Exposing Your School’s Culture in Admissions

Daniel Dunworth

Learning Experience (LX) Sr. Manager, Pivot Point

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And, again, thank you for hosting. I’m really excited about sharing some information with everybody, and hopefully, it’s going to be a nice action-packed 20 minutes for you. And I’m going to be mindful. I know we’ve got some more coming up afterward, so I’m going to really watch my time.

But as Chris mentioned there, what we’re really going to be looking at talking about today is exposing your school’s culture. And not exposing it in a full-frontal negative kind of way, but really looking at what can we really do to help really showcase your school’s culture to those that are eager and looking to get started in school? Whether that be, cosmetology, barber, skincare, nail care, whatever it might be, every single school has their own unique culture. We kind of call it that secret sauce.

How Do You Promote What Sets You Apart?

So I want to ask you just to start out this session today to just think of a question for just a moment, how do you promote what sets you apart? How do you really highlight those points of difference or those elements and opportunities to showcase what your school has to offer?

So, while looking at this, we’re going to go through just a couple of different ideas and something that we’ve seen a lot of success, and share a few tools on how to approach these opportunities to promote, again, what sets you apart. And while we look at this, I want you to hopefully just down a few notes, be able to capture some information, but I do have some tools and ideas I’d like to share with you that hopefully, you can put into action following this session. And with that, you can also feel free to reach out to me. I’ll make sure to step off-screen and get my email down there into the chat. So if you ever have questions or you want to talk or look at these tools any further, you’re always welcome to reach out.

And I see a lot of people here in the chat, talking about social media, using pictures and videos, which are all really great tools. So I really want to share a little bit more about how we can continue to really showcase and promote that culture. And with that, I do want to just start off giving you a little idea of what this session’s going to be all about.

Growth Starts In Admissions

We know a key area for growth within our schools really can start in admissions. And in many cases, that admissions process is the very first impression that your school gets to make, outside of them maybe finding your school on social media, or they might have found you on something like Google or Google Maps, and had little teaser of content. But stepping into your building, that foot in the door really is going to set an impression.

“It’s going to give them that vibe, that feeling, and hopefully it’s that warm and fuzzy feeling of I’ve been looking for this.”

I’ve been waiting for this all my life. And that’s what we really want to kind of captivate our learners with. So I wanted to show you a few ways that we can and really approach this to overcome a few challenges that many of us will face here when going through an admissions process, the questions, the concerns that our learners will have. But how can we also really take a step-by-step approach to guide our potential students through this process, and really maximize results for who’s going to show up on that first day of school.

Overcoming Objections

Now talking about that, there are some pretty common threads that many learners, when they approach signing up or getting started in school, come with these fears, these obstacles, these challenges that they might be faced with. And those include some of these following ones here.

I’m sure that if anyone here has ever been an educator, a director, and this is not just for those of you that are in admission, everybody within the school plays a part in the culture. So I really do want to set that stage. Even when you’re outside of the school, when you’re in the grocery store and maybe someone asks what you do, and you explain a little bit about what your involvement is that you’re an educator and you teach cosmetology.

“You’re going to start giving off a little bit of a vibe.”

And when you’re out to eat, when you’re just chatting with friends, when someone might reach out and say, “I know someone who’s really been interested in doing that. I know this is what you’ve done for years.” Those opportunities to help extend the culture of the school are really important. So, again, I really want to emphasize, this is not just for those that might be in that admissions process.

“This Isn’t A Real Career”

But looking at this, overcoming some of these key objections. “Everyone says this isn’t a real career,” you might have heard that said before. “All you do is hair,” and they kind of brush it off like it’s not a real career. I’m going to throw some air quotes around that, but we know that it is, and that it can really be quite lucrative for our learners.

“I’m Not Sure How I’ll Pay For School”

Another common objection that we hear is, “I’m not sure how I would pay for school.” And that is probably one of the biggest ops schools or challenges learners come to our academies with is they’re not certain exactly where they’re going to go with it, and how they might pay for it, whether they might be independent, whether they do have a support system, which might even come up a little bit later on here.

“I Might Have Challenges With The Schedule”

Another objection we commonly hear is I might have challenges with the schedule. And really knowing what is going to lie ahead, will there be any scheduled changes? What are those opportunities? Are there different schedules? Some may not even consider the opportunities for a daytime or evening program, a full-time or part-time, and those opportunities that go with that.

“I Do Not Have A Strong Support System at Home”

And last, and as I just mentioned, “I do not have a strong support system at home.” They might have mom or dad or, or a husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, a loved one, a sibling, a grandparent, a best friend, whomever it might be, they might be kind of giving them those second doubts or second guesses of, “Is that really what you want to do?” Or, “Aren’t you more interested in this?” And they might ask them, “Are you sure that you can really make enough money in that industry?” So as we look at these objections that come up, these obstacles.

