The first of our next two coach recruiting conferences is on tap for this coming Sunday in Atlanta.  Want to be there?  Click here (you can also get details on our December conference in California).

Each conference is going to deal with increasing a coach's confidence in recruiting situations through better techniques and strategies.  Why is "confidence" so important when a coach is in a recruiting situation?  Because most coaches don't put recruiting high on their list of things they like to do as a college coach.  Selling isn't something that comes natural for a lot of coaches, and that can contribute to that lack of confidence that I was just talking about.

As legendary author Robert Louis Stevenson said, "I find it useful to remember, everyone lives by selling something."  College coaches are no different.  If you don't sell, you don't get the players you need to build a great program.

So, how do you get past the feeling of not wanting to "sell" your program to recruits and their parents?

The first important thing to realize is that your recruits will commit to your program because its a good fit for them...but not if its billed as a good fit for them. 

Here's what I mean by that.  Think about what therapists do. They charge pretty good money to give people "comforting" advice. Yes, there are some who deliver discomfort, but they don't stay in business very long. People pay money to have their therapists make them feel good. If you've ever been in therapy with a successful therapist, you already know that.

But if therapists said that they were in the business of comforting their clients, no one would take them seriously and no one would pay them good money for their "comforting" advice. Rather than advertise what they are really selling, therapists advertise their methodology (Freudian, Behaviorist, etc.) or the type of "problems" they deal with (addiction, obsessive compulsive disorders, etc.).

Now, lets bring this back to recruiting.  Let's say your prospect's main concern is the getting into the right grad school after his playing days are done and he has his undergraduate degree in hand. What you would do, in this case, is ask him questions about it and find out, in as much detail as possible, what his worries are. Having done this, you are then in a great position to address each one - to explain how your school can give him effective solutions that will ensure he's going to be on the right track after four years of playing for you. By driving home the benefits of your school and your program that the prospect really cares about, you are - in fact - making a very strong sales presentation. You are telling him exactly what he wants to hear.

Remember - your prospect wants to be "sold". So long as you help him understand how your school can help him achieve his desires or solve his problems, he will be prejudiced in your favor. You lose your prospect when you start talking about other things - your interests, your past success, your stadium, your schedule, your conference...information that he doesn't really care about.

So don't sell him, help him. Begin by finding out what he wants and needs in terms of his desires about playing college sports and getting an education. And then (if and only if you and your program can really help him), make the strongest, most specific case you can to convince him that his desires will be achieved and his problems solved through what you are offering.

Once you've figured out how to sell your school, and have moved past your distaste of selling, you'll have that confidence to address any objection and develop great messages out to your prospects.  But you have to do it by addressing their fears, not leading with the features at your school.

Is it "unethical" to focus on addressing their fears as a recruiting approach?  Absolutely not.  All of us want our fears soothed when we look at buying something: Insurance, a safer vehicle, low fat mayonaise...we buy things because we are trying to address our fears. 

Your prospects are no different.  Talk to them in the language that they are searching for, which is the language of having their fears and questions resolved. 

They're looking to you for that comfort, Coach.  Are you speaking their language?

Why should your competition have all the fun of learning cool new recruiting techniques, strategies for overcoming any objection a prospect throws at you, and developing a winning recruiting message?  Click here for all the details about these upcoming events and why YOU need to invest in your career by being there!

Posted by Dan Tudor at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Storytelling is an art.  It's a learned skill, developed over time.

And it's essential to consistently good recruiting.

But wait...

If you think that I'm talking about only the storytelling that goes on in your letters, or your emails, think again.  Every aspect of your program can tell a story and can be that something "extra" that convinces a recruit to choose you over another school.

The problem?  Most coaches don't look at the little things as opportunities to tell a great story, and to connect with their prospects in the process.  They do O.K. at most of the "big picture" items that they are faced with on a daily basis, but really do need help with some of those little things I just mentioned.  Are you missing an opportunity to sell your program and tell a great story?

Here's an example of what I'm talking about...

The University of Kentucky men's basketball program just got new uniforms.  That's not big news most of the time, but these uniforms are getting a lot of attention.  Here's a blurb from the Nike blog about it: 

Nike is taking symbolism and storytelling within the context of sports uniforms to the next level. Using the new form-fitting jerseys first worn by such Nike schools as Arizona and the Ohio State University, the new wildcat uniforms feature tributes to a former program member, a legendary racehorse and the basketball program’s successful history.

Bill Keightley, the Wildcats’ longtime equipment manager, passed away this past offseason. As a tribute, the uniforms read “Mr. Wildcat” across a black shoulder-band and keep the Kentucky “K” on the jersey differently-colored then the rest of the word. Additionally, the subtle checkered boxes which adorn the jersey are a nod to Secretariat’s blue and white racing silks.

Last, on the shorts’ waistband is yet another checkerboard pattern with eight squares, 7 containing the year of a UK national championship and an eighth left empty for the next one.

Wow!  Talk about storytelling in a way that connects with today's Millennium Generation teenagers!  Every part of their uniforms gives a recruit a taste of the history of the program, and includes them in the extended family of being a basketball player at Kentucky.

Is it going to matter to every single recruit, and cause them to sign on the dotted line to be a Wildcat?  Of course not.  But what if it connects with the right prospect, at the right time, in the right way?  What if the recruit that signs is the one that sinks the free throws that wins the game and gives the Wildcats the conference title? 

