College But Different – Apprenticeship Provider

Background

Based in Southampton, College but Different are a valued and trusted apprenticeship provider; listening, reflecting and evolving to support individuals, communities and national businesses. 

With a mission to provide high quality lifelong learning career pathways, they enable sustainable outcomes through learner centric, apprenticeship training solutions. 

They strive to enrich individuals lives through apprenticeship opportunities based on their high-quality lifelong learning and show that apprenticeships can be undertaken by just about anyone. 

The Challenge

For College but Different, the challenge was education. 

What do you automatically think of when you hear the word ‘apprenticeship’? 

For many, they view 16–19 year olds, earning £4.81 an hour; and that was the stereotype that College but Different were actively working towards breaking. 

They were struggling with educating people that apprenticeships can be taken by, quite simply, anybody with the mindset of hard work and a keenness to learn. Letting people know that there are (for example) lawyers, earning £100,000, doing apprenticeships to better themselves and their knowledge, and helping people understand that these are training programmes, funded by the government, aiding you to develop in your learning – as an organic learning experience, they are invaluable. 

They chose to work with Your Lead Machine due to being referred by a friend at a Business Networking Event and receiving a powerful testimonial. After sharing the pains of not being able to keep up with LinkedIn and use it to its maximum capacity, YLM’s LinkedIn Lead Generation was mentioned and discussed. With the benefits and results shining through the conversation, College but Different called Your Lead Machine up the very next day, asking how soon they could get started. 

There were no initial reservations, as they had trusted mutual contacts on both sides of the campaign. Effectively, the initial conversation at the Networking Event had pre-sold the service. 

College But Different were not active on LinkedIn themselves as they had little interest in social media. But, after seeing the results that their friend had received from the service, going ahead was a ‘no brainer’. 

Excellent Results

Since the campaign began, College but Different have left Your Lead Machine to ‘do what they needed to do’ and trusted them entirely to do it right.  

They said they have been extremely impressed with the frequent communication, constant follow ups and the fact that they have not once needed to have any input; the smooth and painless process has meant that all College but Different have had to do was sit the meetings that were being booked for them, and watch those meetings fill their diary. 

Before the campaign began, they had nothing to do with LinkedIn. Now, they consider LinkedIn to be a highly viable source of lead generation and are currently working with Your Lead Machine to start another LinkedIn campaign. 

Your Lead Machine has become an integral part of College but Different as they are frequently finding new ways in which the companies can work together. They have been able to find their ideal clientele and speak to those who are hard to reach, professional individuals.  

College But Different have quoted and won £68,000 since the campaign began back in March 2022 and are on track for a 6-figure sum by the end of the 2022. They’ve been very happy with the quality of the leads that have been generated, with each person they have spoken to having a genuine interest in taking on an apprentice.