During the School Growth Lab in Los Angeles today we discussed how to learn faster and more effectively from the target market in order to gain the attention of families and grow. After all, schools can certainly master the best practices of a learning organization, right?
Whether using an automated system or conducting personal interviews, you can learn valuable information from past and current families, along with those who opted to not enroll or haven't even consider applying to your school.
Questions you might ask fall into distinct categories:
1. To spark or guide discussion by encouraging deeper analysis
2. To determine pain points
3. To uncover opportunities
4. To challenge assumptions
During the Lab we identified the following four questions to ask families in your target market:
As a parent, what is your biggest concern for your child?
Recommended Categories: College entrance, Finding purpose, Leadership development, Survival, Faith development, AP Classes, Technology usage, Advantage, Safety, …
Recommended Answer Options for each category: Not Important, Somewhat Important, Important, Critically Important
How important is it to you that your child’s school has:
Recommended Categories: sports (could list various teams), smart boards, ebooks, great teachers, physical education, blended learning, internships, design thinking, project-based learning, learning support, etc.
Recommended Answer Options: Not Important, Somewhat Important, Important, Critically Important
To a family that considered enrolling in your school but didn't, you could ask: What was the primary reason you chose another school?
Recommended Categories: Curriculum, Friends, Technology, Location, Money, Facilities, etc. Also provide an open ended question that invites other comments.
To currently enrolled families a highly useful question is to ask: How likely are you to recommend our school to your family and friends?
Recommended Answer Options: Not likely, Somewhat likely, Likely, Very Likely
What other questions could you use to assess your value proposition and uncover new opportunities for growth?
