This is my third and final article and I want to use it to talk about geographical territories.
Every agent wants a global contract from their university partners because it allows the business to grow.
I believe there are only two or three agencies in the world that can truly claim to be global – but many more agencies will ask for that contract, and get it.
Locally, we want to be known as the best agent there is, with the best reputation and best service.
But stronger business growth comes from having more partners and broader teritorial contracts, allowing us to recruit more students from a wider range of countries.
For B2B agents, expanding approved territories is crucial. It allows you to tap markets where few agents may have contracts and gives an edge over competitors.
For B2C, having bigger contracts allows for quicker expansion of offices and to portray the image of size and trust to students.
We must also remember that students are globally mobile these days, often moving from country to country for different levels of courses, family and schooling situations.
It can often be the case a student is counselled in one country and then moves to another before submitting applications. This is a nightmare scenario if your contract is extremely limited for domiciles.
When it comes to claiming for such students, universities will stick to the hard line, rather than be understanding of the situation – which rarely helps the relationship (see my previous column).
Global contracts give agencies freedom and power in the sector. They play a huge part in the hierarchy of the business.
They can also make life easier for the university to manage. For a university with a small recruitment team, working with agents on a global contract allows them to have a smaller number of productive agents worldwide – rather than a handful of competing agents in each individual country.
For the UK, many Russell Group institutions employ less than 90 agents in total, whereas other universities will work with hundreds. Fewer agents helps protect exclusivity and focus on relationships.
Agents are incredibly territorial and I’m sorry to say there are often fights or social media slandering when staff from rival companies all target the same students because they all have the same contracted universities.
Sometimes there are unwritten rules, where each agency knows where others operate and leave them alone with a mutual understanding, but that’s not always the case.
I feel for students getting hounded by various agencies at the same time – all offering various incentives – all promoting the same universities.
The holy grail is an exclusive contract where one agency controls recruitment for an entire region or country
The holy grail is an exclusive contract where one agency controls recruitment for an entire region or country.
These are actually becoming more common as university resources come under pressure and they look to outsource the bulk of their recruitment work.
An institution can employ one agent to do all the work, in return for a higher commission rate. In many instances, these agents are initiated by universities themselves, paying commission to sudo-staff as a way of financing in-country operations.
But such agreements ultimately put the agent in control – rather than the university.
This agent will go to all other agents in the region to announce the exclusive deal and insist all applications have to go through them. They become the gatekeepers for applications.
They then dictate the commission rate given to sub agents based on profit margins, rather than rewarding the work involved.
This can have a huge impact on reputation – both good and bad.
A middleman has effectively been introduced to the process, and that can come at a much higher cost to the institution both in financial terms and in risk if things go wrong.
Every agent will be able to tell you about examples of in-country officers earning big money as agents themselves – or of husbands and wives working together as both university representative and agent, in a closed application loop.
The giving of territories in a contract is a constant balancing act and one that looks increasingly out of date in a digital world. Students who apply through WhatsApp or WeChat have no relevance to a university’s model of territorial support.
Everybody wants to rule the world, but the balance of power must work for all parties. Most of all the student.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The PIE News.
The post The secret agent: everybody wants to rule the world appeared first on The PIE News.