College
advisor eagerly accepts business advice
International College Counselors founder
Mandee Heller Adler eagerly looks for new ways to build her company.
March 8, 2010
BY NANCY DAHLBERG
College
can open up a world of opportunity, but first you have to get in the door.
So Mandee
Heller Adler launched a company in 2004 to guide high school students and their
panicking parents through the confusing, often stressfully competitive college
admissions process. By offering personal coaching and expert strategies, she
helped her first client get into Dartmouth.
Now
International College Counselors, with seven employees, has placed more than
400 students into undergraduate and graduate programs around the country. While
most business is from Florida, 20 percent of
the clients live in other states and countries as far away as Bahrain, with Venezuela being the biggest
international market so far.
To help
her develop a growth strategy, Adler turned to The Miami Herald for a Small
Business Makeover. She wants to further tap the international market and
explore whether franchising is the best way to expand.
HAPPY
CUSTOMERS
``We have
a good product, good results. The parents really like us, and everything has
been word of mouth. This is good, but if we want to grow, it has to be more,''
said Adler, who has been averaging about two referrals per student client.
Broward
SCORE (www.browardscore.org) provided us with two experts, who like other SCORE
counselors volunteer their time to advise small businesses. Tapan Chakrabarty
has held senior global marketing positions with Fortune 500 companies and now
is managing partner of the social media site Publishaletter.com. Michael Bush,
who also has Fortune 500 experience, owns Franchise Advisors and, with his
wife, the Huntington Learning Center
franchise in Coral Springs.
They
first explored what International College Counselors brings to the customer and
how it differentiate itself from competitors.
Adler's
Hollywood-based company not only helps students find and apply to the right
colleges, it also helps them prepare essays, practice for interviews and select
classes, volunteer work and extra curricular activities. It can help them find
and apply for scholarships, too. Charging a set fee of $5,000, International
College Counselors will work with students starting in Grade 9 through
acceptance. Meetings can be in person, via phone or through the Web.
A
DIFFERENT COMPANY
A number
of companies do what Adler's does, but many are mom-and-pop businesses that
offer this service part-time. They may not have the connections and expertise
Adler does. Often these other companies take money from colleges for placement,
which Adler does not do.
While
Adler helps many students gunning for the Ivy Leagues, she also takes pride in
her company's success rate in helping average students find good college
matches, even when they doubt they will be accepted into colleges at all.
``We do
amazing jobs with our kids. . . . There is a knowledge base you need to have:
an understanding of the child and an understanding of the schools,'' said
Adler, who has two bachelor's degrees from University of Pennsylvania and a MBA
from Harvard, speaks Spanish and has a background in finance.
To reach
more potential customers, Adler has had success with advertising venues such as
NPR sponsorships, Boca magazine and a publication featured on flights to Venezuela. The
SCORE counselors were also impressed that her website,
www.internationalcollegecounselors.com, was already available in Spanish.
Chakrabarty
suggested Adler further establish her authority in the field and on the Web.
Adler, who has personally visited more than 150 universities, could start by
updating the blog -- the latest entry was weeks old. He also suggested
contributing articles to relevant magazines and school publications.
In addition,
Chakrabarty recommended giving webinars a try. Open a YouTube account for the
business and start posting webinars you can link to, he said. ``Why let your
intellectual property go to waste?''
LOW-COST
SOLUTIONS
Adler and
the company's other principal, Barry Liebowitz, said they could videotape some
upcoming seminars for low-cost webinars. ``That will be money well spent for
you. It gives you the power of visibility. That is a way you can distinguish
yourself,'' Chakrabarty said.
The
company recently contracted with Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton to be its onsite college
counselors. It's another revenue stream (Adler and Liebowitz are there twice a
week), but it also helps in other ways, Liebowitz said.
``One of
major benefits is the contacts made.'' he said. ``It gives us credibility as
high school guidance counselors.''
Adler
said the contract is going well and she has had nibbles from other schools.
