Get ready for more work and greater stress — at least according to predictions by some of your colleagues who responded to the question, “What does the future hold for college recruiting?”

For his forthcoming book — Overthrowing Dead Culture: The Vision to Change the World of College Admissions — TargetX CEO Brian Niles is asking admissions officers and their presidents to contribute to Chapter 10: “The Future.”

Submissions so far have ranged from the increasing role of technology to the age-old appeal of storytelling, from the growing importance of the campus visit to the changing nature of graduate admissions.

But one of the major threads is how the difficult job of recruiting students is only going to get more demanding and time consuming.

“Admission professionals will devote an even greater percentage of time providing personal access to students and families,” predicts Barbara Elliott, VP for Enrollment Management at the University of the Arts. “More conversation, more authentic person-to-person touch points will be critical as technology and binary personalization become even more pervasive in daily life.”

The President of Allegany College agrees: “Students of tomorrow require information at their fingertips now,” writes Bruce Exstrom. “Instant communication is critical, and part of the communication is the personal touch.”

“Recruiting in the future must allow students to have a personal, individualized, authentic experience,” adds Wes Waggoner, Director of Freshman Admission at Texas Christian University. “The phrase ‘We’re closed on Saturday and Sunday’ No longer works in retail; and it’s not likely to last very long in the non-profit, educational industry either. To serve our students, we’ll be there whenever we need to be there.”

More demanding, yes, but also hugely rewarding. “The admission world will continue to be exciting,” writes Marianne Inman, President of Central Methodist University, “for the task of enrollment professionals is to find the best match between student and institutions. The diversity of colleges and universities and their mission to serve learners of all ages and interests is the basis for the strength and popularity of American higher education.”

You can add your own predictions — and see what others think:
www.targetx.com/odc

You can also download Chapter 2: “The Change”:
www.targetx.com/odc

We were recently asked by the folks at University Business to give them insight into the most common mistakes that we have been experiencing within the campus visit.  In this month issue of the magazine you can read the mistakes; then watch the video for more in-depth explanation of these mistakes.

A recent story in Time (September 21, 2009) shares ways colleges are cutting costs. Unfortunately, many colleges suffering from dramatic endowment declines (on average 23%) have taken to across-the-board budget cuts to deal with the situation.  Others have taken a much more strategic approach (applause, applause). And some have gotten very creative.

• Bryn Mawr College saved $900 by holding a virtual swim meet and thus cutting travel costs
• Dickinson College dropped it’s free laundry service (really, are colleges in the business to do laundry?) saving $150,000
• Carleton College saved $3,800 by not serving shrimp and wine and their annual faculty parties (wonder how much of a stir that caused)
• Pitzer College saved $80,000 by power-washing the sidewalks only once each year (I’m lucky to do mine once a decade)

Other colleges are cutting academic programs that are not profitable (in the non-profit sense of that word).  A few are either eliminating or not updating their landline phone systems (which I had the nerve to do that at my house).

Colleges are dealing with a difficult economic situation, but have a great opportunity to get rid of the waste they have built up over decades when they had no incentive to do so.  For college admissions offices, now is an excellent time to review what you’re doing that is no longer effective and put those funds into pursuing newer methods of recruiting.  Or maybe you can use those funds to beef up the pay of the woefully underpaid counselors or send them to an effective sales training program.

Have fun with your campus tours, Jeff Kallay advises his clients. Make them distinctive, memorable and authentic to your school.

So when he saw the long straightaway knifing through Alfred University’s beautiful New York campus and the number of students biking to and from class, he knew immediately this was the place for the 7-headed bicycle he discovered a year ago.

Referred to by its manufacturer as the “Conference Bike,” Kallay saw the strange-looking vehicle as the perfect Tour Bike. And that’s what the TargetX Experience Evangelist suggested to his colleagues at Alfred: Offer visitors the option of a communal bike tour — 6 people and a student guide pedaling their way through campus.

“The tour guides loved the idea,” Kallay says. “One of the things they mentioned was how authentic it was to the school — especially because it’s a little quirky.”

Alfred’s student guides, called “AlFriends,” plan to paint the bike in school colors of purple and gold and embellish it with streamers and bells. They’ll wear special t-shirts and will present prospective students and parents with their own commemorative shirts following the tour.

