Overcoming a prospect's objections is tough enough if you happen to know what those objections are in the first place.  A college coach that does that is way ahead of the game in the battle for a recruit.

But I got a phone call from a coach who just became a Premium Member two weeks ago with a bit of a twist to the objection question: "What do you do," he asked, "when you know there's something a prospect isn't telling you, but it's obviously something that's going to keep him from choosing your school?"  Call it a gut feeling, or something else, but sometimes a coach just "knows" when something isn't right with one of their prospects.  

It's actually a great question...and that's a tough one to overcome, no doubt. It's one of the reasons we've created a special conference for college coaches in November to take coaches through a step-by-step process for addressing every objection they face from prospects (you should be a part of it!)  Before we hold that conference in Atlanta, here are a few proven strategies you might want to try the next time you have a recruit come right out and tell you that they're "not interested", or give you that gut feeling that they're holding something back from you and not telling you about an objection they're thinking about:

• First, ask them what they mean by "not interested". Does it mean that they aren't interested in playing college sports? Not interested in the offer you have for them? Not interested in going to school in that part of the country? Asking probing questions is the key to getting to the heart of their lack of interest.  You've got to get them to be specific, so that you can give them an answer that helps redirect their interest back towards your program.
• If you think they might be holding back an objection from you, you'll need to do even more probing.  Try asking your prospect to give you three reasons a prospect would have a problem with you or your program.  By taking them out of the equation (you're asking about another prospect, not them or their views) it might free them up to give you answers that will, in fact, be their feelings toward your program.
• Next, try to get them to them to clarify the general answer they gave you. "Do you mean you already know what our offer is going to be?" Or, "Have you already read about our program's success but have decided that it doesn't matter to you?" Or maybe, "How did you become familiar with the part of the country that our school is located in?"

The point in asking these types of questions? Get your prospect to clarify what they mean by their objection, and how they came to feel that way.

Next, you'll want to focus on trying to solve the problem and overcoming that objection. That is the goal of any conversation when an objection arises, and what we spend a lot of time on in our recruiting guides for college coaches. A problem-solving discussion might start something like, "I understand...so, if a full-ride offer was on the table, you'd take a serious look at us?" Or, "I see. So, if I could show you how well you'd fit into our championship caliber program, you would keep an open mind and consider us?" Or, "If we were able to show you how valuable a degree from our school is out there in the real world, would you give us another look?"

Again, my strong recommendation to you is to be a problem solver. Your prospect may not be raising an objection as much as he or she is reaching out to have their problems solved. Most of your competition still tries to hard sell a prospect by throwing out a lot of sales-oriented bullet points and trashing their competition (that would be you, Coach).

Approach things from a different perspective, and stand out from your competition: Deal with objections with the frame of mind that you are a problem solver, and your prospect is someone in need of help solving that problem. 

Whether they come right out and state an objection to you, or they hold back and make you dig for it, overcoming objections is THE biggest challenge you face as college recruiter.  If you learn how to effectively deal with objections, you'll build a long, successful career for yourself at the college level. 

Posted by Dan Tudor at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A resort owner named Butch Stewart is about to teach you how to turn an obstacle into a selling point.  And you should listen to him, because he's an expert on the subject.

You probably don't know Stewart, but you've heard of his business.  He's the guy who has spent the last thirty years building Sandals Resorts, the all-inclusive beach destination that has built a multi-million dollar business out of making people's vacation dreams come true.

But to get where he wanted to go, Stewart had to overcome some huge obstacles.  This is where the lessons come in for coaches, especially those of you who would say that you're facing some recruiting obstacles that are preventing you from getting the kids you really want to get.

We pick up Butch Stewart's story, highlighted in a recent Inc. magazine article, at a critical point in the life of his business very early on after he had opened his first small resport:

"Everybody thought we'd be out of business the first month because the hotel is very close to the airport.  So, we came up with the idea of everyone waving to the people that were leaving in the plane, and kissing the one you love when a plane flies by.  I don't think we had five complaints after we came up with that idea.

"Then the Concorde started to flying to Jamaica once a week, and it made more noise than any airplane I've ever heard.  The buildings literally shook!

"So, we decided to turn all the beach lounges to face the airport, and that magnificent airplane would get right up in front of everybody on the beach.  Guests would come rushing in asking, "Has the Concorde taken off yet?"  We made a promotion out of it."

There are several important lessons for coaches who face tough recruiting challenges at their schools.  If you can learn from these lessons, and from the "can do" attitude of entrepreneur Butch Stewart, you might see those obstacles actually become selling points to your recruits:

• No complaining.  Don't whine about the facilities.  Don't moan about the lack of scholarship money.  Instead, focus on the creative solutions that are right in front of your face.
• Believe your own story.  I just spent two great days with one of our best groups ever for our "Building a Winning Recruiting Message" workshop.  A big part of our time with this large group of coaches was the necessity of having a great story, and telling it to their recruits.  One big part of that strategy is to believe your story, and tell it to your prospects with passion.  That's what Stewart did, and he turned a liability into something that his customers got excited about.
• Do the unthinkable.  Stewart's solution to the noisy Concorde taking off right next to his visitors on the beach?  Instead of apologizing for it, or ignoring it, he did the unthinkable...he actually forced his customers to see the airplane take off.  After a short time, it became the center of attention.  It became the cool thing to do, and people actually were disappointed if they missed the noisy take-off!  How did Stewart turn this liability into a selling point?  By doing the unthinkable. 

