The week of Thanksgiving, my 16-year old junior and I visited three colleges in 24 hours. My first visits as an official “prospective parent” were enlightening to say the least. Half of my brain was focused on trying to help Griffin figure out whether any of these schools are a good fit for him. The other half was analyzing every aspect of the experience for insight that will help my clients. Here are my key takeaways:
- The Tour Guide: We all already know that having a good (or great) tour guide can make a huge difference. It’s so true. But what makes a tour guide great? I think it’s all about his or her ability to truly *connect* with the prospects on the tour. Griffin, and every other kid on every tour we did, was super uncomfortable. They are all nervous about being on a college campus. They feel awkward and embarrassed. They rarely talk to each other. They are painfully shy and quiet even though they may not be like that at all in most other situations. When a tour guide can break through that discomfort and get the prospective students to relax and feel comfortable, it changes the whole tour. The best way to do that is to find something in common with each student on the tour. Most tour guides will open the tour by saying their name, their major, and where they are from. But the ones who continue and tell more about themselves are creating an opportunity to connect. As the best of our three tour guides was walking us to the first “stop and talk” spot, he rattled off a list of his interests and hobbies. Finally, he said, “I also play the guitar.” Bam! Griffin said, “I do too.” In that moment. Griffin opened up and started talking with the guide; he was super plugged in for the rest of the tour. To contrast, on another tour, the guide told Griffin very nicely that she was sorry, she didn’t know a thing about the physics program. That would have been fine, but she didn’t (or couldn’t) find another way to connect with him, and he never really plugged in. Encourage your tour guides to find a way to make a personal connection with every student.
- The Tour Focus: By its very nature, the campus tour focuses the prospect’s attention on the buildings and grounds. But you don’t want your prospects choosing your college solely or primarily based on what it looks like. Tours would be vastly improved if the focus were not completely on showcasing the inside and outside of the buildings. Almost every tour guide says hello to several friends *while* giving the tour. Why not stop and talk with those friends for a few minutes? Ask the friend what class they are going to or coming from. Ask them to talk about what they love about the institution. Ask them to describe what it’s like to be a student at the school. In the same manner, it’s very common to walk by a professor or two. Could they stop and chat with the group for two minutes? It would make all the difference because it would shift the focus from bricks and mortar to people and culture.
- The Brand: Honestly, I was shocked and disappointed to see that not even one school’s tour guide talked about the institution’s brand. I assumed that at the beginning of the tour, each tour guide would say something like, “Our schools says [this] about itself.” Where the [this] is something about the brand….maybe even the school’s tagline. I wanted to hear the tour guide talk about what that meant and how it applied to them and their experience. I wanted that brand to be a key theme throughout the tour. I wanted the entire tour to start with the brand, reinforce the brand, and end with the brand. I wanted the tour guide to personalize the brand and bring it to life in terms of how it’s related to the experience they’ve had at the school. Never happened. Huge opportunity. Just needs to be part of the tour guide training.
Griffin will be visiting lots of other schools this year. Come along with us for the ride and I’ll continue to share the unique insights that come from being a mom *and* a higher ed marketing professional.
