AISAP52

 View Only

Of Price and (Mad) Men

By Lawrence Jensen posted 10-07-2020 11:11 AM

  

In an episode of “Mad Men,” two ad account executives were candidates for a promotion. The unsuccessful candidate asked to see Don Draper to ask why he did not win the job.  Don said, “You do so much for your clients and you work hard to solve their problems.”  So why did the other guy get the job? 

Don offered gently that “He makes the client feel like he has no problems.”

Of course, the point Don was making is that the successful candidate anticipated his client’s needs and was proactive, rather than reactive.  Thinking of the families we have in our candidate pipelines every year, I can only imagine how mystified some of them are with the process we lead them through.  How can we simplify what we do?  What do we need to keep, and what can we sunset?  Is it really necessary to have two or three references for a seventh-grade applicant, for example?  How many visits to campus are required of our candidates?  Can we combine or eliminate some of the items on our check lists and make the process faster and easier, and thereby more efficient, but without compromising standards?  Here are a few thoughts from the business world:

  1. In-store recipes. What’s for dinner?  The dreaded daily question.  The harried parent is in the store, and the solution here is a bank of recipes for quick-and-easy meals.  Store sells the items required in the recipe, and the parent is able to serve a good meal in a hurry.  A grocery store is not a restaurant, but by anticipating the problem (dinner) and offering a solution (quick and easy recipe), the store creates customer loyalty and increases perceived value.

  2. To sell more milk, discount the cereal. What can we link? Late buses specifically for athletes and clubs solves family’s problem of transportation and might increase participation in after-school activities and sports.  Start a little later in the morning and move school tutoring sessions to that earlier slot.  Grades go up, families feel well-served, and retention improves.  Recognizing linkages within our curricula will go a long way toward solving problems for our parents.
     
  3. What can we “bundle?” Rather than charging individual students to use school transportation, why not implement a family fee?  Not only could this increase ridership, but it would definitely increase perceived value.  And it can be shaped so that it doesn’t affect net revenue.  Higher attrition for rising freshmen?  How about discounting the freshman trip fee for returning students?  And those minor fees that everyone pays (lab fees, matriculating fees, social fees) should disappear and be folded into the tuition.  When you sell the car, include the floor mats. 

  4. BOGO, or discount? Remove a major obstacle to making a change.  One of your students is considering another school whose tuition is lower.  Would you consider a need-based award to close at least part of the gap so that the student can afford to stay with you?  Remember that we are really enrolling alumni/ae here, so consider the possible lifelong development office returns that can come from successful graduates.  The only way to do that is to keep students enrolled and out of the hallways of your competitors.

If your school has a “Business Office” or a “Business Manager,” you are a business, and that requires financial management and fiscal planning.  In these trying times, we are all focusing on the all-important “value proposition,” but making that proposition with policies and protocols that are customer-centered is the key to the health and long-term sustainability of our schools.






Mr. Lawrence Jensen
 
Director of Admissions, 
Saint Stephen's Episcopal School
Bradenton, FL
1 comment
28 views

Permalink

Comments

05-10-2022 10:44 AM

Reading this today in Larry's voice and am thankful that his legacy lives on.