by Mandy Green, SFC Team Development Specialist 

How to communicate powerfully by email
Email is a great tool to use for communicating regularly with recruits.  In addition, if you reach a prospect's voicemail or home answering machine, email can be part of an effective one-two punch after leaving a message for them. 

I wanted to pass along a few simple rules to ensure that your recruiting emails are read in the first place and stay useful to the recruit you are communicating with during the recruiting process.
 
Subject Lines are Headlines
The headline in a newspaper does two things: It grabs your attention and informs you what the article is about so you can decide whether you want to read further. Email subject lines need to do the same thing.

Use the subject line to inform the receiver of EXACTLY what the email is about in a few well-chosen words. You might include a call to action such as "Please respond by November 7th", and if your message is one of a regular series of recruiting mails, such as a weekly message, you might want to think about including the date in the subject line too.
 
Because everyone gets emails they do not want, appropriate use of the subject line increases the chances your email will be read and not deleted without so much as a glance from your teenage prospect.
 
Of course, just as it would be ridiculous to publish a newspaper without headlines, never leave the subject line blank.
 
Make One Point per Email
The beauty of email, compared with letters, is that it doesn't cost any more to send several mails than it does to send one. So, if you need to communicate with someone about several matters, write a separate email on each subject.

That is a core principle that we try to adhere to when we are producing our TRS Plans for college coach clients.  Why?  It works!  It allows your prospect to take in one idea at a time, and gives you the opportunity to have a conversation about it in an email reply.

Specify the Response You Want
Make sure to include any call to action you desire, such as a phone call or follow-up email reply. Then, make sure you include your contact information, including your name, email address, Twitter account (if applicable), and phone numbers. Do this even with internal messages within your athletic department: The easier you make it for someone else to respond, the more likely they are to do so.
 
Be a Good Correspondent
If you regularly correspond using email, make sure to clean out your email inbox at least once each day. This is a simple act of courtesy o your prospects and will also serve to encourage senders to return your emails in a timely manner.
 
If a lengthy response is required to an email, but you don't have the time to pull together the information required now, send a holding reply saying that you have received the message, and indicating when you will respond fully once you have more free time.  DO NOT just put of a reply.  Your prospects are judging your interest level, and we don't want them to wonder if your delayed response means you are not interested.
 
Always set your Out of Office agent when you are going to be away from your email for a day or more, whether on leave or because you're at meetings.  And it's O.K. to be creative with those automated replies...show some personality and originality when you reply? 

There are more email and Twitter communication tips that we will be reviewing with coaches who attend the 2009 Recruiting Kick-Off Conference.  YOU need to be there, Coach!  Click here to get the details.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week, while watching the movie "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey, I was reminded of how powerful that one word is.

"Yes".

In the movie, Carrey's character turns his life fortune's around by committing to saying "yes" to everything.  The power of "yes" takes him on incredible adventures, and causes him to take positive action in his life that leads to new opportunities he would have never dreamed of before.

It was all about that one word..."yes".

That can be music to a coach's ears, right?  Yes means action.  Yes means something positive is about to happen.  Hearing the word "yes" is what you want to hear as a college recruiter.

One glance at the calendar will tell you that July 1st marks the start of your quest to start getting a "yes" from the prospects you're about to begin calling.  With that in mind, here are some tactics that will help you clear the path for getting positive reactions to your initial phone calls and communicatio with your recruits based on some familiar occurances that most of us can relate to: 

YES STRATEGY #1: Don't react negatively

We've all sent an email, or said something in haste over the phone, that we wish we could take back.  Either we're upset by what we've just heard, or we say something that just doesn't put us in the best light with a recruit (or their parents) as the recruiting process gets started. 

It doesn't even have to do anything with recruiting...we've all overreacted to something trivial, and wish we could take it all back and start fresh.

