Anticipation is building for the new season of 'American Idol', the national talent search program that dominates the TV ratings world and generates water-cooler buzz from offices to locker rooms around the country.

But 'Idol' has a challenge ahead...and this is where it relates to three valuable lessons for college coaches and recruiters.

Last season, 'American Idol' saw a decline it's viewership.  They still did great overall, but their audience didn't respond to the direction that the show's producers took the show last season.  The show's judge that everyone loves to hate, Simon Cowell, pinpoints the reason for the struggles in this recent issue of Variety (my main points for you, as coaches, are in bold):

"The show has got to look better. It's got to be more fun as a show," says Cowell. "It absolutely comes down to the content of what we provide the viewers."

Exec producer Nigel Lythgoe concedes that mistakes were made last year. For starters, Lythgoe says the show spent too much time on big-name guest mentors and performers, at the expense of investing viewers in who's who (particularly early in the show's competish).

"We need to put our hand up and take the blame," he says. "We missed out on telling the best stories. If (contestants) were uninteresting, it's because we made them uninteresting."

As a result, "Idol" is looking to shake things up this year by spending more time on those contestant backstories.

"I want to give up that time and focus on the kids," Lythgoe says. "It's the emotional hooks that sell us, and get us watching every week. I don't think last year we were necessarily an appointment to view. There wasn't a 'I want to watch Bo Bice win' or 'I want to see Justin Guarini get kicked off' feeling to the show."

Already, the marketing of "Idol" has reflected that change, Liguori says.

"We've had our promos talk a little bit more about 'I'm from Nebraska, I'm a cotton candy maker,' and 'I'm from Oklahoma, I'm a cowboy,' " he says. "We're basically trying to set it up that this is a show about people with stories. ... It's about people who think they're good (singers) and (are) not, and people who think they're good and are great."

If you have already registered for "Building a Winning Recruiting Message", a workshop we're offering for coaches around the country, this is an important theme we'll teach you how to use.  Developing and building your message, and how your prospects will respond to it.

TV producers have the same job as you do as a coach and recruiter: To attract people to their message, and drawing them in to the point that they buy-in to their story.  As a coach, that should be your goal for the athletes that you've decided you want in your program.  Here's what this story about 'American Idol' can teach you about doing that: 

• Telling the best stories will result in signing the best recruits.  When I talk about "telling stories", I'm not talking about lying or making things up.  At the workshop we held in December (and the workshops we're getting ready for in the coming weeks) I tell the story of Lucas the Boy Scout popcorn salesman.  It's a great example of story telling that drives my point home: You have to give your listener (your prospect) a story to buy into.  Your story as a coach, your story as a program, and how that story involves them.  The best recruiters in the country take the time to create a story that their prospects can visualize and understand.  'American Idol' got away from doing that last season...and it cost them.  Is it costing you and your program, as well?
• It's all about the kids.  Your offer, and the opportunity to play for you as a coach, is all about your prospect.  It's not about you.  So your message has to be centered around them, and their priorities.  The best way to do that?  Asking great questions.  If you want to connect with your prospect, get them talking, and get them excited about what you have to offer, spending the first two or three conversations you have with them doing nothing but asking effective questions (not selling your program) is the best way to achieve those results.  Take a look at your recruiting letters and brochures, or think back on the last conversation you had with a recruit: How much of your message involved asking them questions compared with the amount of the conversation that revolved around you spouting all of the great things about your program?
• It's all about how your prospects feel.  If you haven't read our survey and study of this year's top prep prospects, and how they really choose their college, you need to.  We also talk about the importance of feelings in our two recruiting training guides for coaches.  If you have read any of them, you know the extent to which your prospect's final choice comes down to the way they "feel" about a program, and what determines that feeling.  I've often said that your prospect will make their choice based on how they feel, and then justify it with the facts and data that they learn from you.  So, the important question for you is, "What kind of strategies do you employ to give your prospects the feeling you want them to have about your program?"  The execs at 'American Idol' didn't ask that question last season, and it cost them dearly.  Is it also costing you, Coach?

You have multiple chances to solidify all three of these important concepts in the way you communicate to your prospects.  Making your letters look and sound different than they do now...creating good interactions via e-mail...focusing on asking the right questions when you're talking to your prospects on the phone. 

The great thing about making these kinds of changes is that they can happen quickly and easily, and don't cost anything.  It's really just about changing the way you approach your message, and how to make that message "stick" with the prospects you really want.

If you're interested in learning how to do what I'm talking about, I suggest you join us at one of our upcoming workshops that are close to you.  Click here for more information on those workshops.