Are Your Campus Tour Guides Leaving Money on the Table?

Are you leaving these moments to chance?

I polled many of my friends who are parents and have been through the process of choosing their children's higher education. When I asked them how much the college tour factored into their decision, I was amazed at how many said that visiting the school was often the deciding factor. When I got into the specifics of their experience, I was surprised at how their love of the school was often a result of the guide they had. One person told me, "That school became number one on our list of schools (with equal features) because the tour guide we had took the time to talk to my child, see what his interests were, show him how he could relate to what we were looking for based on his own personal experience, and pointed out the parts of the campus that were going to be of most interest to us. We fell in love with the school because we fell in love with the guide."

What my friend did not realize, and quite possibly not even the guide realized, was that their campus experience was a perfect illustration of my Persuasion Principle, a philosophy I teach to people in every industry that they can take to any moment of persuasion and create a connection that makes them fall in love with you, your brand, and their place in it.

I wonder if that tour guide was naturally good at what he was doing, instinctively knew how to connect, or had been trained? I think the chances are good that most tour guides aren't like this. That most of them are making the mistake of simply delivering the information and answering questions, which is just data, and has no emotional ability to persuade.

My gut tells me (and my friends who went on tours where the guide was not great) that most moments like these are left to chance.

And not just on campus tours, by the way. I think most moments like this in many business scenarios are left to chance. People by nature tend to rely on data to communicate their product or service. And because data does not persuade, they leave money on the table.

If this is you, here is a set of easy steps to apply my Persuasion Principle to your moment of impact.

1. Understand the power of that moment. If you see your tour as just a way to show them around, you need to step back and understand how that guide is an ambassador of the brand, and has the ability to help that family decide whether to invest thousands of dollars in you. Acknowledge that if you leave this moment to chance, you are leaving money on the table.
2. Understand that every person standing around you is a potential buyer. Your job is not just to serve the student, it's to serve every person who has come with that student. Each one is a buyer with different needs.
3. Know the needs and emotions of each buyer in your circle, preferably before they get there. Have some idea of how to gather the data you need on those individuals, ahead of time, or in the moment, to help your guide know how to speak to their individual needs/desires/emotions. You may be asking them what their interests are, but that's not deep enough. Ask them what they are struggling with as they make their decision. Ask them what the perfect experience would look like for them. You don't want them to just check the box on features they want, you want them to tell you the problem or desire they have, how it's making them feel, and what it would look like to have the perfect experience.
4. Train your ambassador to tell stories. Each student/staff guide should already have a handful of small experiences to share that relate to the information gathered about your buyers. They should each have their own "about me story" and stories of other student experiences, ready to share.
5. Train your ambassador to focus on connection, not just information. Teach your guide to not just focus on what they say, but how they make people feel. Teach them how to not just focus on what the school does, but the problems it solves. Teach them to relate the features of the school to the pains/desires of the buyer. One easy way, if all else fails, is to just get your buyers talking, and let them know they have been heard. Your job is not to show them around, but help them solve problems, or reach their ideal experience.

I promise that if your guides do just a fraction of what I have just shared, then the moment will be more powerful than it was.

If you want more help creating moments that matter, no matter what your industry, then you're in luck. That is EXACTLY why I created Story Impact Academy, and the Persuasion Principle course that is waiting inside of it. It's the perfect journey to immerse your team in the power of story and connection. Take the course and spend the year with me, creating story ambassadors of your brand. For details go to www.StoryImpactAcademy.com and as always, if you want me to come kick off this concept live in a keynote or a workshop, just say when.

Fall in love with the guide, fall in love with the school.