As I was transitioning out of the US Navy a while back😊, there was a lot of information that was coming my way regarding all kinds of important topics that would no doubt serve me well in my future endeavors. I was most interested in the information regarding using college credits from military service, GI Bill funding information, and whatever else was related to me attending college at the time.
Much of the information was distributed in mass quantities, but during that time I needed bite-sized information to consume and process. It wasn’t until I started college later that summer that I started to receive information, tips and tricks in a bite-sized format that would help me through the next phase of my life. The person that made that happen was the university veteran’s support representative. She made it easy and convenient to get the information that I needed and made me feel important as a member of that community. Instead of just giving out information she DID the following:
· She focused on me as an individual and what I needed to accomplish.
· She was available and eager to help me get registered, often before my official registration time.
· She was happy to listen to my questions and help get me information as needed.
· She shared her knowledge about all things that were military, veteran, education related.
· She was in her office and available via phone or email when I needed to connect.
Her support allowed me to align my veteran benefits so that I didn’t need to think about whether I submitted the correct form, or checked the correct box, or met deadlines. Her assistance was a critical component for me reaching my goal, and for the university, it ensured that there was a high probability that I would be retained long-term.
So, colleges and universities, this is where you can make a difference. Align your services across the enterprise to have a customer-centric emphasis that focusses on students/people/clients as individuals. Students deserve a great customer experience not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because they are paying a premium to attend your institution. Adult learners in particular think like consumers. We live in a world of increasingly appealing and seemingly similar educational offerings. Because of similarities among institutions, the human-centered connection points that your student encounters become increasingly more and more important. So, every interaction that a student has with an employee, staff member, faculty member or other representative from your institution ends with only one of two outcomes…positive or negative. Which will you choose?
Focus on improving every connection point during a student’s experience and you will realize increased student retention, increased student recruitment, and increased alumni participation.
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