Recruiting is about the hundreds of little things that convince a prospect that you are right for them.  Think about that challenge for a moment...convince a teenager who doesn't know you that what you have to offer is perfect for them.  That's an extraordinary challenge, coach! 

So why wouldn't you want every piece of the puzzle in place and working in your favor?  Why wouldn't you want to include your uniforms - and any other object or piece of your program - in the equation that might connect with your prospect?

One of the things I enjoy the most about conducting our two day On-Campus Workshops at college campuses around the country is all of the amazingly unique qualities that many athletic programs have at their disposal.  Unique mascots, amazing athlete ammenities, historic arenas...there is so much to talk about and to tell a prospect about.  Some use these tools wisely, and other don't.  And often the difference is being able to attract the right recruits, or settling for another so-so recruiting class that gets the job done (just barely).

Take a close look at the different elements of your program, coach.  Are there things there that you aren't using to help connect with your prospects?  I'll bet there are.  Follow Kentucky's lead...find a unique way to tell your story to the recruits who are dying for a good reason to listen.

Need help with your ability to tell a great recruiting story and develop your communication skills?  We have two workshops for coaches coming up that you should be at.  They are cost effective, highly personalized, and earn rave reviews from the coaches who attend.  Wouldn't it be smart to invest in your coaching career outside of the x's and o's?

Posted by Dan Tudor at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's the deal, Coach:

Your prospects think differently than you do.  I point this out because many of you don't realize it, and it's killing your chances at being good recruiters.

As a coach, you get really concerned with your facility, your field, your court, and other "stuff".  It needs to be bigger, better, more modern.  And, you need more money.  Otherwise, you can't get the best recruits to come to your campus, right?

Wrong.  At least in the majority of cases, that kind of thinking is flat-out wrong.

I can tell you that with 100% certainty because over the last few years, myself and my staff here at Selling for Coaches have personally interviewed hundreds and hundreds of your student-athletes.  They've told us how they make their final decision, and what matters most to them.  And in the end, if you look at the data, it's obvious that your prospects have different priorities than you do.  They value different things than you do.  They think differently than you do.

Here are some of the most common examples:

• They think how you treat them and communicate with them is more important than what your weight room looks like.  Personal relationships rank higher than the stuff you have on your campus.
• They think how your team treats them during their campus visit will tell them if your campus makes them feel wanted.  If your team doesn't make them feel welcome, the prospect will almost NEVER sign with your school.  You can take that to the bank, Coach.
• They think their parents are important to the decision making process.  This generation has given their parents the power to act as manager and agent.  If you aren't recruiting the parents at the same time you recruit the athlete, you are making it harder on yourself than you may realize.
• They think that you talk too much during your phone calls.  Nothing personal, Coach, but if you're doing most of the talking during a half-hour phone call with a prospect, you aren't doing anything to help you in signing that prospect.  More time talking does not equal more interest from the prospect.
• They think your letters and emails that promote your school are too bland, and too much about you.  You need to change them.
• They think it's great when you talk to them consistently.  Don't spill everything out at once.  Use a slow drip method to communicate.  A little bit at a time, time after time after time.
• They think you demand too much of them once they get to campus.  There's nothing you can do to change that, necessarily, but I wanted you to know that this is an epidemic across college sports.  Be prepared to re-sell them on the value of working hard and dedicating themselves to your program.  This generation of athlete is the most challenging ever.  Be aware that you'll need to keep recruiting them even after they commit to you and your school.
• They think its GREAT when you write them personal, hand-written letters and post cards.  They'll read every word of a hand-written note you send to them.  They understand that hand-written notes take more of your time, which they think means you put a higher value on them than other recruits. 
• They think you give them too much to do during a campus visit.  Cut out some of the meetings with department heads (if you were 17, would you want to meet a department head?).  Cut out the non-stop meetings that rush them from place to place.  They think it would be great if you would slow down the pace of the visit and let them spend more time getting to know you and your team in a relaxed setting.

Are there exceptions to these rules?  Sure.  But I'll guarantee you that more the majority of the prospects you are recruiting, this is what they are thinking. 

So now that you know what they're thinking, let me throw out the big question: How does it change the way you will communicate with them and recruit them?

Here are some quick tips:

• Simplify your communication with them.  Be more direct and to the point.  That's what they want.
• Make it personal and all about them.  Make it less about you and your school.
• Overhaul your campus visit.  Make it shorter and more relaxed.  Give them more time with your team, less time with Professor Schnizlehoeffer in the English department.

One more thing: If you would like Selling for Coaches to help you become more effective with your recruiting, there are two options I will suggest that works for college programs:  Our On-Campus Workshop, and our new Total Recruiting Solution program. 

If you have questions about either, email me personally at dan@sellingforcoaches.com. Whatever you decide to do, know this: You need to start thinking like your prospects.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Leave it to the Chinese to offer up today's recruiting lesson for college coaches. 

You see, Chinese officials have been preparing for next month's Olympic games well in advance of the competitions. That includes encouraging restaurateurs to change the way certain foods are listed on restaurant menus.

You see, the name of a dish in Chinese (which usually has something to do with its appearance or origin) doesn't always translate well into English.

