It's our last week of training for our new counselor here in Irvine. So as she prepares for her big final exam (and graduation dinner this week!), here are the last two sessions of training we completed with her.
Topics for Day 8: Collegewise Marketing
A lot of people think of marketing as running ads or handing out stress balls at conferences. The marketing that we do at Collegewise is a little unusual in two ways. 1) We take the majority of the money that we could have spent on traditional marketing and spend it to run a program that our customers will talk about. 2) We’ve found that the best way to market ourselves is to build an audience and teach something when we’re in front of them. So in this session, we’ll discuss the various ways we make it easy for people to learn more about what we do, like referrals from other families, speeches at high schools, and writing our email newsletters and our blog. Then we’ll talk more about the different programs that we offer, what is included in each, and how much they cost so that everyone can explain them to interested parties.
Topics:
• How most businesses think of marketing
• Out definition of marketing
• Why marketing is not a department
• The Five principles of Collegewise marketing
• Overview of the Collegewise Programs
Topics for Day 9: How to Do an Introductory Consultation
Nearly every family who enrolls at Collegewise first schedules a free, 30-minute introductory consultation. We think this is the perfect way for families to meet the person they’d be working with and learn more about the program. It’s also a chance for counselors to assess the fit and make sure that every family who enrolls is one who is likely to appreciate and benefit from what we do. We don’t do sales presentations here, but we don’t just give away free advice either. This session will teach you our system for running an introductory meeting that helps both the counselor and the family decide if it makes sense for us to work together.
Topics:
• The difference between our introductory meetings and (slimy) sales presentations
• What our introductory consultation is not
• Your most important job in a consultation
• Steps to ensure a great meeting
• Indications that the fit might not be good
• How to tell someone they might not be a good fit
• Common questions prospects might ask