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Livin ’ La Vida Local

Livin ’ La Vida Local. Lars Farabee, M.A. Associate Director of Admissions High Point University lfarabee@highpoint.edu. Welcome!. You’re here today because you: Are admissions professionals looking to improve your connection with your clients

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Livin ’ La Vida Local

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  1. Livin’ La Vida Local Lars Farabee, M.A. Associate Director of Admissions High Point University lfarabee@highpoint.edu

  2. Welcome! You’re here today because you: • Are admissions professionals looking to improve your connection with your clients • Want to gain an edge in an increasingly competitive market • Are big fans of Ricky Martin… • All of the above

  3. Who am I and why do I say “y’all?” • My name is Lars Farabee, and I am an Associate Director of Admissions at High Point University in High Point, NC • I have worked in Admissions for over a decade in both public and private institutions • I grew up in Maine but I have lived in North Carolina for eight years…hence the “y’all”

  4. Why “Livin’ La Vida Local”? • Knowing more about who you are trying to reach can help you become a better admissions counselor. • Understanding the nuances of your travel territory can help you make connections and improve the image of your institution. • Implementing plans based on this knowledge can provide you with traceable data for primary recruitment territories and for growth markets • Knowing about your area can make for a more comfortable and enjoyable travel season.

  5. Who are we trying to reach? • Who are our clients? • Students • Parents • Other family members • School Counselors • Other school employees • Communities • Our own universities

  6. STUDENTS and PARENTS

  7. Who are they? • What are some of their defining characteristics? • What is important to them? • What can we do to showcase what our institutions have to offer for them?

  8. First Generation or Legacy Students • Is the student that you are working with a first generation student? • Is the student that you are working with coming from a family with parents and siblings that have also attended college? • What kinds of concerns do these types of students bring with them?

  9. Economic Status and Industrial History • Does the region that the student comes from have a particular industry attached to it? For example: Western Maine and the paper and logging industries, Coastal New England and fishing, North Carolina and furniture/textiles, etc. • Does the student come from an affluent area or an area with a very low SES?

  10. Religious affiliation • Is the student coming from a school with a religious background or affiliation? • Does the student come from a family that has strong religious ties? • Does your institution offer opportunities for students to practice their faith? • What are they really asking?

  11. Ethnic Background • Does your student’s background have a large influence on their lives? • Do they participate in extra-curricular activities that connect them with their ethnicity? • Does your school have a large diversity population? • If not, are there opportunities on your campus for students to connect with other students with similar ethnicities? • What are they really asking when they ask about diversity on campus?

  12. COUNSELORS

  13. Who are they? • What are some of their defining characteristics? • What is important to them? • What can we do to showcase what our institutions have to offer for them?

  14. School Counselors • Independent or School Counselors? • How long have they been in the profession? • Do they have previous college admission experience? Have they “been on our side of the desk?”

  15. School Counselors • Do they have any special interests? (A sports team, a type of food, McDreamy, etc.) • Have they been on your campus prior to your meeting them? • REMEMBER COUNSELING OFFICE SECRETARIES!

  16. SCHOOLS

  17. Who are they? • What are some of their defining characteristics? • What is important to them? • What can we do to showcase what our institutions have to offer for them?

  18. High School • Is the school a public or private high school? • Is the school known for it’s academics (either positively or negatively)? • What other schools are in their school’s peer group? • Is the school known for a particular athletic program, and does your institution offer a similar program?

  19. High School • Is the school known for a particular extra-curricular program(a great theatre department or a strong community service commitment, for example) and does your institution offer a similar program? • Is the school a boarding school? If so how many students are day students and how many live on campus? Does this mirror your own institution?

  20. School Rivalries • Morse High School Shipbuilders are better than Brunswick Dragons • Use a school’s athletics web page or calendar to your advantage! • Subscribe to local newspapers online to get stories about the area and to keep up with local sports highlights..

  21. School Rivalries • Knowledge of rivalries between schools shows awareness of their area and that students from their surrounding area attend your university • It provides families with a reference point for your institution that they may have not already had. • Make sure it’s genuine. This can easily turn into a “used-car-salesman” pitch

  22. HOW CAN WE USE THIS TO OUR ADVANTAGE?

  23. How can we use this to our advantage? • Businessman and author Harvey MacKay (Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive) developed a customer profile that tracked 66 criteria about his customers. • How do we do this?

  24. The Old Man and the Gas Station

  25. What is a CRM? • A Customer Relationship Management system allows us to track our customers (students, families, counselors) and the communication that we have had with them. • They can record all of the communication that has gone between your institution and your client (student, parent, school counselor) • They can also automate a wide variety of communication plans, thus saving you time and making your communication with clients more efficient.

  26. Popular CRM Brands

  27. ON THE ROAD AGAIN…

  28. Livin’ La Vida Local • Using our knowledge of your recruitment area can make our connections with students even stronger. • It can also make our travel season more effective and more enjoyable.

  29. Livin’ La Vida Local • When your GPS fails on you, knowing at the very least the basic routes to get around in your territory will make travel a must easier experience… • It can also improve connections. “Oh, you live off of I77? If you keep heading down south on 77, you’ll run right into us!”

  30. Diner’s, Drive-Ins and Dives • Applebee’s is for 8th grade proms • Local spots provide great venues for interviews • Local spots provide great venues for counselor events and meetings • Local spots are just plain fun!

  31. Things to remember Knowing more about the people and institutions that we are working with can only help us become better admissions professionals. Utilizing this information can help us better track our communications and become more efficient in our recruitment initiatives. Knowing more about the area that we travel in will make us more comfortable. This allows us to make better connections.

  32. Lars Farabee, M.A. Associate Director of Admissions High Point University lfarabee@highpoint.edu 336-841-9637 For Further Discussion

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