For example, one of the traditional Chinese names for a popular dish literally means "Chicken without sexual life" in English.  Sounds appetizing, doesn't it?  The alternate name that the government in China has suggested is "steamed pullet" (A pullet is a young chicken that has not produced eggs.)

Here are some others:

Traditional Chinese name: "Husband and wife's lung slice".  Alternate proposed by the government: "Beef and ox tripe in chili sauce"

Traditional Chinese name: "Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman".  Alternate proposed by the government: "Mapo tofu".

What restaurant owners in China have learned is that words mean things.  And what is acceptable to one culture, is foreign - even weird! - to another. 

For you, as a college coach, the way you communicate with your prospects all comes down to words.  Like I just said, they mean things.  They are important.  They can be the key to getting your recruit's attention, and painting a picture for them as you carry them through the recruiting process.

For you, Coach, your prospects are that "other culture".  Those teenagers you are recruiting are the foreigners who don't easily understand your native tongue.  It's such a huge problem that it's going to be one of the big topics we're going to teach coaches about at the upcoming SFC Recruiting Kick-Off Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana (haven't signed-up yet???  Come on, Coach!  Do it now!)

Here are some examples of words and phrases that might confuse your prospects that I see quite often when we are asked to review recruiting letters and other messages that coaches send out to prospects:

• "You have been recommended to us an a prospect..."  Huh?  Who recommended them?  How did you find out about them?  You are trying to be complimentary to them, but you know what they think?  Two words, Coach:  Mailing. List.  You need to spell out how you found them, or risk having them assume that they are one of thousands that is reading the letter.
• "Prospect Questionnaire"  Your prospect puts that phrase right up there with "History Test" and "Yard Work".  You are thinking "lots of good prospect information I need", while your recruits are thinking "15 minutes of filling-out little lines of information".  Wonder why you don't get a huge percentage of those back?  It's because they aren't presented in an attractive way.  How should you dress them up?  Change the name.  Make them shorter.  Ask different questions.  Frankly, anything other than what goes out to them right now would probably be fine.  It's time to re-translate that one into their native tongue, Coach.
• "If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me."  Really, Coach?  Do you think most 17 year old kids are going to feel confident enough to pick up the phone in between video games and talk about the scholarship possibilities?  Not likely.  That's why you don't have one prospect on the line and three more on hold waiting to talk to you.  You will have to approach them differently: Tell them what you want them to do, tell them when to call, and tell them why you want to talk to them.  This generation wants specifics.  That phrase gets lost in translation.

I only touched on three common phrases that don't register real well with your prospects.  Are there more?  Certainly.  And they are throughout the recruiting messages that you send out every week.

What I recommend you do is look at your messages through the prism of today's teenage culture.  Could you re-phrase something to connect with them in a better way?  Can you be professional, and still re-word some of your messages so that they prompt a better response from your prospects?

That's your challenge this week, Coach.  Before you start sending out the bulk of your recruiting letters, make sure they are "translated" correctly for your audience.  If you don't, you might be serving your recruits "pock marked lung slice chicken" and not even know it! 

The wrong words matter.  The right words can be your secret weapon to signing more recruits.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We're approach the "magic hour" in college recruiting: July 1st.

A whole new batch of prospects are out there just waiting for you to write them or call them.  And you can't wait: Sure it's a mixture of pleasure and pain ("I wish I didn't have to spend all that time calling them" + "oh boy! I can't wait to call them!").  But all in all, July 1st is kind of exciting for college coaches.

But here's the question I'll ask you that you need to have a great answer for, Coach: What is it about your college, your program, and what you have to offer that is going to set you apart from the other 47 coaches that have the same prospects on their list?

That's a big question.  In fact, most of the time, it's THE question that has to be answered by YOU if that prospect is going to stay on your radar for more than a few days.  Coming up with ways to give prospects compelling reasons to seriously consider what you have to offer is a big focus of our upcoming Summer conference, "The 2008 Recruiting Kick-Off Conference" in Indianapolis this coming August.  We want you to start the new recruiting year off right by giving you new, innovative strategies to use.

But for now, I want to give you 9 questions to answer about what you're offering so that we can get you ready for July 1st and talking about your program with all of those new prospects.  It is crucial for you to have good answers for all of these questions, Coach.  Here we go... 

1. What is it that we're offering the prospect? A description. A list.  Bullet points, much of the time.  Take a look at your basic recruiting letter that you're getting ready to send out to new prospects.  It's got way too much stuff in it, Coach.  They don't care about most of it yet.  It's totally boring because the prospect already knows what it is: A chance to play their sport in college.  Why isn't that enough?  Read on, Coach... 

2. What will your opportunity do for the prospect? Another monolog. Another list. Totally boring because the prospect already knows what it does: It gives them a chance to play their sport in college.  There might be more to it, but in your prospect's mind they already know.  Strike two, Coach... 

3. How is the opportunity to play at your school something that is personal to them? Getting warmer, but still a little boring.  Notice how these first three questions are more centered on you than them?  That's the problem.  That's why you're boring them, and it's only July 2nd!

4. What’s the value of the chance to play for you? Hey, now we're getting somewhere! Now you’re getting the attention of the recruit. Does it increase their chance of being successful in life? Is it a chance to play as a Freshman rather than sitting the bench?  Is there something that your program can offer them that will give them something unique compared to other schools?

