My daughter graduated from college a few years ago. For those that are parents of children approaching the college years, you know how much pressure society places on that decision. Personally, I am beginning to think we are making a much bigger deal out of the process than it deserves. But I will save that topic for another article.
This article is about the business lesson I learned when my daughter was being sold and marketed by the collegiate world.
Our family had driven from our home at the time in Georgia to Baltimore and took the whole family with us. Nothing like spending 20 plus hours in a van with your teenagers for some quality family time. The reason for the whole family going is that we wanted to visit a few colleges along the way. When you have a 17 year old everything seems to revolve around college visits and the “big, life altering decision.”
I am not anti-college education, but as I have grown older and more experienced in business I realize that a college education has very little to do with success in life. And for many people it can actually keep them from achieving great things. Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud of the 6 years I spent at Georgia Tech getting my 4 year degree. But I also realize that it took me many years to purge some the theoretical mumbo jumbo that filled my head and had nothing to do with creating and building a successful business.
Being a good Dad it is my duty to help steer my children and give them options. So we decided to let Dulce, my 17 year old daughter at the time, see a few schools along our route home from Baltimore. We drove through Duke and UNC Chapel Hill and they were both OK. The academics are strong at both, but neither really rocked my world.
High Point University in High Point, North Carolina was the high point of the trip…pun intended. We had seen Dr. Nido Qeubein, the President of the university; speak at a recent marketing and business owner conference. Dulce attended the event and decided that she wanted to schedule a visit to his school. So she went online and scheduled a visit.
I can sum up the visit in one word…WOW! I wanted to go back to college after the visit.
The academics are strong for a small private school and they have a good business and entrepreneur program which is what Dulce is planning to study. But the little things and attention to details is what really impressed me. And I am not easily impressed.
It started when we pulled in the parking lot and parked in the personalized parking spot at the front door that said “High Point Welcomes Dulce Winders.” Of course she jumped out of the van and wanted a picture of her with the sign. Dr. Quebein took us on a personal tour of the unfinished facilities that are being built. And the building projects are many – over $100million in current projects at that time. The dorm facilities would make any Mom or Dad comfortable to send his only daughter to live. In fact, my wife and I said we could move in the student housing now and love it. They were that nice. Other little things like a student concierge service, free ice cream on Fridays, valet parking, beautiful campus with fountains and gardens everywhere, free hot chocolate stands on cold mornings and much more…wow, wow, and wow….
Dulce did choose High Point for her college education and she enjoyed her time there while getting her degree. And in 3 years I am proud to say. If you do the math, that little extra WOW closed the deal on a $120,000 plus sale.
The big question for us is this…”what can we do in our business to create a WOW factor?” Some would say it is not possible in some industries. I disagree. In an economy that continues to be a little shaky, we must separate ourselves from the masses to create a different and unique experience. My challenge to you is to look at all that you do, raise your standard of excellence and work on creating the WOW experience!
This article is about the business lesson I learned when my daughter was being sold and marketed by the collegiate world.
Our family had driven from our home at the time in Georgia to Baltimore and took the whole family with us. Nothing like spending 20 plus hours in a van with your teenagers for some quality family time. The reason for the whole family going is that we wanted to visit a few colleges along the way. When you have a 17 year old everything seems to revolve around college visits and the “big, life altering decision.”
I am not anti-college education, but as I have grown older and more experienced in business I realize that a college education has very little to do with success in life. And for many people it can actually keep them from achieving great things. Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud of the 6 years I spent at Georgia Tech getting my 4 year degree. But I also realize that it took me many years to purge some the theoretical mumbo jumbo that filled my head and had nothing to do with creating and building a successful business.
Being a good Dad it is my duty to help steer my children and give them options. So we decided to let Dulce, my 17 year old daughter at the time, see a few schools along our route home from Baltimore. We drove through Duke and UNC Chapel Hill and they were both OK. The academics are strong at both, but neither really rocked my world.
High Point University in High Point, North Carolina was the high point of the trip…pun intended. We had seen Dr. Nido Qeubein, the President of the university; speak at a recent marketing and business owner conference. Dulce attended the event and decided that she wanted to schedule a visit to his school. So she went online and scheduled a visit.
I can sum up the visit in one word…WOW! I wanted to go back to college after the visit.
The academics are strong for a small private school and they have a good business and entrepreneur program which is what Dulce is planning to study. But the little things and attention to details is what really impressed me. And I am not easily impressed.
It started when we pulled in the parking lot and parked in the personalized parking spot at the front door that said “High Point Welcomes Dulce Winders.” Of course she jumped out of the van and wanted a picture of her with the sign. Dr. Quebein took us on a personal tour of the unfinished facilities that are being built. And the building projects are many – over $100million in current projects at that time. The dorm facilities would make any Mom or Dad comfortable to send his only daughter to live. In fact, my wife and I said we could move in the student housing now and love it. They were that nice. Other little things like a student concierge service, free ice cream on Fridays, valet parking, beautiful campus with fountains and gardens everywhere, free hot chocolate stands on cold mornings and much more…wow, wow, and wow….
Dulce did choose High Point for her college education and she enjoyed her time there while getting her degree. And in 3 years I am proud to say. If you do the math, that little extra WOW closed the deal on a $120,000 plus sale.
The big question for us is this…”what can we do in our business to create a WOW factor?” Some would say it is not possible in some industries. I disagree. In an economy that continues to be a little shaky, we must separate ourselves from the masses to create a different and unique experience. My challenge to you is to look at all that you do, raise your standard of excellence and work on creating the WOW experience!
Tim Winders has over 25 years experience as a business owner, entrepreneur, coach and consultant. He founded Accelerate Growth NOW to provide business owners with the training, coaching and resources to double, triple and 10X their business. To learn more and to claim your FREE business growth resources, visit AccelerateGrowthNOW.com.
