THE BOX MODEL

Like a Dog to a Bone

Recently, I had the pleasure of leading one university’s admissions communications team through a process improvement exercise.  The team creates almost 100 new publications each year, not to mention hundreds of e-mails, letters, and web sites.  Needless to say, they had some very talented individuals.

What they lacked was a clear project workflow that would allow multiple levels of input and approval without sacrificing quick turnaround times.  In the past, their nebulous process led to finger-pointing, improper credit-taking, unnecessary delays, and a general sense of disaffection.

At one point, I debriefed the communication team’s clients (the admissions counselors) to identify possible improvements from that perspective.  Their questions and concerns were very insightful.

One question in particular stuck with me long after the new process was finalized:

“Can we see a communication plan on paper? It would be nice to be able to tell students what they would get if they joined our mailing list.”

Like a dog to a bone, I found myself thinking about it over and over again.

The Challenge

After all, it was a natural, legitimate request.  Almost every admissions office has a communications plan — how in the world had this incredible but relatively unknown university survived without one?

Of course, communications plans in admissions are always based on the Enrollment Funnel, which is seriously flawed.  I knew a better plan would be based on my alternative recruitment methodology, the Box Model.

“But what would that look like?” I wondered.  “How could I represent communications over multiple years targeting different populations through different media, making sure to incorporate electronic marketing and analytics tools, without making the overall communications strategy incomprehensible?”

I smiled thinking about the challenge this project would bring.

The (Unexpected) Result

Unfortunately, nothing I came up with worked.

Weeks passed, and it seemed like the Box Model was just impervious to every communication plan I forced on it.

Finally, when the truth hit me, I groaned out loud. Like a pig sliding down a chute to the slaughter, I had forgotten one of the central tenets of the Box Model: students control communication, not institutions.

I had stepped into a big steaming pile of Enrollment Funnel.

A Better Approach

When I emerged from my office, it wasn’t with a communications plan but a small bit of advice.

If a student asks, “What would I get if I joined your mailing list?” don’t talk about e-mails and brochures.  The best answer would be something like:

“To be honest, I don’t know what you’d get. I guess it depends on what you want.  So tell me what would help you and I’ll make sure you get it.”

The university I mentioned at the start of the article hadn’t had a communications plan in years.  Instead, their excellent communications team developed letters, e-mails, and publications when they were needed.

In other words: they didn’t talk, they listened.

And this year, while every one of their competitors had to admit from their waitlists, this university experienced an unprecedented 24% yield on admits.

I don’t think that’s a coincidence.