“That’s really what they are, opportunities for us to help them overcome them”

If we can really take a great approach to our overall admissions and enrollment process, we can help our learners understand a little bit more about the industry, and help prepare them for the success that they really honestly can strive for and achieve one day. So in order to help us think through this and break this down, we’re going to look at this information in a couple different ways, and try to just come up with a few different tools and resources, again, to help out.

Keep Prospective Students Engaged

So with that, I’m going to share a few tools and resources that are going to help us out with maintaining constant touch points, even if we’re not present. And that’s usually one of the biggest things that happens, throughout any type of interaction we have with a potential student.

Again, whether you’re in admission, you might be a director who doesn’t play too much in admissions, but definitely has an opportunity to connect, talk with, stay in contact. You might be an educator that is, again, familiar with some of… or maybe you even met that student during their campus tour. There are different opportunities where different people can stay in touch with these individuals, even when they’re not there in the building.

We also, of course, want to provide tools and resources that can help these potential learners overcome their objections, whether it be understanding what school costs, what that school schedule might be, helping to win over the support of that system at home, whomever they might be.

By deploying a few of these different tactics, we can also help move quickly through the over overall journey. Helping these potential learners know what comes next. We also have the opportunity to provide a variety of resources and content to help keep the learners engaged, especially if they’re signing up well in advance.

“Many times the learner will come to the admissions process and they might be weeks, maybe even months in advance before they’re going to begin.”

How do we keep that momentum going between when they’re here in the building signing up or considering signing up, and then what comes next? So we’re going to break this journey down into three different stages. We’re going to talk about the interview. We’re going to talk about registration, and then we’re going to talk about enrollment and what each of these really mean for this overall big picture and how our learners have the opportunity to interact.

The Big Picture

The Interview

So with that, let’s go ahead and just jump right on in to the interview. The interview is going to be that very first area where learners are going to connect and meet you, again, most likely face-to-face. Nowadays you might even be doing that over Zoom, potentially, and get an opportunity to connect. However, when that learner’s first connecting, there’s going to be a world of questions that are out there that we’re trying to help them answer, find answers to, think about, and even consider.

But what I really want to start thinking about is during this journey is we want to start welcoming these individuals into the industry. Give them a sneak peek of what beauty school or whether that be cosmetology school, whether that’s barbering school, aesthetics, nail care, whatever it might be, but give them a nice welcoming into the industry. What is that excitement all about? What’s the potential that’s there? Getting an opportunity to meet and greet and see what life is kind of like in this situation.

“Welcoming them into the industry and making them feel welcome and kind of feel at home. It’s going to be really big for a lot of these learners.”

They’re going to start thinking about, did I make the right decision? Am I on the right path? And, again, that culture is really that vibe and that presence that we can present to that learner. If we can help showcase what our school’s culture is like during this process, it’s going to be huge for helping that learner, again, feel comfortable with the decisions that they’re making.

Sharing Success Stories

Also, we really want to share success stories at this point in time. Sharing success stories is going to help that learner get an understanding of, yes, I can be successful. And those that might be questioning or even doubting the decisions I’m making, I now can go to them and show them, look at what others are accomplishing. And these can be small or big success stories. These can be the success stories of a learner that did just sign up and just started, that they can connect with and stay in conversation with throughout their journey.

If they have questions, being able to connect that kind of peer-to-peer audience is going to be really successful for them. But what about some of your own graduate success stories? Let them know, yes, this is one of our school’s graduates. These are some of the things that they’ve accomplished, and here you can even connect with them right here through this platform. And that might be your school’s platform, or it might even be social media or some type of other alumni channel. But sharing those success stories early is going to be really key.

And many times we don’t consider sharing these success stories until we start talking about business within school and say, “Well, let’s talk about these students that have accomplished these different business feeds.” But if we can start early, it shows the potential to those very early students.

Self Discovery

“Also we really want to start with some self discovery”

Self discovery is going to help learners get an understanding of what type of career path is going to be right for them. Everybody’s going to have a different journey within this industry. And for those of us on this call, we all probably know that today’s career paths are certainly different than maybe when we first got to started in this business. Whether you got started as a student, whether you started your own business, whether you went into the salons, spas, whether you got started in the barber industry. Years ago, the type of career path that existed were not, honestly, maybe as creative as they are today.

I remember when I started out cosmetology school, and I was actually a high school graduate that went through cosmetology. And that was, well, it was about 20 years ago now, that being an influencer really wasn’t something that existed. Social media just didn’t have that type of a platform. There were platform artists, and those were the key influencers, but today’s learners have all different sorts of paths.