5. How will your prospect "profit" from coming to play for you? This is one of the most important nuances in the selling/buying process. The prospect does NOT want to “play it safe.” The customer wants to make a LIVE THE DREAM. They want the big pay-off that they've been working hard for all these years.  And wants to profit from whatever it is you’re offering.  Are you starting to see the difference, Coach?  It's all about them.

6. What’s the expected outcome of them coming to play for you? BIG one, Coach. Get them to visualize what the experience of coming to play for you will do for them after they make the commitment to come to your program.  Painting a picture of what their experience will be at your school requires planning and creativity, but if you can pull it off you're going to be tough to beat when it comes to recruiting great athletes.

7. What’s the prospect's opinion of it? You should want to know and understand your recruit's point of view as much as you want him or her to understand yours.  More so, actually.  Once you understand your prospect's opinion of what you're offering them, you'll be able to craft a customized message out to your new recruit that will speak directly to them in a personal, relevant way.

8. What do your current athletes on your team think of their experience at your school? If you know the history and what they think, you can more readily know what will resonate with new prospects (or what you need to correct).  You can find out more about how today's prospects choose a school by clicking here.

9. What’s the prospect's perceived value of what your program offers? This takes dialog. And, great questions.  Create it, and you will have a huge competitive advantage over your competition. Value in the mind of your prospect creates a "buying" atmosphere. Their perception of your program's value will result in your reality of signing the prospect.

Read through that list again, Coach.  Make sure you know the answers to each one of those questions before you get on the phone - or in front of your keyboard - to start recruiting that new batch of prospects.

If you can come up with pretty good really good GREAT answers to those questions, you're going to have a great new year of recruiting for your program. 

Posted by Dan Tudor at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"If you want to get noticed, don't be so polished."

So says marketing expert and best-selling author, Seth Godin.  He points to something he noticed the other day while driving around his home in New York: A brown UPS truck with something on the back of it that caught Godin's eye.  Godin picks up the story from there:

"This UPS truck has a haphazardly affixed SAFETY sign hanging from the back. Think that's unintentional? UPS does it on purpose. You notice it because a human being did it.

Same with the seven-page-long menus at diners in New York City. With thousands of things to choose from on the laminated, typeset menu, it's difficult for some people to make a choice. What to do? Well, there's a stained 3x5 card paper clipped to the front page listing four special dishes. They're not specials in the sense that they change every day, they're just specials because they're on the card. And yes, that's what people order.

When in doubt, make it human."

So, what can this UPS truck teach college coaches about crafting a more effective recruiting message?

Here are a few ideas that I think will work for college coaches:

• Look for ways to make everything you send to a prospect "more human."  Something hand-written on the front of your envelope.  Cross out a word or two in your hand-written note to a prospect.  Or, even a better idea: Show your prospect a little bit of your personal side, like pictures of your family, your high school yearbook picture...anything that humanizes you.
• The simpler the better.  Don't make it expensive, or fancy.  Keep it simple.  Take another look at the sign taped on the back of the UPS truck.  That's simple, and it gets noticed.  In today's world, simple gets noticed more than over-produced and commercialized. 
• Offer some simple solutions for your prospects.  Just like the restaurants that suggest some specials as a way to direct their customers towards the dishes that they really want them to order, you can help direct your prospects towards actions that you need (and want) them to take.  As we explain regularly during our SFC On-Campus Workshops, it's smart to agree upon the next action item your prospect.  They are searching for simple solutions and easy-to-understand directions.  Be the coach that gives it to them.
• Make your form letters and mass e-mails more conversational, less corporate.  What I mean by "less corporate" is less well-written.  Less formal.  Less intimidating.  If you really want to connect with your prospect, talk to them in the language that they understand.  Keep it simple, very informal, and conversational.  It's proven that prospects respond to a clear, simple message.  Letters and e-mails are a great way to let your recruits see who you are as a coach, but only if you communicate with them in a way that they relate to and understand.

Many coaches could benefit from simplifying their recruiting messages.  Be more direct, be more human.  Let your prospects see the real you behind the letters and e-mails.

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

If you can't recruit good athletes to your school, you don't have a prayer for having a long coaching career. Plain and simple.

Just like any business, your primary concern has to be making "sales".  When I conduct one of our SFC On-Campus Workshops, I try to make the point that 80% of a coach's time is spent selling or recruiting in some way.  You really only get to coach 20% of the time during an average year.  The challenge is, of course, you can't force your recruits to sign with you instead of a competitor. 

Your prospect has the advantage. And if he or she wants to ignore your recruiting message and play for the other guy, you can't stop them. But what you can do, of course, is give them a compelling reason to choose you over your competitors.

And here's some good news, Coach:  You don't need a lot of money or staff to find - and keep - great recruits. You just need a few easy-to-come-by strategies that savvy business professionals use on a daily basis.

In fact, being "small" can actually work to your advantage when it comes to one of the all-time best strategies: Establishing a relationship with each recruit. It can:

Get the recruit to trust you enough to take the chance of committing to your program and playing for you, instead of your competitor.

Build loyalty - so the recruit wants to continue to interact with you rather than your competitors.

As a bonus, get the recruit to refer you to other potential prospects.

You develop relationships with your prospects the same way that you do it in your personal life. In big part, that means caring for them.

Think about the people you consider to be friends. Aren't they people you genuinely care about - and who seem to genuinely care about you?