The lessons from this short business success story are really applicable for coaches facing tough circumstances when it comes to overcoming a less-than-desireable aspect of their college or program.  You have to find ways to turn around the perception of your prospect so that they can get past those weaknesses and start seriously considering your program.

Take a page from Butch Stewart's story, and get busy saving your "business" by turning-around the way your prospects look at your program's recruiting obstacles.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We're putting the final plan together for our Recruiting Kick-Off Conference on August 9th and 10th in Indianapolis.  If you're planning on attending, you will be getting some great information.  If you haven't registered yet, you still have time (click here).

One of the major themes we are going to focus on is how to overcome objections.  When you think about it, overcoming objections is probably the #1 thing that college coaches have to do successfully during the recruiting process.

Overcoming your school's objections:  The cost.  Some of the facilities on campus.  It's too far (or too close!) to home.  You know, the typical stuff that any school might list when it comes to hurdles that they have to overcome when they recruit prospects.

One thing that we teach at our workshops, as well as in our books we've written especially for recruiters, is how to deal with objections that your prospects have in their minds.  We also talk about how to combat the objections that your competition might plant in the mind of your prospect.

These are several different strategies that require two different approaches from you as a coach:

• Overcoming objections that your prospect brings up.  If an objection is sitting in the mind of your prospect, they won't sign with you.  As a recruiter, it's your job to make sure that you have addressed every single objection that exists in the mind of your recruit.  How do you that?  Ask questions that expose those objections that your prospect has as you're recruiting them...open-ended questions that get them to open up and tell you what they're thinking, what questions they have, and what you as a recruiter need to answer before they would be ready to commit to you.  Make sure that you work hard to uncover objections, address them, and move forward.
• Objections that your competition plant in the mind of your prospect.  Wouldn't life be easier if you didn't have to compete for prospects with those pesky competitors?  Sure it would.  But as we all know, that's not the real world.  So lets talk about a real world strategy for dealing with objections that are planted in the mind of your prospect.  Deal with the list of objections that you know your competitors use against you first.  Address them immediately...don't avoid them, lead with them!  Why?  Because if you do, you have the chance to define the objection on your terms.  For example, lets go back to the "cost" objection for a moment.  You need to find a way to turn that objection into a selling point.  Tough to do?  Actually, its not...at the workshop we just lead, the coaches we were training came up with several great selling points that they can use to not only overcome the objection, but to make it a selling point that they can use to get a prospect to consider their program.

Think about all of the prospects that you lost in the last year or so.  Why did it happen?  All of their objections were not overcome.  Maybe it was something that one of your competitors put into the mind of your prospect, or maybe it was something that wasn't uncovered when you were asking them questions.

The point is, objections are should be public enemy number one for you.  Your goal is to uncover them, deal with them, turn them around into selling points, and then move on to the next one. 

Always be trying to uncover new objections.  Once you do, blow it out of the water...get it out of the mind of your prospect.  That is the key to successful recruiting, coach.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This question came up from a coach who is reading our new book, "Selling for Coaches". In our book, we talk about overcoming objections and the importance of doing so if you hope to win over prospects. By the way, anyone who buys our book is welcome to follow-up with me on questions that didn't get answered, so a coach from North Carolina took the opportunity to ask me, "Dan, what if you have a prospect that you really, really want tell you that they just plain aren't interested in your program?"

Great question...and that's a tough one to overcome, no doubt. But here are a few quick strategies you might want to try the next time you have a recruit come right out and tell you that they're not interested...

• First, ask them what they mean by "not interested". Does it mean that they aren't interested in playing college sports? Not interested in the offer you have for them? Not interested in going to school in that part of the country? Asking probing questions is the key to getting to the heart of their lack of interest.
• Then, try to get them to them to clarify the general answer they gave you. "Do you mean you already know what our offer is going to be?" Or, "Have you already read about our program's success but have decided that it doesn't matter to you?" Or maybe, "How did you become familiar with the part of the country that our school is located in?"

The point in these types of questions? Get your prospect to clarify what they mean by their objection, and how they came to feel that way. Next, try to solve the problem. That is the goal of any conversation when an objection arises, and what we spend a lot of time on for Premium Members of Selling for Coaches month in and month out. A problem solving discussion starter might sound something like, "I understand...so, if a full-ride offer was on the table, you'd take a serious look at us?" Or, "I see. So, if I could show you how well you'd fit into our championship caliber program, you would keep an open mind and consider us?" Or, "If we were able to show you how valuable a degree from our school is out there in the real world, would you give us another look?"

Again, my strong recommendation to you is to be a problem solver. Your prospect may not be raising an objection as much as he or she is reaching out to have their problems solved. Most of your competition still tries to hard sell a prospect by throwing out a lot of meaningless bullet points and trashing their competition (you). Approach things from a different perspective, and stand out from your competition: Deal with objections with the frame of mind that you are a problem solver, and your prospect is someone in need of help solving that problem.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)