Not only that, but from the very independent to the very kind of corporate, your private salons, your nationwide, or international brands that they can connect with. There’s a wealth of opportunities that are out there. And, again, being able to tie this into that welcoming to the industry and sometimes just showing what’s possible, and what some of your own graduates have accomplished, is really key to helping them get those warm and fuzzy feelings that say, “You know what? I am making the right decision. And I really do feel that I’m headed down the great path.”

And the thing to keep in mind is, while you’re really welcoming them and getting through this very initial process, this kind of interview, it’s really about helping to find out what they are interested in. Not everybody may have interest on being on a platform and being on stage, and some may not want to work directly behind a chair, but have their own brand. Some of our learners might already be an influencer with tens, if not hundreds of thousands of followers on YouTube or TikTok or Instagram, whatever it might be. And they’re now here diving deeper into the industry.

“So spend this time getting to know your learners, and of course adapt your message to really help hit home what they might be looking for.”

And that’s going to be different from one person to the next. So that interview process is not only just for them to find out that information about your school, but for you to find out a little bit more about what’s really going to help them out.

Registration

With that, as we move from the interview process, we’ll start going into our registration. So this is going to be kind of that second stage. Registration is where that learner, that potential learner has really started to make those decisions that, yes, this is really is going to be the route that I want to go along. And, yes, I am feeling good about this decision. Now, this can happen right here in the building when you’re with them, or it might even happen after they’ve already just left, they went home. They’re taking some time to think about it. They said, “Thanks for showing us around and explaining a little bit more about it.”

There is different timeframes that can exist between that very initial interview and this registration process. Again, it really kind of depends on that eagerness, that willingness, I feel like that might be a made up word right now. I don’t know, brain fog. But it’s really a matter of where they might be on their own journey as they’re coming into you.

Financial Aid

But in registration, we’re going to start out with sharing information about financial aid. This is one of the biggest areas where potential learners have questions. They just don’t really understand financial aid, or it may have been a long time since they’ve ever had to work with financial aid. And nowadays, of course, a lot of people are really hesitant and concerned about different types of loans or financing and rates, whatever it might be. But a really big tool is for us to be able to share information about what financial aid is really all about. And if we can be informative here and supportive here, we can help them make the right decision.

Scholarships

But not only financial aid, a lot of learners don’t understand a lot about scholarship opportunities that are out there. There are a ton of organizations that can support your potential learners, even your current learners, and even some of your graduates with scholarship opportunities. Ones that can help them cover costs throughout the program, or even advance their education beyond once they graduate.

So looking at this, having some connections and being able to share what opportunities are out there can also be a really big win in supporting your potential learners. So get familiar with some of those scholarship opportunities that are out there. There’s a number of them across all different types of industry sides from, again, skincare, nail care, barbering, cosmetology, and just about everything in between.

Reaching Enrollment

Now during the registration process. Another thing that we’re looking at sharing is that step towards enrollment, we want to share information of what really starts to kind of come next. If you’re getting ready and you’re saying, “Yep, I really upset to go ahead and begin school.” What are those things that they need to think about between signing and then starting?

That first day of school, we really want to help them feel prepared for it. We want to help them. I’m seeing a few things… Chris or Parker, I see a few people in here saying, “We lost you in the chat.” Does anybody still have me before I carry on? You lost my camera, but you can still hear me.

Chris Linford:

We’ve been able to still see you and hear you on our end, Daniel, doing great and looking great, too.

Okay. All right, then we’ll go ahead and just keep going with it. But with this, reaching enrollment is going to be that stage where it’s really going to be all about helping those learners feel prepared for day one. Sometimes those biggest fears are…And I see everyone saying, “Welcome back.” Here we are. We’re going with it.

But getting them ready for day one, there’s a tremendous amount of fear with that day one start to a program. Showing up on site, and just sometimes feeling, are you ready for day one? Do you know what room to go to? Do you know what class you belong in? Do they know everything about what to expect for maybe that schedule or where it might be?

But this is going to be a big part, where you want to help them. And things like a school checklist or tools this kind of having that support that might be there. I’ll share one thing I used to do in my academies, and students would show on the first day is we kind of had these, I like to call them “accountabili-buddies” but these accountabili-buddies or these kind of school representatives, they’re students that are just really high on our culture level.

They supported our culture very well, that they would meet students at the front door, and actually kind of bring them back, escort them into the class, and they would hang out with them until another student came in, and then they would help introduce them to the group. And then they would just take turns, kind of rotating out, and greeting new students. And I would use two or three, depending the class size that I might have had that day.