“It fits perfectly with what Alfred University is all about,” says Wendy Beckemeyer, VP for Enrollment Management. “Our students are very aware of environmental issues, and many of them enjoy outdoor sports that take advantage of our location in the Allegheny foothills.

“Plus, this is just different enough to be appealing to the type of students who are most attracted to Alfred, from the engineers who will appreciate the niceties of the steering by Porsche, to the artists who will like the design.”

Being different is what all campus tours should strive for, according to Kallay. “Be willing to think outside the box and come up with things that are authentic to you.”

To see the Tour Bike in action, visit:
www.alfred.edu/admissions/visit_us.cfm

To read more about the “tour with a twist,” click:
www.alfred.edu/pressreleases/viewrelease.cfm?&ID=5672

For most schools, changing the way they market is like turning an ocean liner. That’s why college fairs, high school visits, search mailings and other recruiting staples still play such a large role and eat up so much of the admissions budget.

But there are some schools that can change direction like a jet-skier, and those are the ones that TargetX considered for this year’s “X Award” for excellence in student recruiting. The winner is a college in California that has made great strides in “overthrowing dead culture,” the phrase adopted by TargetX CEO Brian Niles to represent the company’s philosophy of modernizing admissions marketing.

California Lutheran University was recognized with the 3rd annual X Award for “reinventing recruitment marketing,” including such steps as:

- Creating key staff positions that focus on electronic communications and the campus visit experience.

- Forgoing the viewbook, search piece and other traditional publications in favor of a timely and vibrant magazine that’s sent to students as they enter the recruitment funnel.

- Instituting an aggressive “yield campaign” aimed at the incoming class of 2010.

- Building a new space to serve as a visitor center, focusing on the special touches that will make it a uniquely CLU experience.

- Recognizing the power of storytelling, including a web page that offers individual stories from students, faculty, alumni and others, and invites visitors to “tell us your story.”

- Using its towering abstract sculpture of Martin Luther — affectionately known as “Enormous Luther” — as a signature moment at the end of each campus tour. CLU tour guides offer to photograph visiting families in front of the statue and then email the shots after visitors return home.

To see an online version of the “Cal Lu” magazine, visit:
www.callutheran.edu/admission/undergraduate/cal_lu/2009_fall/

To visit the “storytelling” page, click:
www.callutheran.edu/50/your_stories.php

P.S. For the first time, the X Award was also bestowed on an individual. Providence College’s Chris Lydon was honored for “embracing change in recruitment marketing.” Based on the enthusiastic response of 130 of his peers at the recent “iThink” discussion at NACAC, it was the right choice.

Last week some 125+ Admissions VP’s, Deans, Directors and Senior Associates gathered at TargetX’s second annual iThink during NACAC in Baltimore.  Last year’s event was held at the Seattle Public Library’s Washington Mutual Foundation Room (the day WaMu was “Seized and Sold!” as the city’s newspaper headline proclaimed).

This year’s venue was the historic Oriole Park at Camden Yards.  The setting itself was a lesson on change. Once an industrial powerhouse, Baltimore lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs. Now it is a $5 billion dollar a year tourist destination, and its three “firsts” of the Inner Harbor Festival Marketplace, National Aquarium, and retro/heritage ball park have become the standard blueprint for other cities to copy as they try urban renewal.

Four of higher education’s thought leaders: Kathy Kurz of Scannell & Kurz, Bill Royall of Royal & Company, Bob Sevier of Stamats, and Brian Niles of TargetX, each gave their “declaration” followed by questions and discussions led by yours truly as moderator.

The challenge was to keep the event from turning into a huge gripe session about the economy and its impact on admissions. Our goal instead was to focus on the future of both admissions and enrollment marketing in the midst of economic turmoil (and what colleges can do about it).

Sure, a changing economic landscape could be a crisis — but it’s also an opportunity. What is that opportunity? Some said, “Be authentic to who you are!” “Articulate value!” “Don’t discount the residential experience!” “Educate the entire campus to recruit” and “Leadership isn’t about getting the team on the same bus, it’s getting them in a rowing/crew scull and getting them to work together!”

