Getting Past Your Prospect's No
True story:
A few years ago, my wife tells me (as I'm driving home from work) that a young man who had just sold a set of "really great" steak knives to her sister was coming over to our house to show us the set.
After speeding through those stages of grief that you always read about at the thought of having to sit through a sales presentation, I arrived home. They were waiting for me.
To make a long story short, the young man does a nice job with his presentation. At the end, he has us on the verge of buying a set of knives that we probably wouldn't use that often, he says this: "You know, if you want to take a week or so to think about it, I can just call back."
Do I even need to tell you what I did? You got it. I took him up on his offer and took the "out". Suffice it to say that we're still using the same worn-out set of steak knives that we have for years.
The thing that was his downfall? The same thing as many coaches: He couldn't overcome the "no". He couldn't identify the fact that I had some objections that he needed to address, but didn't. Ultimately, he left without ever having dealt with - and overcome - my objections.
Here's where you, as a college coach, can learn a few valuable recruiting lessons as you begin to have to face the "no's" from some of the prospects you really, really want.
Here's an important truth that I want you to remember when you hear that "no": Their first instinct is to say no, but what they really want is for you to convince them to say yes.
Maybe they think they're rushing into their decision. Perhaps your team didn't treat them right on their visit to campus. Or, maybe they still think a better offer from a "better" program is right around the corner.
There are a hundred different reasons why recruits might initially say no to you. Your job is not to shrug and walk away, but to get to the truth behind the no and find out how to re-direct their attention back to you and your program.
When it comes to your recruiting messages and the plan behind it, it’s your copy that must do the job of getting past "no" by overcoming each objection. Here are some ideas that we've seen work for our clients:
- Before you ask for the big commitment, test out their willingness to engage with you by doing some "trial close" offers. Are they willing to tell you that they are sending in their application? That they plan on sending in a housing deposit? That they want to come and bring their other parent on a campus visit? Those are all good signs that things are heading down the right track. However, you have to be the one to offer them those small "tests" and then see how they answer.
- How are you crafting the message behind your offer? Sometimes, re-wording the way you approach the idea of committing to your school works wonders.
- In your letters and emails to your prospectse, go ahead and confront the most prevalent objections head on. Don’t be afraid to mention them . . . your prospect has been thinking about them from the moment they started paying attention to you and what you're offering them.
- In addition to your recruiting message, try to get your athletes to tell their story. Do interviews with them and write articles on why they chose your program and what they like about playing for you. What they say will trump your sales pitch every single time.
- Make the offer too good to refuse. If you were selling knives, you might do it by offering a guarantee for the life of the product...return it anytime for a full refund. As a college, what are some things that you can do to give your prospect a feeling of confidence in choosing you? They're looking for safety and comfort in choosing your program...find ways to give it to them.
- One last suggestion: Before you ask them to commit, what have you done to help them be better at where they're at right now as a high school athlete. If you want to give yourself an edge over your lazy competition, find ways to give them help right now and they'll be more apt to want to stick with you moving forward.
The simple reality is that we all have different buttons that need to be pushed before we buy. When I listen to knife salesmen and have deep-seeded hatred towards anything that will cut meat, and it isn’t because I don’t want the product. I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t.
Instead, I’m secretly trying to find a reason to help me feel good about pulling the trigger. Buying releases endorphins . . . it feels good. So does picking a college where you know you're going to fit in.
Still, we’ve all learned from bad buying experiences that have left us feeling empty after the initial high wears off. This is where the job of the sales person becomes increasingly important.
You need to not only help your prospects understand and appreciate the need for your school and your individual coaching, but you need to make them feel good about committing to it. This starts from the initial pitch and should continue even after they tell you that you are their top choice.
Like we teach in our two best-selling workbooks for college coaches, don’t be pushy, but don’t be afraid to explore what reasons stand in the way of a final commitment. Have the confidence to stand behind your program when you know that a recruit could benefit from it as a student-athlete. Even if they ultimately still say no, at least you’ve been given the insight of another objection to tackle down the road. Marketing - and recruiting - is a learning process, but you can’t sell yourself short.
And giving up at the first sign of no is doing just that.