What it means to your recruiting conversation: It's great to feel passionate about what you're selling, especially if your school or program has a lot to be proud of. But before launching into a feverish sales "rationale" with your teenage prospect or their parents, take a minute to figure out what your prospect really wants. Some prospects want security and might be looking to commit early, while others might like the excitement of trying to see how many top tier schools they can have a shot at. They might want a challenge, they might want to feel wanted, they might want to know that they will fit into your team dynamic.

What is it you're really selling, Coach? Is it what you should be selling to that prospect you're about to call for the first time? Know before you get started. For this generation of college prospect, it's often something more or deeper than the thing you're excited about. And sometimes, it's less.

YES STRATEGY #2: Disarm Your Prospect

In recruiting, we're not really talking about "opponents" in terms of how you might view your recruits (their parents, perhaps...just kidding).  The prospect and their parents are not your enemy. And in a negotiation about what you're offering them at your program you're better off thinking the same way. That is, instead of looking at the recruiting process as two sides facing off over the offer you're making, you'll get much better results if you "step to the other side." In other words, do the opposite of what your recruit expects.

And the easiest way to do this? Simply agree with your "opponent" on as many points as you can. Build consensus first, before you try to defend a single counterpoint of your own. Most negotiation experts tell us the best negotiators even steer clear of using the word "but." They instinctively replace it with "and" wherever possible.

What it means to your recruiting conversation: This is a lot like what we're doing in our Total Recruiting Solution plans that we develop for coaches when we try to ask questions designed only for a "yes" response. For instance, stating our prospect's own rationale right back to him and tacking on a line at the end - something that might sound like, "Wouldn't you agree?"

These are just copywriting tricks, of course. The bigger idea is that when you can show agreement with your prospect's own opinions - in person, over the phone or in print - do so. It will pay off in the end.

YES STRATEGY #3: Change their frame of mind.

This is a more advanced tactic, because it requires listening better than most people and thinking more creatively than anyone else in the negotiation. Its one of the things we go into more detail on in our recruiting guides for college coaches.

What you're doing is looking for solid ways to "reframe" the objections to your counterpoint in the discussion you are having with your prospect. You're actively exposing the objections and stonewall tactics... then finding a way for both of you to get around them.

This is where a real recruiter shows his or her expertise in overcoming an objection.

What it means to your recruiting conversation: As tough as this is to do, the parallel here is easy. Too often, I've seen new college coaches try to avoid the prospect's potential objections to an offer or opportunity rather than raising them in their recruiting letters, emails and conversations. But just because you don't confront the reader's doubts or objections doesn't mean they don't exist. Or that they won't stop your recruiting effort cold in its tracks.

When you get the urge to sneak around an objection, don't. Especially at the start of a relationship with a new recruit.  Take time to actually list every objection you can. (Even better, make this list before you start writing the recruiting letter.) You're playing your own devil's advocate, coming up with every reason why a prospect might NOT want to take a serious look at your program.

Once you've got this list, you can use it to tweak your recruiting outline. You can even hit each objection head on, writing responses almost in a Q & A style. Or try making every subhead a persuasive resolution to every doubt you suspect your prospect might have about what your program is offering.

But be careful. This isn't about dismissing a legitimate objection out of hand. Rather, you're easing doubts and building consensus, and getting them to see the advantages of what you're offering them.

I have two more I want to share, but I'm going to save those for next week's newsletter.

As many of you start your phone calls in the coming days, you have a desire to start hearing "yes" as soon as possible.  That doesn't happen by accident.  You have to earn the "yes".

And, earning the "yes" from a new prospect requires active, engaged communication that helps them overcome their initial objections they might have about the idea of competing for your program.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

by Mandy Green, SFC Team Development Specialist 

Email is a great tool that college coaches use for communicating regularly with recruits. 

For recruits that we have had a chance to speak with during our On-Campus Workshops at colleges around the country, one of the main factors behind their decision to even open, read and act on an email is the subject line.  Coach, subject lines are one of the most important components of an email you send to a recruit.  In just a short amount of space, you must convince your recruit to open your email to see what you have to say. If that subject line is not interesting or create curiosity, the recruit very well may reach for the delete button.