There was also intense conversation about the best practices used by proprietary schools (things like quick turnaround of applicants to admits and faster responses to inquiries).  Of course, the comment “Admissions is sales” caused a stir as well. But all agreed that financial aid and career services (outcomes) need to have stronger relationships with admissions.

At the end, each participant was asked, “Based upon our discussion today, what’s one thing you’re not doing today that you can implement or change in the office tomorrow?”

At the end of the two-hour discussion, the annual TargetX “X Awards” were given to Christopher Lydon from Providence College and to California Lutheran University for embracing change and for representing the TargetX motto of “Overthrowing Dead Culture.”

After all, change is what the iThink discussion is all about.

On the flight home from Baltimore, I was reading the September 28 BusinessWeek and found two articles relevant to the iThink discussions about authenticity and change. I hope they get you thinking:

The Great Trust Offensive
Companies are revamping their marketing to earn your trust
“Consumers are telling companies in a thousand ways, that ‘if you aren’t open with me, then I won’t trust you.’ It gets to be counterproductive to fight that.” Randall Beard, former CMO at UBS

UPMC The “New Steel” in Pittsburgh
“Eds and Meds” revitalize the city’s economy
“Pittsburgh offers lessons for other communities. Its leaders didn’t spend a lot of energy trying to save troubled steel companies, suggesting it may be more valuable to look at new opportunities than old standbys. The city’s experience also shows that persistence with new ventures is critical.”

Keep thinking! And remember, as my colleague Adrienne Bartlett says, “The Mandarin symbol for change incorporates both the symbols for opportunity and crisis.”

Under which one is your school and its leadership operating?

Bring together 120 enrollment officers and ask them what’s on their minds these tumultuous days, and you can expect a lot of hand wringing.

While there was some of that at the second annual “iThink” kick-off of the NACAC Conference yesterday, most of a lively two-hour discussion was spent on moving forward and finding solutions.

A handful of issues dominated the session, which preceded the opening of the 65th annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. They included public resistance to the cost of college, admissions policies and procedures that serve as stumbling blocks for prospective students, the increasing challenge from for-profit and web-based alternatives to traditional schools, and the drain on financial resources and staff time of trying to build the largest inquiry pool possible by being all things to all people.

Some of the solutions that emerged were:

- Do a better job of articulating the value and return-on-investment of a college education. For example, work closer with the career services staff to communicate the success of your graduates.

- Change how you do business. Take a page from proprietary institutions, which tend to be much more responsive and transparent in their dealings with prospects. They’ll let you know in 48 hours if you’ve been accepted, not tell you to wait for some universal acceptance date months down the road.

- Learn to appreciate the word, “no.” The sooner a prospect lets you know that you are no longer in the mix, the better for your school and the student. Ask prospects on a regular basis if they’re still interested and let them know it’s OK to say no.

- Do a better job of differentiating your school from all others. Tell people exactly who you are; don’t be afraid to let them know who you’re not. The goal is to find the best-fit students, and the earlier, the better.

About this time last year the world was rocked by a series of financial tremors that seemed to take everyone by surprise. But not admissions officers. At least, not the ones who attended a special kick-off event at the 2008 conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Seattle.

These were directors, deans and VPs who attended the first “iThink,” an open discussion with some of the industry’s top thought leaders to address the challenges and opportunities for recruiting students in 2009. And they quickly focused on the financial vibrations they were sensing.

“The economy may exacerbate the challenges admissions professionals face, experts said here on Thursday,” reported the Chronicle of Higher Education the next day. “Among other concerns, they said, they expected sticker price to become a bigger concern for more families, and more government oversight as a result.”

It looks like the economy is still the dominant concern. As people register for the second annual iThink at NACAC, scheduled for September 24 in Baltimore, they are asked to comment on their biggest recruiting challenge. “It’s the economy, stupid” was the literal response of two of the registrants. Others referred to doing a better job of “articulating the value proposition” of their college and enhancing perceived return-on-investment for families.

Holding on to eroding yield and working with eroding budgets topped the list of several admissions officers planning to attend.

