Coming soon to a college admission office near you: sales

Can the “taboo” field of sales be applied to traditional college admissions?

As traditional college-aged prospects start to dwindle and market conditions falter, all kinds of colleges—four year, two year and not-for-profits—are ripe for an admissions and enrollment management overhaul.

Add disappearing financial aid and shrinking budgets, and you have a perfect storm that necessitates the transformation of college recruiting, enrollment and retention.
In the face of this adversity, there are some strategies the admissions staff of traditional colleges can adopt to transition through (and survive) the next five years.

Become a sales-driven organization
I bet I just offended 99 percent of you. Traditional colleges have long avoided that icky, taboo word, “sales.” So go ahead, get it out of your system. Shout, “Admissions reps are not salespeople!” Feel better? Now give me a few sentences to attempt to shift your thinking. After all, salespeople are not bad people if they are selling a good product the right away.

Unfortunately, the stigma of the word “salesperson” was created way back at the start of plaid-clad used-car salesmen. But I bet you’ve had pleasurable experiences when purchasing things, too.

Most likely, the reason you had a pleasurable experience is because the person you dealt with was a sincere, hard-working person selling—yes, selling—you a good product that you wanted. This person probably had sales goals and was held accountable to them. She was also probably dissuaded to sell the product to anyone for whom it wasn’t right.

Now what’s wrong with that?

Why can’t your admissions folks be held accountable to “closing the deal” with as many folks as they can, as long as your college and the prospect are good matches? Bad salespeople sell the product to anyone just to make their numbers. Good salespeople find the right prospects that fit their product.

Will changing their title from “salesperson” to “Student Prospect Executive” make everyone feel better?

The bottom line is that your admissions people are, hopefully, selling right now. So why not get over the salesperson stigma and give your staff training on how to sell your college correctly?

Create a separate focus for nontraditional students
A well-known for-profit college invests about $60,000,000 a month to recruit adult students. Yes, that’s $60 million. It is a $2 billion for-profit college that has turned education and recruiting on its head. Like it or not, for-profit colleges have gotten into the game and have revolutionized adult recruitment and education.

As your traditional pool of 18-year-old prospects shrinks, it’s time to fill those seats with anyone who qualifies. Does it really matter if that student is a 37-year-old woman who wants to finally finish her degree or a 67-year-old retiree who wants to take Web design classes? Their tuition dollars will help you stay afloat, and your community will be strengthened by a diverse set of experiences.

Act now; according to projections by The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, the number of adult learners is expected to rise to 20.4 million by 2016.

Harness the trend of online education
Henry Ford almost went out of business because he didn’t want to change the color of his black Model T. He was so bent on what he wanted that he became blind to what the public wanted—and the public wanted different color cars.

After losing market share to competitors, Ford had to acquiesce and start making non-black cars. Many customers still preferred the black car (heck, I own a black car today!), but others didn’t.

I use this analogy to help you gauge your online class/degree strategy. Do you have one?

Some colleges are bent on exclusively offering traditional classroom learning. But is that what the college wants—or what the students want?

Though most students do prefer the traditional classroom setting, there are many who prefer an online experience or a blended version. And this segment is doing nothing but growing. Are you ready to meet their needs?

Transform your enrollment management strategies
When a prospective student requests info online from a for-profit college, that prospect is usually called and/or e-mailed within three minutes. Test it for yourself.

When a prospective student requests information from a traditional college at a college fair, it can take weeks to receive a viewbook or phone call from the school.

The strategy of traditional colleges must change if it is to adapt to the changing recruiting environment.

You might argue that the traditional college prospect prefers a lower-pressure recruitment strategy that involves a series of courtships and on-campus visits. But while you’re keeping the pressure off, your potential students are finding more information elsewhere.

There has to be a middle ground. A prospective student should not have to wait a week or more to be contacted. Traditional colleges can certainly become more aggressive without becoming obnoxious.

In times of change, colleges will need to be bold in their actions. Now is your time to stand out from the crowd and create some new recruitment paths.

There’s an old saying that only dead fish swim with the current.

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Coming soon to a college admission office near you: sales

Can the “taboo” field of sales be applied to traditional college admissions?

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