We were having a beer together lately, reflecting on our relationships with our clients. We landed on the insight that in addition to schools buying services based on benefits, they also buy on risk mitigation. Let’s say a marketing company promises a school a big benefit. If promises are not kept, a nightmare could unravel before your eyes: your school is financially compromised due to some crazy-assed idea a vendor brings you that was poorly thought through and/or implemented. Many purchasing our services are senior staff. School leaders don’t need their well-developed careers partially ruined by having a vendor not come through on a promise or do something unethical.
A Solid Foundation to Work From
One thing we have going for us at Enrollment Resources is we have a very good risk mitigation program for our clients.
- we have a large cash war chest just sitting in the bank, to mitigate financial risk
- we’ve been in the EDU space since 2003
- we are large enough to have redundancy in all our critical fulfillment areas. There will never be a talent gap
- we have been certified by non-profit B LAB, as a well-run organization.
- we are Certified by the Better Business Bureau.
- we were the first, perhaps only EDU marketing company to be certified by Google as a Professional Partner. We were the only EDU company invited to their Roundtable this year.
- everything we do is A/B tested with the best practices then documented. Our Best Practice Vault is massive.
- we have an excellent monthly satisfaction guarantee, built into our client agreements.
- when we get started, we will work for you for free for a while. Proof is more valuable than promises.
To adopt a saying from IBM, “nobody gets fired when using Enrollment Resources”. We are stable, tested, redundant and have an excellent satisfaction guarantee.
The Tough Questions
While at your next conference, when chatting with a persuasive Marketing type, try and move past their charming ways and ask some tough questions related to risk mitigation;
- Am I going to have a kid running my paid search campaign?
- How many months payroll is secured with cash in the bank (3 or more is reasonable)?
- What happens if I’m not happy at invoice time, what is the grievance process?
- Do you have one client representing more than 20% of your Agency revenues?
- Are those fulfilling on campaigns employees or subcontractors or sub-subcontractors…
If they can’t meet your gaze when responding to these tough questions that’s a clue. Perhaps it would be best to walk away. Then… visit ER and ask the same tough questions and see how we compare. Remember that nobody gets fired when working with Enrollment Resources. Let us prove it to you.
Hope to speak with you soon.
Shane Sparks and Gregg Meiklejohn
Co-founders, Enrollment Resources Inc.