The annual iThink gathering promises to be a unique barometer of where college recruiting is headed year-to-year, and offers a chance for decision makers to share their deepest fears with a group that understands completely.

For more information, visit:
www.targetx.com/ithink2009

For me, nothing evokes memories of travel season like the aromatic mixture of gasoline, coffee, cafeteria food — and that effervescent bouquet I like to call “high-school-gym-smell.”

Yup folks, it’s almost fall (again).  Are you setting your staff up for success on the road this year?

I’ve heard from many of you that you are cutting back on travel, but sometimes there are visits and fairs you just can’t afford to miss.

Here’s a quick list of ways to maximize the bang for your buck this fall:
Read on…

I’ve often said what’s hindering The Experience Economy movement is the lack of customer service in our current service/information economy. Our k-12 schools are still preparing graduates to go work in factories as cogs on an assembly line, not for jobs in a service economy.

The State of the Experience Economy (and the progression from a service to an experience) came up at the 10th Anniversary/Birthday of the publishing of Pine and Gilmore’s Book,
The Experience Economy (TEE). Held at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland, OH. Some 80 people from across the country attended.

Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their book THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

After the event several us us gathered in the lobby bar for a drink and a quick bite. I was there with my TEE/thinkAbout alumni/fellow Experience Management Achievement award winners; Sonia Rhodes, VP of Customer Strategy at Sharp Heathcare (one of California’s largest health care systems - 2007 National Malcom Baldridge Quality Award Winner) and Doug Johnson, Director of Strategic Partnership and Santastic Experience creator at General Growth Properties (America’s second largest mall and real estate holding company). Doug orders a local brew and Sonia asks our server, named Beth, “What chardonnay are you pouring tonight?” Our server tells her, Sonia orders it and then our server brings us our round. She tells Sonia they our out of the one she ordered and substituted it. Doug takes a sip of his local beer and doesn’t like it and asks for another brand. From the beginning Beth acted like we were bothering her or were an interruption to her evening.

Several other attendees join us, a few more rounds, appetizers and such. So the bill comes. The server charged Doug for his first beer (of which he had one sip) and Sonia’s wine was listed as $24 a glass (the most expensive one on the menu) when she ordered a $10 one. At the Ritz-Carlton, renown for it’s outstanding service. So let’s break down what’s so wrong. For starters she should have charged the $10 price for the $24 glass and she should not have charged for the beer that didn’t taste good. This is the Ritz, right? (Timing would have it that a Ritz-Carlton Trainer was at Sharp Healthcare that day conducting sessions about service.) When we bring the bill/cost discrepancies to Beth’s attention, she looks at Sonia and says, “Well most guest here think nothing of it when we do that.” As if to mean, “You’re cheap why are you at the Ritz?” Needless to say a manager was brought in.

Now let’s compare and contrast the above example, with a customer service triumph.

So yesterday coming home from a successful day at American University (love their new award winning website) my iPhone begins to freak out. When I got home, reset and restored by no luck. So I had to make an appointment at my nearest Apple Store in my hometown of Atlanta. When I got there today, immediately the greeter and front area tech go to work trying to fix it. They realize I do truly need to see a Genius and move me to the front of the line to keep my appointment. The back-end of the store concierge also tried to fix/diagnose my iPhone and said, “You need a new phone.” A minute later I’m at the Genius bar and a quick SIM card exchange, I’ve got a new iPhone in hand. (It’s working great.) The  Atlanta Lenox Square Mall Apple Store kids (and they are kids - I’m so old I was first on Mac when they were diapers) couldn’t wait to solve my problem and make me happy!

An expensive electronic device replaced with no problem.

Being overcharged for glass of wine and charged extra for a beer along with an insult (all at a hotel brand renown for customer service).

Lesson: be it a mobile phone, a luxury hotel, or a college experience; consumers are demanding customer service - especially in a bad economy. While I find most admissions people deliver the level of customer service like the kids at the Apple store ,often the rest of campus behaves like our server Beth at the Ritz-Carlton. We were an interruption to her day, not the purpose of her day.

College–be it public or private is expensive. Prospective and current families have a level of expectations. Is your campus delivering like the kids at the Apple Store or like bitter Beth at the Cleveland Ritz-Carlton?