Making the Most out of Agent Workshops About Working With Agents A - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Making the Most out of Agent Workshops

About Working With Agents

• A consultancy that helps schools market more effectively to

agents

• 18 years in international student recruitment
• Recruitment experience in all sectors - language, higher

education, summer camps, and high schools

• Co-founded, built, and sold an award-winning education agency

Why Workshops?

• Buyers and Sellers marketplace
• Selling hopes and dreams
• Agent network building
• New beginnings
• Int'l ed's “water cooler”

Workshop providers – by the numbers

• ICEF
• ALPHE
• BMI
• Study World
• WEBA
• WYSTC

ICEF

• Established in 1991
• First workshop in 1995 in Berlin with 184 agencies & 137 educators
• 10 workshops in 2013 with 1662 agencies and 1335 educators
• More diverse educators – from language schools to HE and HS
• Differentiators – largest workshop provider, agent training courses,

12 full-time agent screeners)

Canadian educators working with agents (ICEF customer base 2006-2013)

Higher Education Secondary / Boarding Language

ALPHE

• Established by Study Travel Magazine (formerly Language Travel Gazette)
• First workshop in 1998 in London (ALPHE UK) with 75 agents & 85 educators
• 10 workshops in 2013 with 1000 agencies and 770 educators
• Also seeing a move to greater diversity in educators
• Established ALPHE Secondary due to agent demand
• Differentiators – boutique workshop provider, 4 references per agent, 30-minute meetings

BMI

• Agent Workshop Brazil established in 2002
• Connected to Salao do Estudante student fairs
• 1 workshop in Brazil in 2013 with 65 agents and 35 educators
• Differentiators – Boutique, Brazil focus, connected to Salao

Study World

• Established in 2007 but dates back to 1969 as ARELS
• Operated in Brighton and then moved to London with name change
• 1 workshop in London in 2013 with 850 organizations (split between

agents and schools)

• Exclusive to UK language schools then opened up to rest of the world

and then to more diverse educators

• Differentiators – well established workshop at beginning of the

marketing cycle (shortly after ALPHE UK in early Sept), organizations must be independently accredited, free massages!

WEBA

• Established in 1988
• First workshop also in 1988 (in Switzerland I believe) with 12

agencies & 4 educators

• 27 workshops in 2013 with 1200 agencies and 450 educators
• Focus only on HE and HS – several school districts attended last year
• Differentiators – small, diverse locations, school presentations to all

agents (meetings arranged after presentations)

WYSTC

• Established in 1992
• First workshop in Rio de Janeiro 1995 with 400 organizations
• Only 1 workshop (conference) per year – changes location every year.

Now has 700 organizations

• Focus is youth travel (not just educators) – may be appropriate for

summer group programs

Future growth

• 10-fold growth in 15-20 years
• Room to grow further
• ITB Berlin: 110,000 industry visitors, 11,000 organizations from 189

countries

Workshop Objectives

• What does a successful workshop look like?
• Have specific goals (eg. Meet 5-7 proven Russian agents who have

the potential to send me 6-8 students in the next 12-15 months)

• Remain open to opportunities

“The Meeting”

• Limited time... avoid shovelling
• Listen more, talk less
• Ask the agent specific questions like:
• How long in business?
• How many staff?
• Your role?
• How many years sending high school students to Canada?
• Who are your current high school partners?
• What makes a great relationship?
• Main programs that you sell (AY, summer, short-term etc)
• Main characteristics of your clients?

“The Meeting”

• Tailor your presentation
• How many students would you want to aim for in first year?
• Brochures – to give or not to give
• Set follow up dates
• Other techniques – photos

Follow up

• Quick thank you - obviously
• Timing of detailed follow up more important than speed
• Agent contract – just a piece of paper
• Intelligent persistence – don't be a stocker though
• No responses... when do I give up? Never – but scale back the effort

Communication Relationship

• Product Knowledge (P)
• Market Knowledge (M)
• Empathy (E)

Prospective Agent:

“The Courtship”

Contracted Agent:

“Just a Piece

• f Paper”

Active Agent:

“Student Arrival” The 3 stages of an agent relationship

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Prospective Agent “the courtship”

Prospective agent: “the courtship”

A professional agent will look for a demonstration of the following:

• Product knowledge – do you know your school and competitors inside out?
• Market knowledge – do you understand the agent’s market?
• Empathy – do you care about both?

Prospective Agent “the courtship”

Contracted agent: “Just a Piece of Paper”

A signed contract is only a piece of paper:

• Are you planning to visit at least once per year?
• Have you actively invited them to the school?
• Are you setting up Skype training calls with their staff?
• Are they receiving regular updates (print and digital)?

Prospective Agent “the courtship”

Active agent: “Student arrival”

Time to perform:

• Test student – if this goes well and others will follow
• No margin for error
• Keep agent heavily informed of student’s welfare during the

first two weeks

Sign up for my newsletter and contact me to discuss your needs:

• E: charvey@workingwithagents.com
• P: 519 830 2600
• Facebook: facebook.com/workingwithagents
• Twitter: @WWAConsulting