Coach, think about something.  The headline in a newspaper does two things: It grabs your attention and informs you what the article is about so you can decide whether you want to read further. Email subject lines to your recruits need to do the same thing.

Coaches are always asking us to help them write subject lines that produce higher open rates as a part of our ongoing work with programs around the country.  Appropriate use of the subject line increases the chances your email will be read and not deleted without so much as a glance. 

Keep these six principles in mind as you approach writing subject lines for your recruiting messages:

1. Use the subject line to inform the recruit of EXACTLY what the email is about in a few well-chosen words.  Subject lines should convey something important, timely or valuable, and should say to the recruit: "If you don’t open and read this email, you'll miss out on something of real value."

2. Generate curiosity in the subject line. Your email is competing with all of the other emails being sent by your competitors for the recruits' attention. To increase the chance of having YOUR email opened it must intrigue the recruit, the same way a well written headline does. If you can invoke interest in the email message content, you will improve your open rates. However, the body of your message must deliver what you promised in the subject line or your future email messages may lose credibility.  “Are you good enough to play here?” would be an example of a subject line that we have found to create curiosity with recruits and has a high open rate.

3. You might include a call to action such as "Please respond by July 4th with your answers.”  The number one goal of sending emails is to get a response.  Give them a timeline with specific instructions about what to do next in order to keep the stream of communication flowing between you and your recruits.  Calls to action are also a way to keep control of the recruiting process.
    
4. While your emails may be distributed to large groups of recruits, they are being received by individuals. Subject lines must recognize this and “speak” to the needs and interests of your recruits as individuals.  As we talk about in our advanced recruiting guides for college coaches, it is imperative that you speak to the individual needs of the prospect you are recruiting.  They will sniff-out messages that are not personalized or irrelevant to them, which will greatly hamper your efforts to connect with them.

5. Avoid using your program's name in the subject line. In most inbox displays, the "From" field is listed first, followed by the subject line. Your school email address should appear in the "From" field for easy identification. There's no need to waste valuable space repeating it in the subject line.

6. Vary the subject line for each email.  If you use the same headline every time you send an email, we have found that there is a noticeable drop in open rates.

If you’re not sure if your subject line is a good one, send the email to yourself first.  Pay attention to the emails that are being sent to you.  What subject lines catch your attention?  Constantly test your subject lines to find out if changing a word will improve your responses.

Coach, if you are having a hard time getting responses from your recruits, consider your subject line.  For SFC Premium Members, we will be discussing writing good subject lines all week. 

Register now for our upcoming recruiting conference!  We'll be talking about the use of email, and how to make it a more effective part of your recruiting campaign.  Plus, hear more tips and techniques for designing a winning recruiting message in this two day workshop designed for advanced college recruiters.  Click here for all the details!

Posted by Dan Tudor at 09:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

by Sean Devlin, Front Rush 

There has been a lot of media coverage in the past couple of weeks about the new iphone release.  And as a result, we are seeing many coaches switching out their blackberries and treo's for the new apple product. 

But what about the rest of us who are staying strong and keeping our blackberries in our holsters on our hip?  The iphone users have this fancy internet connection which allows them to see websites just as if they were on their desktops.  Blackberry users still have this archaic experience as they peruse the web and access their recruiting software.  Well there is hope.  There are a couple of nice add-ons that we can download so you can much better access the web. 

