{"id":384,"date":"2012-02-13T22:48:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T03:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steinvox.com\/?p=384"},"modified":"2012-08-11T12:22:51","modified_gmt":"2012-08-11T17:22:51","slug":"higher-education-customers-are-called-studentsthe-mindset-of-to-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinvox.com\/blog\/higher-education-customers-are-called-studentsthe-mindset-of-to-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher Education Customers Are Called Students – The Mindset of To vs. For"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, Seth Godin<\/a> posted in his blog a piece titled Who is your customer<\/a>? Thinking about higher education customers, Seth’s post motivated me to write about something that I\u2019ve shared with a few leaders.\u00a0 Some immediately get it, others immediately dismiss it, failing to introspectively look deep enough to understand the difference. That is, the customer-centric mindset has a pervasive culture to do things \u201cFOR\u201d customers, not an attitude that they are there to do things \u201cTO\u201d customers. Higher education can learn from Seth\u2019s new rules.<\/p>\n

Seth Godin\u2019s Customer Rules<\/h3>\n

Seth\u2019s post identifies two rules: 1) you can build business on great customer service, and 2) great customer service requires you treat customers differently (paraphrased).<\/p>\n

So often we can observe decision making failure where a company has a strategy to do something TO customers, and call that \u201cvalue.\u201d This mindset is precisely opposite what I see in what Seth wrote. In order build a great business, there must be a natural culture that focuses on understanding what the organization\/institution can uniquely do FOR each and ALL customers, often uniquely, in order that the customer truly receives value from every angle of perception.<\/p>\n

Seth\u2019s uses the example of Zappos vs. Nike.\u00a0 Clearly, Zappos\u2019 legendary customer-centricity is well known.\u00a0 While Nike is about delivering a homogenized product to everyone in the same way. Other\u2019s are learning the FOR vs. TO approach.\u00a0 Some will evolve and prosper. Others have such deeply engrained antibodies in their culture that they are likely to die in the process.<\/p>\n

Higher Education<\/h3>\n

\"Wisdom\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One to watch out for is Higher Education. While many large public and private ivy-league institutions are defending their status behind a message of \u201cinvest in yourself\u201d the student (customer) is perceiving this message in the following way. \u201cMy tuition goes to fund someone else\u2019s \u2018research\u2019 but my individual success for the money I spend is completely untethered to the experience value behind message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Institutions See Students As Customers<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, some public state institutions, U of MN for example, have reinvented the entire student experience, engaging students and their parents with Zappos-level attention and service. Building a value proposition that focuses on what the institution will do FOR students (customers) in terms of student success for everyone, including a 4 year graduation commitment in the form of a guarantee. U of MN sees the value to students and society in creating more educated students overall.<\/p>\n

Not enough state institutions relying on taxpayer support are having this epiphany or are making the shift from \u201cTO\u201d to \u201cFOR\u201d. This shift is in transition now \u2013 some institutions will make it, others will fail, and still others are hoping for a state money bailout.\u00a0 Consider that The Ohio State University in their new freshman orientation tour last year started out the presentation with \u201cwe are solvent\u201d and not dependent on the state of OH for money \u2013 then went on to say how they were focused on EVERY students success in what they do FOR students (customers).\u00a0 True or not, it\u2019s a clear mindset there.<\/p>\n

Public and Private Can Learn From For Profit<\/h3>\n

Higher education has another revolution coming. Online, and for-profit universities have the interest, wherewithal and business-centric DNA to know that they have no safety-net, and must do something FOR customers by delivering a competitive learning product that DELIGHTS customers (students), and their message is all about career advancement measured in meaningful ROI metrics. Even with the University of Phoenix recruiting fumbles of recent history, this is a force in higher education that is focused on doing things FOR it\u2019s customers. They have to \u2013 or they will fail.\u00a0 Walden, Embry Riddle, and other universities are seeing this.<\/p>\n

Performance Is Still Measured<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m not suggesting that this affects how performance is measured or how grades are given. However, it is a change in attitude from: \u201cWhat can we do to lobby more sources of revenue and extract endowments from lucky alumni to keep our old traditional institutionalized ways going?\u201d To:\u00a0 \u201cHow can we maximize our programs, curriculum, and academic approaches to ensure that every student is successful at learning and growing \u2013 and eventually being a productive contributor in the workforce?\u201d Clearly, the former is introspective, and the latter is customer-centric. I\u2019ll even suggest that the latter is more conducive to producing profound research, new invention, breakthrough innovation, and significant contribution to the GDP of the nation.\u00a0 We all know that will accelerate economic growth.<\/p>\n

Benefit to Society and Economies<\/h3>\n

Producing productive, educated members of society is critical. Traditionally, higher education separated the ditch diggers from the doctors and lawyers. Institutions did this by doing something TO students as an approach of separating below average from exceptional, leaving below average behind, using average to fund the institution, and the elite to bring prestige.<\/p>\n

\"GraduationClass\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In our competitive digital economy, we need EVERY student learning, and contributing.\u00a0 Separating them achieves no higher order objective. Spend the time, build the programs, do something FOR EVERY student by helping, encouraging, and teaching them to be successful. Traditional institutional approaches of yester-decades won\u2019t do that for the maximum number of students, nor is the old way \u201ccustomer-centric.\u201d<\/p>\n

More educated people is better<\/em>, when it comes to having educated people coming out of our institutions of higher education. Customer (student) centricity will achieve that.<\/p>\n

Epilogue<\/h3>\n

There will be readers of this that say \u201che doesn\u2019t understand the real nature of the internal situation that higher education is dealing with.\u201d Or, that \u201ceducation is something \u2018special\u2019 or \u2018unique\u2019 and those customer-centricity rules about product-service and customer-delight don\u2019t apply.\u201d<\/p>\n

I preemptively respond that such an attitude is indicative of blindness or at the least, not thinking of the customer. Moreover, if there is an exchange of payment for value, then, by definition, it is a business. You can call it something else, but at its core, it\u2019s a business.<\/p>\n

The \u201csituation\u201d from the institution\u2019s internal perspective is not a formula for decision-making nor a sustainable factor in providing a great innovative education product and outstanding service. Nor will it sustainably produce delighted customers (students).<\/p>\n

Just ask Tony Hsieh at Zappos, Jeff Bezos at Amazon, or Seth Godin. I think I can guess their answer.\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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