And think about your relationships with companies - big and small - that you deal with on a fairly regular basis as a college coach. 

You must admit that it's awfully hard to believe that the mega-corporations - General Motors, for example - care about you. They are nameless, faceless conglomerates. It's a lot easier to believe that your local GM car salesman has a sincere interest in you. After all, he lives in your community. His kids go to school with your kids. You meet him face to face when you step into his dealership. That's why, unlike General Motors, he can - if he chooses - establish real, caring long-term relationships with you and his other customers.

And that's why you, too, will have an easy time proving to your recruits (and their parents, and their coaches) that you are concerned about them and their problems... and that you're there to help.  Not just to sell, not just to recruit, but to help. 

If you want to differentiate yourself from most other coaches who will read this and then forget about it later today, try this classic three-step method for establishing those all-important prospect relationships:

1. Focus on a narrow niche market.

In the same way more and more businesses are focusing on a specific small market segment, have you ever considered doing the same thing with recruiting your prospects?  Recruiting from specific regions of the country other than your own?  Developing a story that tells your recruit something very specific, or very memorable, about your program?  Sometimes, a specific focus can help you tell your story in a much more compelling way, and give recruits a reason to listen to what you're saying. 

2. Take the time to understand your customers and their problems.

Only by putting yourself in your recruit's shoes - taking the time to figure out not only their wants and needs but also their worries, fears, and hopes - can you develop a message and an offer that will truly help them.

When you do that - when you give them something that will make their lives better or easier in some way - you're sending a very strong message that you care. Our special report, "Inside the Mind of Your College Prospects" that many of you have used to create a better focus for your recruiting efforts.  If you haven't read it, you should.

3. Make your recruiting messages personal.

Building close relationships with your prospects and their family is all about communicating on a personal level (as it is with your family and your friends). That's true of any direct contact you may have with your prospects in person or over the phone - and it's just as true of the indirect contact you have with them in your recruiting materials that you are sending them.

Here are a few suggestions for making your recruiting letter and e-mail copy more personal:

Write your sales message in a conversational tone, as if you're talking to a friend. For example, instead of a sales professional saying "This business program can help you earn substantial profits," they might instead say "You know that new car you've had your eye on? Well, check out this program. It will help you get it."

Share information about yourself. When people feel that they know you, they're more inclined to trust you and want to play for you, Coach. The more honest a recruit perceives you as being, the better the chance you will connect with them in a real and meaningful way.  By the way, coaches who are starting to write blogs are jumping ahead of everyone else who is sitting on the sidelines still trying to communicate exclusively by e-mail and letters (I'd give you some examples of coaches that are doing this right, but they've warned me I better not tip off their competition as to what they are doing differently to stand-out from the crowd...sorry!)

Be honest. Say what you really think, not what you think your recruits want to hear. For instance, instead of sugarcoating your recruiting pitch, come right out and tell your prospects to stop feeling sorry for themselves...to stop stressing over choosing the right school and, instead, to take responsibility for whether they will succeed or fail in the future. That might be a little bold for some of you, but the point here is to use your words to get your prospect's attention. And those who see things your way and appreciate your honest and up-front approach will become profoundly loyal to you when it comes to committing to you instead of the other guy.

You can't pretend to be someone you're not. Your sincerity - or insincerity - will always shine through.  Kids today are smart.  They know when you're telling them the truth, and when you are stretching it a little too far. 

These three steps will help you quickly establish real rapport with your prospects. And, you'll do it faster - and in a more substantial way - than your competition will.

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

It isn’t always about the money, Coach.

Your athletes – the kids you are recruiting – will choose you even if you aren’t offering a full ride scholarship.

I bring this up because I’ve had a string of e-mails and phone calls the past few weeks from coaches at schools I have had on-campus training sessions with, as well as some of our SFC Premium Members, who are worried about situations at their programs that are becoming all too familiar:

• A D3 college just raised tuitions and cut the amount we can award them.  How do they compete against other schools that can offer them more?
• The D1 track program that can only offer partial scholarships and academic awards, and is struggling to compete with their better-funded rivals.
• An assistant Athletic Director who is about to tell his coaching staff that their school’s tuition is going up by $7,000 next year and they can now only accept student-athletes with a minimum 3.4 grade point average.
• A Midwest D1 football program that can offer full ride scholarships, but recruit athletes that are getting other full ride offers.  Their scholarship offer is “nothing special” to the recruits they are trying to sign, according to their recruiting coordinator.

There’s a danger in playing what I call “the money game” with your prospects.  For one thing, you reduce their decision to a price tag.  That’s never a smart move when it comes to selling (or recruiting) because it’s easy to say no to if you’re the prospect.  “Your school is $3000 more expensive than the other guys down the road?  You won’t (or can’t) match it by coming down in price?  We’re signing with them.”

Secondly, you take the emotional reasons someone would choose your program out of the equation.  If it’s all about price, the look, the feel, the friendliness, the ideal athletic fit…all of it goes out the window.  Now it’s a dollars and cents decision on their part: Great if you’re the school that can offer the full ride no matter what the situation, not so great if you have limited funds (or no funds) to offer.