Opera Mini
This is the standard download for Blackberry users and should be the first place you go.  By downloading Opera Mini on your blackberry, your mobile internet experience will be very much like your desktop experience and certainly very competitive with iphone users.  If your recruiting software does not have a blackberry application, then this is the next best thing.  All that you need to do is download Opera Mini and then the next time you access the web from your blackberry, you will access it through the Opera Mini icon.  You can download Opera Mini by going to www.mini.opera.com

Bolt
Bolt is the new blackberry browser that is getting a lot of press.  Bolt is similar to the Opera Mini accept they are the new guys at the table.  Bolt is a very quick mobile browser and they do a great job making the experience on the blackberry very fast and user friendly.  The biggest difference between the Bolt browser and the Opera Mini browser really comes down to user preference.  We recommend downloading Bolt if you try out Opera Mini and are not 100% satisfied.  Similar to Opera Mini, you will download bolt to your blackberry and then access the web from the Bolt icon.  You can download Bolt at www.boltbrowser.com

Skyfire (everybody else)
For anybody that is not running an iphone or blackberry, the best option out there is Skyfire.  Skyfire is arguably the most revolutionary mobile browser and its being highly touted as the next big thing.  They focus on speed as well as usability along with allowing for technologies such as flash (think anytime you see a website with moving pictures and video).  This is a great option for anybody who has stayed away from the blackberry and iphone but still want a great mobile experience.  You can grab Skyfire at www.skyfire.com

All of the options above are great alternatives to the standard blackberry and non-iphone browsers.  They are quick to download and will improve your mobile internet experience tremendously.  We highly recommend it for our clients that use the Front Rush web-based recruiting tracking system, as we do for customers of competitive products that we help and advise. 

Sean Devlin is one of the technical geniuses behind Front Rush, the leading recruiting contact management systems available to college coaches.  To email Sean with any and all technical performance questions, even if you aren't yet a Front Rush client, he is available to help.  Just email him at sdevlin@frontrush.com or call 866.634.1186 to get personalized technical assistance and answers to your questions.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It wasn't like I was trying to overhear two different conversations, but it was almost impossible not to take note of what they were saying.

Earlier this year, I had finished-up a session with one of our Total Recruiting Solution plan clients and was checking emails in an office in the school's athletic department.  To the office of the left of me was a soccer coach leaving a voicemail for an athlete.  To the right of me was an assistant football coach talking to a prospect.

As they opened their conversations, they made two classic mistakes that they - and lots of other college coaches - have made a hundred times before:  They opened their phone calls with weak, non-specific phrases that were not strong, action-oriented statements.  In the same way that we recommend your letters and emails be original and have a strong opening sentence, the same holds true for your phone call.  Actually, it's even more important because unlike letters, phone calls do not have the visual component to help make an impact and keep our attention.

The phrases I'm talking about might sound familiar:

• "I was calling to follow-up on that stuff I sent you..."
• "I was just calling to see if you had any questions..."
• "I was checking-in to see if you got that email..."
• "Hey, I was just following-up to see if..."

Those sound weak, and don't set-up the rest of your vitally important recruiting calls for success.  They are weak because they it puts your prospect in COMPLETE control of what happens next, and doesn't do anything to significantly move the recruiting process forward...especially if you are at the end of the recruiting process.

So what should you do as you prepare to contact a prospect, especially if its the first time you are talking to them?  Here are a few vital tips that you'll want to keep in mind the next time you start dialing your recruit:

