We've all heard the saying, "perception is reality", but is that true? It might be. It certainly is in regards to the customer’s state of mind/assumption. Regardless if you are managing a retail business, coaching a team or leading with in higher education one fact is true - there is a strong collation between a customers Perceived Value (PV) of your company/product or service.

My world consists of managing this concept from a higher education realm, so my following remarks speak specifically in that vein. I work in a Perceived Educational Value (PEV) realm. Therefore, my remarks will signify such, but if you can simply replace PEV with PV if you are not in higher education. What actually is PV/PEV? Why does it matter? What can I do about my company's?

These questions need to be addressed and answered on an annual basis and within a competitive context. A declining economy must also be factored.

What is PV/PEV?               Value= (net) cost + quality.

Engaging your company in a through branding exercise should start a substantive discussion of what the perceptions are in your respective market place as a whole. This exercise should begin to address the PV/PEV of your customer or prospective students and families.

 

To effectively discuss and frame your PV/ PEV you must also concentrate on the “Five P’s of Marketing”: People, Product, Place, Promotion and Price.

People- Recruitment efforts have focused on targeting students and families that identify value in what your institution offers. Prospective priorities have to factor into our institution’s value perception. Do we understand incoming student’s priorities and expectations?

Product- Have we created an institution/business that has a strong enough quality component within the PV/PEV equation? Do we have enough to prove and justify a student’s return on investment (ROI)? For example community, spiritual, academics, etc. Do we completely deliver the educational experience we promise during the recruitment process?

Place- Continue to affectively proclaim the features and benefits of your location (including virtual). To truly enhance our PV/PEV, we must address how u can ‘expand’ its place. In other words, in education, does your future include quality new options/opportunities? Etc.

Price- This particular ‘P’ is one that every institution/business is trying to appropriately assess and figure out. The key is to effectively identify and develop pricing strategies that match the value received. In education, you must market your net cost in an assertive and calculated manner early in the recruitment process. Connected to that, is the need to align out institutional financial aid and discounting strategies to your current and future priorities. Are you priced properly based on your PEV?

Promotion- Every piece of marketing promotional venture and external message must communicate and aggressively counteract misperceptions within our respective market place. An accurate method of monitoring these elements and initiatives must be executed.

To adequately answer this question we must consider the value that key constituents associate with your institution/business in light of its perceived quality and cost of education. This could be found among alumni and current students using a survey, a quantified board input and/or field research along with targeting focus groups.

It is also important to note that not all students who received multiple admission offers attend the least expensive school. This element is certainly a vital contributing factor but only makes up part of the PEV equation. The greater your perceived value, the more prospective students are willing to pay. Prospective students and their parents compare competitors and are extremely sensitive to price increases.

For example, looking closely at tuition rates for schools and their enrollment numbers, one can recognize that students (and their parents) will use PEV as a high factor in deciding which school is the best choice. Looking at the two informational charts, one is able to notice that despite the high prices of some schools the enrollment is continually steady and growing. What then, are the driving factors? One must again take a look at the drivers of PEV.

Some primary drivers of PV/PEV include:

- Quality of faculty and their respective teaching ability and experience.

- Preparation for graduate/seminary schooling.

- Total cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, and fees)

- Availability of need-based financial aid.

- Career planning and placement

- Facilities- new, upgrades, additions.

- Technology

- Etc.