Lastly, you cheapen yourself by becoming a true blue died-in-the-wool salesperson that’s going to focus on the price.  Picture yourself on the car lot when the salesman asks you with all the slickness he can muster, “So tell me, what is it we’re going to have to do so that you can drive this beauty off the lot tonight?”  Do you have that mental image burned in your mind?  Great.  You are “that guy” when you focus on price with your prospect and their parents.

Look, I’m not naïve.  I know that a full ride scholarship is a powerful tool, and if you’ve got that weapon in your arsenal than you have a tremendous advantage.  But don’t think that other less-funded programs can’t steal your best prospects away from you.  They can.  In a growing number of cases, I’ve taught them how to do it. 

If you don’t have a full ride to offer, or have limited financial resources to offer your prospects that you want in uniform at your school, here’s what you should do:

Believe that your product is the best choice for your prospect.  Sounds basic, I know, but when I lead On-Campus workshops at colleges it amazes me how many coaches don’t want to present their programs as the best possible choice for their prospect.  In some instances, I get the sense that a coach almost has guilt over the thought of convincing an athlete that they would love the school and the program.  Snap out of it, Coach.  Believe in where you’re at, what you can offer (instead of what you can’t) and be passionate about your program.

Focus on what you can offer them, instead of what you can’t.  Our study of this year’s top prospects showed you that many other factors rank ahead of money in terms of top factors for how they choose a school.  How your team treats them on their campus visit, what their parents say about the program, and other non-monetary factors play a huge part in choosing a school.  Are you directing your conversation with athletes back to those factors?

Frame the decision making process for your prospect.  If you are a SFC Premium Member, I’m going to go into more detail on this one aspect of this strategy later this week.  But in summary, what I’m talking about doing here is making sure your prospect and his or her parents aren’t using money as the final determinant of where they will compete in college.  I think it’s fair to ask them, for example, “Is it smart to make a decision that will effect the next 40 or 50 years of your professional life on who has the lowest price tag?”  Or, “If I could show you why we’re more like a BMW instead of a Ford, and why that should be a huge part of the decision for you, would you think seriously about playing and going to school here?”  (Disclosure: I drive a Ford, so no angry e-mails complaining that I’m bashing that make of automobiles!)

Focus on the feeling.  Whenever you read about athletes who have signed with a school, you’ll usually hear them say something like “I just felt comfortable there with coach so-and-so and her team” or “They made me feel great on my campus visit.”  It’s never “Dude, Coach Smith just totally out-bid everyone else.  They broke the bank for me!”  The school that does the right things to create positive, memorable feelings for the recruits that visit their campus, talk to their coaches, and see their program in action will win the athlete.  Maybe not every time, but certainly most of the time.

Ready for some more tough love, Coach? 

Here it comes:  The money excuse is a crutch.  It gives some coaches an excuse for not recruiting with passion for every possible athlete, every time.  It's permission to quit trying.  Meanwhile, just in the last three months I’ve seen smart, positive coaches from under-funded schools at all division levels beat their big school rivals for D1 caliber recruits that they should have no business signing.

How are they doing it?  By not playing “the money game.” 

It’s a game that’s hard to win, and one that most of your recruits don’t want to play anyway.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 02:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The first month of the new year is almost history.  So, Coach...how are those New Year's resolutions doing?

That's what I thought.

You know, a lot of you told me that "getting more organized" was a big goal for you in 2008.  That was one for me, as well.  One of the ways I'm doing that is by using Front Rush as a primary communication source this year. 

So, I asked the President of Front Rush, Leidy Smith, to give some ideas to coaches (and me) on organizing recruiting and communications this year.  Here were some of his tips:

• Make sure your data is organized all in one place.  "Multiple ways of storing information is a time waster, and is really unproductive", says Smith.  "One of the things about a web-based system like ours is that you aren't keying in information into multiple documents or records.  It's all in one place."
• Keep your notes on phone calls and e-mails with prospects.  "That doesn't mean more Post-It notes and manilla folders," jokes Smith.  He says you need to create a centralized electronic file  - like the one used by Front Rush - so that everything is tied together and in one place that can be accessed by all the coaches on staff.  Not doing so partitions off coaches from important information, says Smith, and slows down productivity.
• Have a centralized recruiting calendar that ALL your coaches share.  "That's one of the biggest enhancements we've made to the Front Rush system", says Smith.  "The ability to instantly share notes and information between coaches, whether they're on the road recruiting or in the office after practice, is a huge time saver."  If you aren't using Front Rush, see if you can develop your own online information sharing website that has the ability to track notes and share information.  Or, talk to your college's IT staff about creating a system for you.

Most organizational challenges that coaches face involve tracking information, so the sooner you get a handle on how your information is "handled" by you and your fellow coaches, the more time you'll have to coach and recruit - and even see your family once in a while!

Posted by Dan Tudor at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As is our tradition here at SFC, we wanted to use this final message of 2007 to look back at our most-read recruiting tips for the past year.

If you're new to the Selling for Coaches Tuesday newsletter, this is a great way to catch up in a hurry on the best-of-the-best from the past 51 newsletter issue.  If you're a seasoned veteran of our tips and training, you'll be interested to know which articles ranked tops with you and your fellow coaches based on statistics we get from our newsletter.  Just click on the title link of any article that interests you.

