Welcome to our workshop Employer Engagement: Building Effective Business Relationships

1. UVAC Conference 2013 Welcome to our workshop Employer Engagement: Building Effective Business Relationships

2. Today’s workshop Understanding and exploring relationships and that you can have/or could have with employers Identifying and developing relationships that you can have employers

3. Understanding and exploring relationships Research to support the development of new courses Employer satisfaction studies Student satisfaction studies Understanding perceptions of the University Research to support the recruitment to new courses Research to explore how a University’s offering can best be matched to the needs of employers

4. What are the timings and budgets Define the business issue What are the outputs of the research? Which decisions will be made as a consequence of this research? Who will be involved in the research? Who will be using the findings of the research? What are the research objectives?

5. Brief • A great brief is the key to a great research project • By having all the ingredients in the brief means that the original need for the research can always be referred back to

6. Building new relationships with employers Why do we need to build new relationships? • Due to government cuts, there is increased pressure to generate other revenue streams • New government initiatives to promote – Higher Apprenticeships, Traineeships and Technology initiatives • Exploring new opportunities between education and business

7. Attracting new business

9. Lead generation • Lead generation can increase the effectiveness of other marketing activity • Lead generation is an interactive method of gathering intelligence in REAL TIME

10. Attitudes to lead generation A telephone call is only perceived as a sales call when delivered in an unprofessional manner!

11. How do you use lead generation? Re-active • “We need more people at an event NEXT WEEK” • “We need more people to sign up to a course NOW!” • “We need employers to sign up new apprentices NOW!” Proactive • Long term strategy • Integrating with other marketing activity • Building relationships • Building a valuable database • Raising awareness

13. Tips if you use an in-house lead generation team • Play to the strengths of your team • Allocate dedicated blocks of time • Review and give support where needed • Set targets • Ensure pipeline management is being completed

14. Tips if you use an outsourced lead generation partner • Regard the relationship as a partnership – working towards common objectives • Provide a clear brief including expected outcomes • Speak up quickly if the results are not matching your expectations • Provide feedback on a regular basis • Ensure pipeline management is being completed

15. Key to lead generation • When considering your approach or offer, take a moment to put yourself in “the shoes” of your prospect – why would they be interested? • Professional persistence is worthwhile. Do not be put off by not being able to reach your ideal prospect immediately!

16. Lead generation works! “You were and are a great choice. Taking that call from you four years ago was a great moment for me and for the department.”

17. Talk to us today at the UVAC conference or contact Jan Woodruff 01223 354 151 jan.woodruff@prospectresearch.co.uk