``The question is where we want the business to grow and doing it smartly. I
didn't want to take on seven schools until we totally know the whole process.''
MORE
WORK AHEAD
While the
company had some search engine optimization done on the website, Chakrabarty
said: ``SEO work is never done -- never. It's an ongoing expense. A lot of
people think `I have built it, and now I am done.' You aren't. . . . The trick
is that every time someone does a search for college counselors, you want to
show up.''
Bush
added: ``If you don't have someone working the website, you need to get someone
working on it for you. Optimizing your website is crucial.'' Marketing work can
be outsourced, too, the counselors said.
Another
suggestion: Offer incentives for leads. Adler and Liebowitz said they already
offer gift cards. If a gift card is of negligible value to parents in high
income brackets, said Chakrabarty, why not make a donation to their favorite
charity? There are many ways to say thank you.
TIME
TO FRANCHISE?
Alder
next wanted to know if franchising would be the best way to expand her
business.
Bush
offered a reality check about the franchise world: ``You will no longer be
doing what you are doing now. When you get into franchising and you get
inquiries, you will be handling all these new franchisees.
``You
have to understand the money to set it up ($50,000 to $125,000 to get the
federal documentation done), then you need the infrastructure in place,'' Bush
added.
Adler
said she does have the documentation in place so someone could come in and
learn the processes easily. But she has tried expanding in the past with mixed
success.
Besides
franchising, Adler could license offices around the country, for instance, or
she could place a few independent contractors or employees in other areas but
do all the main work in Hollywood.
`TEST
THE WATERS'
Bush
recommended she start with one small office in a distant city. ``Test the
waters. Find the right person to drive the business for one area and work with
them,'' Bush said. ``Then the next time you add someone, you will know what was
successful.''
Since the
makeover, Adler and Liebowitz have opened a Twitter account and linked Twitter
and Facebook to the site and blog. They are producing webinars, blogging more
often and working on search optimization by adding back links and keeping the
content fresh. And they continue to offer incentives for leads.
As for a
growth strategy, Adler said she will follow up with the SCORE counselors in a
few months to continue developing a plan for expansion.
``There
is nothing more valuable than having really smart people help you with your business,''
Adler said. ``The professionals knew what they were doing, they had wonderful
experience, and they were open to sharing their expertise.''
Small Business Profile: College-bound for success
Firm helps with puzzling college applications
By Cindy Kent | South
Florida
Sun-Sentinel
January 19, 2009
Mandee Heller Adler launched International
College Counselors about four years ago to help students through the daunting
college and graduate school application process.Adler said her clients know the
importance of addressing college-bound issues but are busy or find the process
too intimidating.
Students whose schedules are packed with extracurricular activities or a job
have little time to focus on their futures, she said. Their parents may have
last applied for college over 20 years ago. Many parents are overwhelmed by
information overload and cumbersome online processes. "It gets more and
more confusing," said Adler.
Adler's Hollywood-based business employs four people who handle about 60
clients a year. Fees range from $3,000 to $5,000 or an hourly rate of about
$200. Adler's business is largely driven by word of mouth and through the
Internet. Counselors develop timelines for students such as scheduling tests
and application letters and essays. They coordinate college tours and help
prepare for interviews. Adler and her team navigate complicated financial and
scholarship issues and aid in the application process. Consulting, such as
assisting in curriculum choices to developing application resumes, is based on
a student's graduation date.
Adler's counselors specialize in specific areas of study. They tune into
colleges, scholarships and various programs that would benefit the client.
"The goal is to help students maximize their education potential and
minimize that element of randomness," she said. Recently, Adler added her
brother-in-law, Barry Liebowitz, as a firm principal. Liebowitz can focus on
clients with an emphasis on sports. He was a student athlete though college and
developed his career with sports-related organizations.
