THE BOX MODEL

I’m not sure if this is a true story, but I loved it.

So IKEA decides to open a new store.  They go to a local ad agency to discuss marketing.

IKEA:

We want everyone in town to know about our new store.

Ad Exec:

We can do that.  It will cost $1,000,000.

IKEA:

…Um, we were thinking more like $20,000.

Ad Exec:

Ha ha!  Wait, seriously?

Undaunted, IKEA came up with a brilliant solution.

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Last weekend at Best Buy, I watched a potential customer approach a salesperson and ask, "Why should I buy this computer?"

Immediately, the salesperson began describing the computer’s features and how they would benefit the customer.

I understand why this happens.  Buying a computer can be a daunting experience.  They’re confusing, they’re expensive, the different models don’t really seem so different, and no matter which one you purchase, you have a sinking feeling you’re going to regret it a year later.

Choosing a college feels pretty much the same way.  Students have almost exactly that same question: "Why should I consider your school?"

But that’s no way to buy a computer.  That’s no way to choose a school.

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The Amateur

When I first began writing software (12 years ago), much of the fun was in debugging code, trying to figure out why something did not work the way I wished.

There was no greater pleasure than spending hours or days fixing a complex problem and taming the code to my will.

And there was no greater frustration than realizing that the code would never work, that I would have to start over with a new approach.

Looking back on those years, I now know that the joy of debugging is a characteristic of amateur programmers.

The Professional

A professional programmer takes no joy in debugging.  He knows that spending more than 5 minutes debugging code is a clear sign that his approach was flawed from the start.  He takes a certain pleasure in ruthlessly deleting giant swaths of code in favor of some new idea.

The Takeaway

So when I see admissions offices promote complicated approaches that might result in small increases in applications or deposits, it feels so abhorrently wrong that I immediate distrust it.

I can’t help but think that if the best they can do is make such minor improvements, then it’s time they change their recruitment approach entirely.

Blogging, text messaging, Facebook, podcasts, variable printing, personalized e-mails, etc.

When part of a larger strategic vision and done with a deliberate purpose, these approaches can be effective.

But when done to wrangle some tiny competitive advantage, they are completely inadequate.

When you reach that point, when you start believing small tweaks will have "big payoffs," then it’s time to stop.

At that point, you’re debugging a failed approach, and it’s time to start over.

Of all the assertions I make when criticizing the Enrollment Funnel, I get the most arguments over the one I’m most convinced is true:

Contact does NOT measure interest.

I believe this is true for 3 reasons:

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Because we had never run our own search campaign, all the reasons for striking out on our own were based on the negatives in the relationship.  (Check out part 1 for details.)

It wasn’t until we finished our first in-house search campaign that we finally understood all the benefits that came from running things ourselves…

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My institution relied on an external search vendor for over a decade.  We gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars, trusted them to purchase the best names from the 4 major list sources, let them completely run our first point of contact with students, and asked almost no questions along the way.

Eventually, thank God, that changed.

But it wasn’t easy.  Here are 5 tough battles we fought with this particular vendor:

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If you attended my presentation at NYSACAC or the Enrollment Planner’s Conference, please leave your feedback in the comments.

Was the topic helpful?  Did I leave anything out?  What did you like and what could I improve?

UPDATE: Conference slides are now available on the new Box Model Resource Page.

Let’s say you’re the manager of a baseball team.

You have 2 players trying out for your team, but only 1 spot to fill.

They’re equally skilled in every respect, so you’re having a tough time choosing between them.

You make them race to first base, hoping to see which is faster.  Predictably, they make the same time.

But then you notice that one had almost perfect form, while the other was sloppy.

Which of them do you pick?

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When was the last time you saw a conference session on technology — topics like blogging, podcasting, and predictive modeling?

Right.  Probably the last time you attended a conference.  Tech sessions are everywhere.

But when was the last time you saw a session about process improvement?  Probably never.

That’s a huge problem.  Here’s why:

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I often criticize vendors who promote using business fads to “solve” recruitment challenges.  Still, there are definitely some business principles we could benefit from using more.

That was driven home at a conference I attended a few weeks ago.  One of the presenters led a session on how to promote institutional value in this new era of community-based marketing.

At one point, the speaker said, “Education is expensive, so focus on increasing value.”  Seth Godin recently said something similar.

They couldn’t be more correct.

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