Today I had the privilege of interviewing Terry Axelrod, Founder and CEO of Benevon. Her company offers a sustainable system for fundraising that we have used and highly recommend. With Terry's many years of experience and success as an adviser and coach, she is more than qualified for guru status when it comes to fundraising wisdom.

Keeping families and students committed and loyal is important for every school, just like companies who sell to schools want to keep their customers close. I recently heard about a company that is threatening to sue schools that opt for a competitor's service. Not smart! Limiting a client's ability to choose the best available option is a not an advisable customer relationship strategy. Instead, you might want to try a combination of the following enrollment building methods.

Do you know your school's target market: the needs, opportunities for growth, and school design options?

A well-planned analysis of your target market enables better school design. Knowledge of the trends and economic forces provide a foundation for meeting student needs more effectively as well as improving the accuracy of your design of new programs.

“The magic of connecting dots is that once you learn the techniques, the dots can change but you’ll still be good at connecting them.”
- Seth Godin

School Innovation is about connecting the dots to create higher value. Schools are learning organizations--we should be the best innovators! Too often, though, school leaders get bogged down by “the way we've always done things.” How can you start building a culture of connecting the dots and focusing on the market that you want to serve? That’s the goal of The Ultimate Innovator’s Guide webinar series that we are sharing in March and April.

Is your school prepared to keep pace with other organizations in your community, as a pace-setter and learning organization?

Moving from strategic planning to Innovation Planning is the path to accelerated school improvement. What's the difference?

Innovation is critical to improving school design. Competition - for funds, students, faculty, market share - makes innovation today even more important. Schools are trying to figure out:

Have you spent any time with a school administrator lately? Stressful isn't it? Too often he or she hurries from place to place, talking to lots of people but connecting with few. Living in a constant state of overload and chaos, the goal is more survival than vision.

“We had this theory about a year ago, which we called ‘Liberating Innovation.' Our mission is to get new products out to the market every day.” --Microsoft Bing VP Derrick Connell

People at Microsoft are trying to re-learn how to innovate. Sounds like the challenge from the movie, "Hook," when Robin Williams' as the grown up Peter Pan can't remember how to fly. Bangorang, Microsoft!