Jodi Knofsky of North Bay
Village was referred to Adler's business,
when her son was a junior in high school. He's now in his first year of
college. "There were a couple of different areas of concern for me,"
said Knofsky. "I wanted this to be a non-emotional process, and I needed
someone who was knowledgeable, competent and neutral."
Knofsky was guided through financial aid. Counselors got to know her son.
"Their priorities were in line with his priorities, and it made us feel
like we were the only client," she said.
Adler and her team were current on information and how to use it. "I knew
I was out of touch with the way things are," said Knofsky. "My
college application was written by hand and mailed."
By Nicholas Fahrenkopf
What do math inspired dance moves, a Kanye-esque rap “through the wire”, and
a flying elephant have in common? For students graduating from high school this
year, it just might be their ticket to Tufts University. While for some colleges
and universities an online application might be a recent technological
advancement, Tufts this year accepted an optional portion of their application
as a YouTube video. This year they’ve had over 1,000 submissions out of over
10,000 applications. But they’re not alone.
“With social media Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter changing the way
information is shared, it only made sense…” explains Andrew Flagel, dean of
Admissions at George Mason University, one of the first universities to accept a
video submission in lieu of, or in supplement to a traditional essay. “Although
academics still play the primary role in all admissions decisions, the video
essays allow students to convey their energy, enthusiasm and creativity directly
to the admissions committee.” Mason University (at
http://videos.masonmetro.com/) has received videos ranging from students playing
a ukulele to creating a scrapbook to retelling the classic “Cat in the Hat”
story.
These video submissions no doubt have the potential to help the students who
are submitting them- it puts a face to a name, along with a story, and a
personality. Perhaps there are some times when a video might hurt the
application though. For example, one Tufts applicant displays his hobby spinning
at raves, and asks the admissions committee if it wouldn’t be great to have
parties like that at Tufts. As a graduate of the University at Albany this
author is aware of the negative connotation of a party school and can only
imagine the admissions committee’s answer might have been taken from Steve Jobs’
playbook: “no.”
The vast majority (if not all) of college and universities have implemented
these videos essays as optional, or as a substitute for something else.
Therefore, if this author’s… friend… had a face for radio, or if his hobby was
throwing parties, skipping on the video essay might be a good idea. “If a
student does not feel comfortable in front of a camera, or perhaps would not
come across very well in front of a camera, then he/she should surely go with
the more traditional essay,” says Mandee Adler of International College
Counselors. Mandee coached an applicant who ended up with a rap video
reminiscent of Kanye’s “Through the Wire”. She emphasizes that “it’s about
putting a student’s best foot forward.”
In the Capital Region of New York- also known as “Tech Valley”- the video
submission process hasn’t caught on as much. Vassar (geographically a stretch
for “Capital Region”) accepts YouTube submissions, as does Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute. So far the rest of the local big names: UAlbany, Siena,
St. Rose, Union and Skidmore- do not. “[We] continue to monitor this phenomenon
as well as other avenues that students are using to demonstrate their creativity
in an effort to differentiate themselves during the application process,” said
Bob Andrea, director of undergraduate admissions at UAlbany.
One interesting final fold to this “phenomenon” is the economic crisis we
find ourselves in. As parents find themselves strapped for cash, the public
schools look very attractive over the private schools. An institution like
UAlbany is flooded with applicants- quality applicants. The private schools,
however, are finding it harder, and perhaps use these video essays as a way to
decide who they REALLY want on campus, and who they might even give their
scholarship dollars too. Once (if?) the economy recovers we may very well see
the public schools jump into this as well to continue to compete, but for now,
it looks like a predominantly private school move.
Alexis Avila of Prepped and Polished- a Boston area college counseling and
test preparation firm- sums it up well for prospective students facing a YouTube
video essay: “Overall, the key to a successful video submission is to be real,
be positive, and make sure it says something meaningful about who you are as a
person. On the flip side, if you act like someone you are not, try to stand out
for the sake of standing out, or make your video long enough to put admission
officers to sleep, then you just might hurt your chances of getting into that
school.”