If they were Boy Scouts, they would miss out on some pretty important merit badges.  Why?  Because many coaches aren't prepared for every single prospect.

Here’s a real life example of what I’m talking about…

This story starts out with a recruiting situation involving a really good football prospect, and two D1 college recruiters.  I happen to know the prospect in the story, and his interaction with these two coaches has fascinated me over the past few months.

The first coach has his act together: He knows about the prospect, his family, what his interests were, and how to associate the prospect's needs and wants with what they're program had to offer.
He talks regularly with the parents, and has made contact with his high school coach.  The prospect has also told me that the coach spends most of his time asking questions rather than talking himself or his program.

And then there’s the other guy. 

The second coach, also from a respected D1 program, has apparently never been as prepared: He got the prospect's father's name wrong when the family visited the campus, didn't have any idea how many other colleges were interested in him, and hasn’t been ready to seriously talk about his school and why it might be the right choice for the prospect.  When the athlete started hearing from the two schools, the athlete was actually more interested in the second school.  But that’s not the case any longer.  In fact, the prospect rarely returns phone messages or pays attention to letters and e-mails he gets (sporadically) gets from the coach.

The morale of the story: Treat EVERY prospect like they're the best last hope for your program to reach the heights that you envision.

There are several things that go into “being prepared” to really, seriously recruit your prospect:

Run a Google search on your athlete.  What kind of press and attention are they getting?  What kind of articles have been written about them that might give you insight into their work ethic, their background, or their interests?

See what they're saying on their MySpace or Facebook page.  Social networking websites like these are THE communication method of today’s teens.  What to look for?  See if there are any references to their favorite college or if they’re talking about playing at a certain school next year. (The prospect I mentioned earlier in the article?  He has the first college’s logo as one of his main images, and has talked about the coach really positively.  Hmmm…wonder where he’s going?)

You need to talk to their high school coaches.  What makes the athlete tick?  What kind of an off-season athlete are they?  Are they coachable?  What about their leadership skills?  What are their athletic (and personal) strengths and weaknesses?  And, most importantly, what questions does that coach have for you?

You need to talk to their parents.  Yes, their parents.  Not enough coaches interact with their prospect’s parents when it comes to helping to sway the athlete to your program.  Recommended question topics: What kind of school do you envision your son/daughter attending?  How will they be making their decision?  What is their biggest fear about college?  Is this a place where you can see your son/daughter coming to next year?

You need to know who else they are talking to.  I’m talking about your competition.  The easiest way to find out?  Ask your prospect: “What other programs have you talked to so far?”  They’ll usually be very honest with you.  Another question that’s good: “What programs are you hoping to talk to in the future?”

Back up for a moment to one thing I said you should ask a parent…it’s actually a great question to ask your prospect, and it will do more than almost anything else to get you inside the head of your prospect.  Ask them, “How are you going to be making your final decision about where you’re going to play sports and attend college?”  They’ll give you a short (and probably) incomplete answer.  So you would then ask, “And then what?”  They’ll tell you a little bit more.  And ask them again, “And then what?”  Every time you ask that three word question, you’ll get more and more information than you had before.

Be prepared for every prospect, in every way, every time. 

Want to get live, one-on-one training on how to prepare your recruiting message for the prospects you really, really want?  Then you need to come to one of our 2008 Unfair Advantage Tour stops, where we are featuring our workshop, “Building a Winning Recruiting Message”. 

To find the workshop nearest you, dates and details – including comments from coaches who have attended the workshop – click here.