1. Have a purpose.  In our study on how prospects decide which coach they'll listen to, one of the things we uncovered was the importance of being very clear on what a recruited needed to do next, and to clearly communicate whether or not you are serious about them or not.  When you call a prospect, have a clear purpose that guides your conversation with them.  Be specific as to why you are calling, and what you want to talk to them about.
2. Communicate that purpose.  Tell them the reason you are calling, and make it about them.  As we talk about in our popular recruiting how-to guides for college recruiters who want advanced recruiting skills, if you are doing more than 20% of the talking with your prospect on the phone, you are talking to much.  Get to the point, and have a clear purpose for the call that is centered around them. 
3. Make the first 10 seconds of your call incredible.  How do you do that?  By scripting an amazing opening as to why you are calling them, and what's in it for them by engaging in the conversation that's about to take place.  Are your first 10 seconds incredible?  Are they engaging?  Do they create curiosity and excitement?  Most importantly, do they stand out from the other calls they will be getting from coaches?  If your first 10 seconds aren't incredible, it's time to re-work the opening of your prospect call. 
4. Don't sell, especially at the start of the call.  As you start contacting a prospect, they aren't going to automatically be interested in who you are or what you have to offer them.  That goes for D1 coaches, as well...some of the most critical comments I've heard about what coaches should and should not be doing during their phone conversations have come from D1 football and basketball players.  Even with this elite group, they want the focus to be on them.  They don't want a sales pitch from you (yet).
5. If you can share a laugh, you jump to the lead.  Study after study tells sociologists that we Americans love to laugh, and are looking for that connection in the people we meet.  We want to enjoy who we're around, and it's no different.  If you can create a little levity in the phone call and share a laugh with your prospect, that will go a long way towards making them feel like they know you and like you. 
6. At the end of the call, set-up the next conversation with them.  I know that's not really staying on topic of "starting" the recruiting call the right way, but this is so important I just have to include it.  You MUST end the phone call with a clear idea - both in your mind and in the mind of your prospect - of what comes next.  When will the next call take place?  What needs to happen between then and now?  What is their "to do" list as your recruit?  For the same reason you don't want to start the call weakly, you don't want to end the call weakly.   

The phone is still one of the main recruiting tools that every college coach uses in their daily search for the best athletes.  It's also becoming one of the most challenging communication methods because of some of the unique traits of this generation of athletes, how they communicate with coaches, and what they are looking for in a program.

My advice?  Don't make things harder by a weak start to your first phone call with a prospect.  If you do, it's an uphill climb to re-gain their attention in the months to come.

Want to become an expert on making the first phone call and communicating with this generation of prospect?  It's going to be one of the topics at our big two-day 2009 Recruiting Kick-Off Conference in Dallas this coming August 1st and 2nd.

Join recruiting experts, coaches from around the country, and recruiting guru Dan Tudor as we change the way college coaches recruit.  Sign-up now and save big on the already low registration price!  Click here for all the details.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 04:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

by Mandy Green, SFC Team Development Coordinator

In case you didn’t know, Selling for Coaches is now offering customized recruiting skills assessment testing for college coaches.  These online tests help coaches uncover which recruiting and selling strengths they have, and what weaknesses could be hindering them in their recruiting efforts.
 
These are the same assessments that Fortune 500 companies use to help their sales and marketing leaders become better, and now we're making these same online assessments available to college coaches. 

So why should you spend the time, money, and energy on finding out how you can better communicate with your prospects?
 
Is there one person you have recruited that you just don't get? Or a prospect and their parents who approach things so differently from you that you find it hard to relate to them?

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone coach. We all have people who we find hard to communicate with, work with, or relate to. And yet for the sake of our teams or our program, we need to make these relationships work. The good news is that there are ways of doing this.

The assessment will tell you:

• What your natural recruiting style is, and how to use it to your advantage.
• What communication strengths you have when talking to recruits.
• What situations you are most uncomfortable with, and what to do about it.
• What your sales and communication weaknesses are, and how to improve.
• How to develop your recruiting skills to fit your personality.

Coach, by understanding your patterns of behavior and preferences, you can learn to understand recruits, and yourself, in terms of what drives people and how they tend to react.  Also, by understanding your own profile, and by sharing DISC profiles within your team, you can help players understand the differences between them so that they can work more effectively together.

This model can therefore be used as an aid to team building, recruitment, performance improvement, conflict resolution and much more.

Here are some of the specific ways the recruiting assessments can help you and your program:

More Time and Energy for Productive Activity

When teams aren't working well, huge amounts of time and energy can be taken up with resolving conflict, dealing with performance issues, and remedying poorly communicated expectations. If you can help team members to become more tolerant of one-another, you'll have a lot more time to spend on productive activity.

Better Fit Between Teammates and Roles

When roles and players aren't well matched, the result is dissatisfaction. By understanding a player's natural preferences, it is easier to fit them with a job they like and will be good at. This helps to improve performance.

