will be outdoors

Text


Mailbox and Memorabilia


“National” Signature Moment


What Makes the Experience?
- VP “who gets it” not afraid to challenge status quo
- Rethought people and positions
- Re-appropriated funds and budget
- Director of Campus Visits, no travel, 24/7
- It didn’t happen overnight
- Tweak, refine, and refresh the experience
- Took a perceived negative cue (geography) and
made it work in their favor - longer time on campus
- Keep it real and authentic

The Hendrix HEAT
- Six Admission Interns (Sheriffs)
- 82 member Hendrix Heat
(Hendrix Experience Admission Team)
based on personality and schedule
not all give tours:
airport transport walkers
overnight hosts visitor center sitters
residential walk lunchers
- “Gatekeeper Mentality”
- Prospective students interact with several students

The Experience IS
the Marketing!
Starting their fourth year of “Hendrix Experience”
- Largest and brightest freshmen classes
- Increased enrollment from 1100 to 1350
- Out-of-state went over 62%
- Significant cross-app with out of region schools
- Lower discount rate (significant raise in tuition)
- Freshmen herald “The Hendrix Experience”
- 100 freshmen applied to be members of HEAT

The Experience IS the Marketing!


Challenges You Face:
- That’s how we’ve always done it! Status Quo.
- There’s no budget available
- Fear of change
- What will happen if we reduce travel or publications?
- We don’t have the staff available
- Our tour guides won’t cooperate
- We can’t get support from rest of campus
- Is this just another admissions fad or trend?


Overcoming Challenges:
- Like branding initiatives, publications, and website,
creating an experience doesn’t happen overnight
- Revisit staff responsibilities and budget
- Draft a strategy and timeline
- Develop phases to implement experiential ideas
- Educate and get buy-in campus wide
- Start with easy to implement ideas and add gradually
- If something “fails,” drop it and move on
- Keep it real and authentic to your school

It takes an entire campus:
“Whatever we accomplish belongs
to our entire group. A tribute to
our combined effort”
- Walt Disney

“People may not remember what
you did or said, but they will
always remember how you made
them feel.”
- Jeff Kallay

Jeff’s Bookshelf


Download Session PDF
www.targetx.com>click “iThink Blog”>Presentation Slides


Free On Friday Webcast
Friday, August 7 3-3:30PM Eastern

www.targetx.com/webcasts

50 Campus Visits Concordia System

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