So, here we go...we present to you the Top 5 SFC articles from 2007:

• How to Know If Your Prospect is Ready to Commit.  This article from back in January highlighted a proven way to gauge whether or not your prospect was ready to commit to your program.  It featured a highlight from one of our recruiting guides for coaches, and offers some good tips to help you know when to approach your recruit with the idea of playing for you and your program. 
• Four Ways to Spice-up Your Recruiting Visits.  One of our SFC Premium Members was the source for this topic.  He was feeling a little lost when it came to coming up with new approaches to talking to prospects in their homes.  We got back to him and suggested that he incorporate one of these four ideas as a way to "spice up" his recruiting visits.  It proved to be one of the most popular articles we did in 2007.
• Making More Time for Recruiting.  I've got to admit, when I wrote this back in June, I didn't realize what a nerve it would touch.  Turns out, the issue of time (mainly not having enough of it during your day!) is a popular subject for today's college coach.  So, just how do you make more time to get recruiting - and the other 352 things you need to do - in a typical day?  Find out by reading this popular training article we did on the subject.
• Four Ways to Recruit the Parents.  A big theme for SFC this past year was the importance of recruiting the parents.  So we put together a series of training tips for coaches, kicking it off with this article from earlier in the year.  It goes over the basics of beginning to get your message out to parents.   
• What Your Next Recruiting Call Needs.  The secret of making an effective recruiting phone call?  We listed seven things for coaches to do, and we got lots of great feedback on the results from the coaches who tried them.  When I wrote this article, the goal was to give coaches a starting point when they pick up the phone to call a recruit.  Will the tips help you?  Read the article to find out!

We hope you've enjoyed the training we've offered this past year.  Selling for Coaches has some great things planned for 2008 and beyond, all with the hopes of making you a better recruiter.

Enjoy this special time of year, and get ready for exciting things from us in 2008!

Posted by Dan Tudor at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The question came from a coach in the back. 

I was in Texas doing an On-Campus Workshop, and this coach was really frustrated since he'd been recruiting a track and field prospect for two years.  Now, getting ready for yet another phone call with the prospect, he was getting nervous.

"I've been working my a** off the past two years, Dan, and I still don't know if this kid is going to come here," he said.  "And to be honest, I'm getting tired of waiting for teenagers to clue me in on what they're thinking."

My reply to him: "Coach, have you asked him when he's going to make his decision?"

Silence.

Are you facing a similar situation?  Prospects you've recruited not getting back to you...you wondering when they'll call or e-mail...you wondering when they're going to give you their final answer.

Not a good scenario, right?  Right.

Here's the good news, Coach: There's no need to wonder about it. In fact, there's one simple question that can help erase all the mystery when it comes to the decision making process of a prospect...

Here's the question:

"How will you make your final decision?"

That's it?? Yes, that's it.

Cut to the chase and ask the athlete up-front how they will be making their decision on which college to go to and which offer to accept.

After the athlete answers, here's another important question to ask:

"And then what?"

They'll tell you more. And then you ask, "And then what?" again.  And they'll tell you more. And on and on until you finally get to the real source of their decision - a school's major, the coach, their parents' input, their coach's input, or even what kind of uniforms you have compared to the competition. The bottom line is, you'll know what their decision rests on.

Last month, I put this strategy to the test with a D3 soccer coach who was still trying to fill one last opening in her roster.  She was recruiting three players actively, each of whom was not giving the coach any indication of where they were leaning in terms of a program, when they would make their final decision, and how they would make their final decision.  The coach, a Premium Member of Selling for Coaches, brought us in to assist her and her assistant coach.  This strategy that I just summarized is what we recommended to the coach, along with some other important questions to ask their prospects. 

The result?  The coach got the answer she was looking from two of her prospects within 48 hours after asking her prospect how she would be making her final decision (and three straight "and then what?" follow-up questions!). 

The coach finally understood how her prospect would be making her decision - a decision that included a lot of influence from a step-father whom the coach had never talked to personally.  Once the coach knew that he played a major role in her prospect's decision making process, she talked with him at length right away.  After taking about an hour to answer his questions and concerns, he agreed that her program was the best for his step-daughter.

I can't stress how important this short series of questions is. It's a key question for business professionals to ask when they seek to understand how a sales decision is going to be made, and it's a great question to ask if you're a coach who finds yourself walking out of personal visit or long phone call with a prospect wondering what the prospect is thinking or where you rank with other colleges who are pitching their program.

Try it. I think you'll like the results. And always remember to ask those follow-up questions until you get to the bottom line and you know how they will be making their decision.

By the way, if you have a particular question/problem/hurdle/recruiting issue that you want addressed and answered, don't hesitate to e-mail me at dan@sellingforcoaches.com. I answer all questions that are sent to me weekly by your fellow coaches, and I enjoy doing it. 

Posted by Dan Tudor at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's that time of year in college athletics.  That's right...it's "home visit season".

Sure, it's a lot like hunting.  You've got your ammo, you've scouted out the best hunting ground, and now your sights are set on your prospect. 

But there's a big hurdle remaining.  The home visit.  The trip, the parents, the questions...you know the drill, right?

There's a section in our special recruiting guide, "Selling for Coaches", that focuses on connecting with prospects and parents during a home visit.  But you might be a coach who wants a little bit more right now.  Maybe you're about to make a crucial home visit with your prospect, and need it to go well.