Improved Understanding of Recruits and their Parents

When people come into direct contact with recruits or their parents, there is potential for conflict and miscommunication. By helping people understand their own preferences, you can help them understand how to give different groups of recruits the service they want.

Coach, this is an investment in your personal skills development, and this report will be something you refer back to again and again over your coaching career. Plus, the recruiting experts you trust at Selling for Coaches will help you analyze the results and apply the lessons to your duties as a college recruiter.

To find out more information about these advanced recruiting assessments for college coaches, click here.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is an important change that takes place at some point between you recruiting your prospect, and that prospect joining your team family on campus.

It's a change that many college coaches aren't conscious of, and it ends up hurting their recruiting efforts.  The change I'm talking about probably does more to impede the success of how a coach goes about recruiting than any other factor I have seen in many years of working with college coaches around the country.

Put simply, your prospects have a change in their mindset when they come on to campus as a new signee.  They aren't looking for all of the same things that they were as a prospect that you were recruiting.  At the same time, once they officially become a member of your team, there is a totally separate set of things that they are now seeking...and their long-term success as an athlete in your program hinges on how you respond to those needs.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about, and why it's important for success-minded college coaches to pay attention to it...

Our national studies show that a programs facilities - the weight room, stadium, and other areas where they will spend time as an athlete - actually factors very little into their final decision as to whether or not they accept your offer.  Yet, facilities and the surroundings are usually one of the things that a coach will primarily focus on in their recruiting; moreover, I've seen coaches base their entire recruiting strategy around what they feel those facilities will sell to a potential student-athlete.

However, facilities are important!  Especially when that same athlete joins your program and is now a part of the family.  Now, your facilities take on added importance because the condition of those facilities can directly effect their experience at your school.  Now, it matters to them because you they are directly effected by the surroundings that they find themselves in.

The bottom line to the example I'm citing is that there is a change in perspective that is happening in the mind of this athlete.  As a prospect, all of the facilities are not going to be what finally draws them to your program; conversely, all of the facilities might be what makes them stay with your program.

The disconnect I see with coaches is that they are approaching prospects in the same manner that they are seeing their current athletes' view of their facilities: That the facilities are what is going to draw the athlete to their program.

Now, there might be instances where facilities - or some other aspect of your program - is what drives them away from seriously considering you.  And a new, wonderful facility might be something that they end up listing as a smart reason to have picked your program in the end.  But in both instances, facilities are not the overriding reason for choosing a school or a program.

There are three other big changes in perspectives that we've noticed taking place in the mind of student-athletes once they become athletes at a school versus just being prospects of a school:

• The quality of the equipment and uniforms.  On their visit while you are recruiting them, this is something that isn't even on the prospect's radar of what makes a great program that they would consider.  Once they become a part of your team, this one out-ranks facilities as something that will cause dissatisfaction and frustration. 
• The academic support that they receive during their Freshman and Sophomore years.  As a high school recruit, this is something that doesn't even enter the mind of most prospects.  And that's understandable, since they don't have any idea of what most college programs do to ensure academic success of their incoming class.  Once they are on campus, its something that they cite as one of the most important aspects of their early college athletic experience.
• The social integration of the different teams and athletes within the athletic department.  Did you know that this is an area that most Athletic Directors and Coaches overlook completely?  Afterall, your job is to produce winners not run a cruise ship activities calendar, right?  Yes, but I hear over and over again from your athletes that are interviewed when we fly in and do an On-Campus Workshop at schools that they wish there was more of an effort to "connect" all of the athletes within the program and across sports.  That's something that they won't be looking for as an incoming recruit, but it will be something that they expect once they are a part of your program. 

 Again, the importance of what I'm telling you exists in the way you approach each set of kids.  If you focus too heavily on these issues that I just listed with your prospects, you may not be touching on subject matter that is important to them...yet.