“But that way there is always someone at the front door ready to greet those new learners, help them back into the place where they need to be.”

Now, of course, these could even be some of your educators, but getting those high culture, supportive learners is going to be a great tool for you too. So looking at that process, it’s going to bring us right into that third milestone in this admissions journey, and that’s enrollment.

Enrollment

Enrollment is when they start showing up for that day one. And yet again, the timeframe between then and now can be quite drastic, sometimes weeks, months. Sometimes you might even have students that are signing up for the next calendar year, when they graduate, maybe, high school or another university term.

Celebrate The Progress

But a few things you want to keep in mind here is, again, celebrating the progress that learner has made really making that first day showing up something very successful for them. Something that really, again, continues that momentum going forward, helps them feel good about the decisions that they’ve made, and really celebrating this big win of reaching it.Because for many learners, this is a huge life milestone for them as well.

Engage in The Industry

As you go through that, you also really want to recognize the potential that’s there in the industry for your learners. Getting an opportunity to explore what exists and get them kind of amped up and revved up for it. Things like competition, industry events, many of them might not know about the things that we take for granted sometimes like the professional shows, America’s Beauty Show, ISSE, Premiere Shows across the country, and so much more. There’s so many different events that are out there that someone who might be new to the industry just isn’t really aware of.

And connect that into those influencers that your school uses. Every brand that you use at your school has a variety of different influencers that can help them connect on that social media level that many of our students are into. But also understanding more about those product lines, rather than just waiting for product knowledge class.

Create The Culture

And last but not least, you also really want to share a little bit more about your school culture in-depth, things like school events, the brands that you support with, the extracurricular activities, are there charity events or just school events that happen inside, like job fairs? Model opportunities, creative opportunities that are out there, and also introduce your different staff members.

Additional Resources

Now with this, and I’m being very mindful of my time, because I’m probably down to a matter of seconds left, I do want to share one tool with you all, let me just grab my phone off to the side, that can also help you with doing this for your learner. So if I just go ahead, and I’m going to try to share my screen, hopefully, this will pull up for you all. Let screen mirror to our Zoom session. There we go. Now, hopefully that’s coming through a-okay. Just going to share a tool that we use, and again, I’d be happy to discuss this a little bit more, afterwards with you, I’ll share my contact info.

But those of you that may know about Pivot Point, we use a tool called Lab to help facilitate and help provide access to all of our education. We use a tool in our classes, and we call this our admissions learning path. And it’s a tool that supports our learners, that they can this just like me from my mobile phone. And they may be able to go to, let’s say, Daniel’s School of Cosmetology. And as they go through this admissions process, I can use this tool and fully customize it. We give this to a school to fully customize everything from the interview to the registration and the enrollment, to add in those doses of you.

There might be that secret sauce, this special content, brand information you want them to share, resources, checklists, or documents that you can provide them through those three different phases. You can see them set up on my screen here, are interview, registration, enrollment. And I can use a few of these different tools and expand them. I just love how mobile friendly this is that I can use these lessons, these prebuilt content to welcome them to the industry. Show them some of information that’s all about the potential, the career opportunities that are there. Connect with industry peers, and really just find information out.

With that, I can even access information throughout that registration process, answer those questions, like what is financial aid? What are scholarship opportunities that are out there? And then, even into that enrollment process, start to really welcome them to day one. Give them a little bit of history, of course, at Pivot Point, our founder, Leo Passage, sharing a little bit of information there. The competitive side of the world.

And even, of course, as a school, you can create your own tools, like I have one that I customize at the bottom of this list here, that’s just my Daniel’s School of Cosmetology. And I can share documents, videos, interviews from past graduates, photos of the school, anything that I want, and they can have access to this on their phone. So even when they’re not with me, they can always get that information.

And the next part that I love about it the most is because it’s set up as a classroom, we can even just chat with each other right in here. I can see my student, Justin Bieber, be jealous of my enrollment. I can direct message Justin Bieber right inside this platform. And I can find out, Justin did just log in last week. And it gives me these talking points to be able to say, “Hey, Justin, I see that you were logged in. How are things going? What are you thinking about this journey? Do you have any questions? I’m here, if you need me.” And it brings them into your school culture and makes them an active part of your community, even though they might not have started their official day one yet.

So this tool, again, fully customizable, I’d love to just share and show you a little bit more. I’m going to go ahead and just put my contact information down in the chat. And if you want to know more, if you have any questions, all you’ve got to do is ask. We’re here to help you guys out. But with that, I know I’m pretty much right here at my time. So thank you very much, again, Chris, for yet another just kind of action packed moment here. And everything that we’ve had to kind of cover in 20 minutes, I love these kind of power sessions. So, again, thank you.