But if you fail to focus on them once they get to campus as one of your athletes, you can expect that you are going to have to deal with frustrated athletes who won't be afraid to look elsewhere for other opportunities with other programs.

Facilities, uniforms and equipment, team unity and academic support are all things that can make or break the recruiting experience with many of your prospects.  The secret to recruiting success is about how a coach balances the two different mindsets between the time that their kids are prospects and when they are part of the team. 

There are several simple-to-use strategies that coaches can use to manage this critical aspect of recruiting, and they are outlined in detail in our two recruiting guides for college recruiters, "Selling for Coaches" and "What They Didn't Teach You About Recruiting".  To develop your plan of attack for your next recruiting campaign, order these two in-depth recruiting guides for coaches.  Click here.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've seen Jerry Seinfeld perform his stand-up comedy act in person twice.

Each time I went, there was an excitement.  I loved "Seinfeld" when it was on television, and I love Jerry Seinfeld in person.

And that's the interesting thing about it all...

When I went to see him perform, I was ready to laugh.  I was expecting to laugh.  And, I wanted to laugh.  Same thing holds true for people who love horror films.  They go into the theatre expecting to squirm, scream and feel their heart pump a little faster.

There is a psychological condition that we slip into that explains the condition that I am describing.  And if you're a coach that can dupilcate that kind of a response in your recruits, you are going to win the recruiting battle more often than not.

Does that mean you have to learn how to deliver one-liners, or chase your athletic department co-workers with a bloody axe?  No.  As tempting as that second one is, no.

What it does mean you need to do is delivering either a) what your prospect is expecting a college and coach to be, or b) totally un-doing what they expect your college or program to be like.

What do we know about what athletes are expecting as a part of the recruiting process?  I spoke about it several times these past few days in a series of On-Campus Workshops at college campuses:

• They want to feel like they are wanted.
• They want to feel like they will have the chance to succeed academically and athletically.
• They want to know that they will have fun and enjoy college. 

Those are some important facts coaches need to know.  And yet, most coaches will fall back to stale sales pitches about their facilities, their top-rate conference, and other "features and benefits" of their program.  Every recruiting year that goes by, that strategy will become less and less effective.

So let's focus on a few things that are effective when it comes to either delivering what a prospect is expecting, or what a prospect is going to need to see from you to change their mind about your program.

Here's what I find most prospects are looking for as they start to go through the recruiting process:

• They want to feel like they are the only one you are recruiting.
• They want to understand exactly why you are interested in them.
• They want to know what to do next.

And that's it.  Honestly, if you do each one of those three things, you'll be in really good shape.  Now, there are a lot of details packed within each of those three items to be sure.  But let's not worry about the details right now.  Answer me this, Coach: If you and I were talking on the phone, could you prove to me that you are doing each one of those things?  If so, how?  Think about what your answer would be.

On the other side of the coin, here are the things that you need to do if you are a program that needs to overcome misconceptions your prospects may hold as you start recruiting them:

• You'd better tell them a great story about you and your program that they can (and should) believe.
• You'd better help your athletes know how to be great campus hosts that make recruits feel like they are already part of the team.
• You'd better learn how to use technology, specifically to show recruits what your program is really like behind the scenes.  Why?  Because they are looking for the "real" you.

Are you doing each of those three things?  Are you doing any of those three things?  If the answer is "no", then I don't really need to ask how your recruiting is going.

There's an expectation that your recruits have as they go into the recruiting process.  In the same way we like to be entertained, and will laugh along or scream along with the crowd because it's fun and part of the experience, your recruits are looking to have their expectations confirmed.

Before your next recruiting campaign, make sure you can answer each of those questions I presented.

One of the things that Selling for Coaches does for college programs is to help them formulate a strategy for their recruiting efforts.  From the timeline to the actual communication messages to recruits, we work with your staff to build a recruiting plan that gets results.  For more information, email Dan Tudor directly at dan@sellingforcoaches.com and let him know that you want to see how our Total Recruiting Solution works, and how it would be customized for your individual program.

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