Today, since there are coaches just like you all over the country that are in the middle of criss-crossing the country visiting the homes of prospects they've been recruiting, I wanted to share some of the things that I discussed with coaches this past year, both on the phone and in person during our On-Campus Workshops.  If you're wanting to refine your approach to personal visits, think about using these tips as a way to boost your performance in front of your top prospects.

Focus on relaxing before your meeting.  Sounds so simple, yet most coaches don't take a few minutes to do it.  In the same way that your athletes might spend an hour before their athletic contest listening to music to pump them up, visualizing them making a big play, or just being quiet so that they can get ready to compete to the best of their abilities, you need to get in the zone when it comes to getting ready to recruit.  But instead of getting pumped up, you need to calm down: Listen to your favorite music on your way to the appointment.  Think positive thoughts.  Visualize a great evening of talking.  The ultimate goal is to go in relaxed, in high spirits, and with an attitude of a winner that shines through to your prospect.  Great sales professionals in the business world do this before any important sales call.  You should also!

Believe your program is the best.  Along with relaxing before you go into an important meeting with a prospect, you need to develop a mindset that your program, your staff and your college is the best.  Period.  You've got to believe it, and believe it whole-heartedly.  If you don't, it will show.  Your passion for what you're selling to your prospect will be weak, and that will rub off on your prospect.  Coaches who are passionate sell more effectively, and are able to get their prospects excited about their vision for their program better than a coach who is just going through the motions.  Do you believe - really believe - that what you're offering is the best in the world?  If the answer is no, you need to get yourself to that point.  Fast.

Come in to your meeting with ideas.  At least two.  What I mean here is that you need to be the one to lay out ideas that can help the athlete (or even his or her parents) reach their goals.  Tell them that you've been thinking about them, and you've come up with a few ideas as to how to best take advantage of what your program or college offers as it specifically relates to that individual athlete.  What are those ideas?  I can't answer that for you.  Just focus on things that get your prospect from where they are now to where you know they want to be athletically or academically.

Ask one amazing question at the start of your meeting.  Make it a killer question.  One that stops everyone in their tracks and will get them to think.  Make it a question you know your competition isn't asking them.  Be original.  When I was talking with a basketball coach at one of our On-Campus Workshops recently, we stumbled upon a great question that she could ask.  It took a few minutes to come up with it, but once we did we both knew it was "the one".  Now, she can ask that same question for years to come.  Anytime you can come up with a question that stops your prospect in his or her tracks and gets them to think, you've got their attention.  And, you've got their respect.

Don't "need" the prospect.  Don't go in with the attitude that this athlete is a make-or-break signing.  Truthfully, there's no such thing.  Don't try too hard.  Don't pressure too much.  Don't beg, plead or press too much.  That kind of thing shows through, and its not good.  You'll be telegraphing that desperation in your face, and it won't play well with your prospect.  Note the difference between "desperation" and "enthusiasm".  You can let your prospect know that you are excited about having them there, and let them know how you envision them making a big impact in your program.  But don't let that cross over to "needing" the prospect.  Once you do, you lose the power that you hold and now the athlete controls you.

Don't be afraid to ask for their commitment.  That's why you're there, right?  You won't turn them off my asking them to give you a verbal commitment.  In fact, many athletes are waiting for that question.  But too many coaches leave a meeting by telling their prospect that they hope they hear back from them, or hope that their at the top of their list, blah blah blah.  Don't be a wimp.  ASK FOR THEIR COMMITMENT.  If they're not ready, they'll tell you.  If they are ready, you just got the win.  And all it took was asking the question that's on everyone's mind.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week was "the week from hell".  Not a bad week, just incredibly busy. 

Don't get me wrong, I like to be busy.  But this was insane...

Lots of phone calls with coaches.  Two On-Campus Workshops that were booked for later in November.  A trip to a college for some follow-up training.  And, exactly 417 e-mails in my Inbox (475 if you count the offers for discount Viagra, million-dollar lottery notifications from Nigeria, and other assorted junk e-mail). 

In talking with a LOT of coaches in the past seven days, I kept track of some of the problems they were sending me to get my help with, and some problems that I uncovered on my own.

Without embarassing the individuals that are the source for these five recruiting mistakes, I wanted to share them with you.  Hopefully, you can learn from them and correct some of these before they negatively effect your recruiting:

1. No follow-up with web recruiting form inquiries.  It was a D2 soccer coach in the Midwest, and he casually mentioned that he had no problems getting interested recruits.  It was just tough to get to all of them.  "How many recruits do you have right now?" I asked during our conference call.  "About 350," he said, adding that most of them were new and originated from kids filling out the form on his college's website (we had put together a three-part e-mail campaign for him about three months ago which worked a little too well).  Suprisingly, he had only followed-up with about 10 of them!  The lesson:  Web inquiries are the freshest, "hottest" recruiting leads you could ask for, short of someone calling you personally and asking about available scholarships.  If they take the time to fill out the form, they are serious about hearing from your school.  They need to hear back from you right away...within 48 hours, especially if it looks like they would be a serious candidate for a spot on your roster.  
2. Using mail instead of the telephone to reply.  Same coach, same scenario.  Once we established that he had more than enough interest to result in signing the six players he was looking to sign for 2008, he said that he would send them a follow-up letter in a week or two.  NOOOOO!!!!  Wrong answer, Coach.  You need to sort the group into classes of prospects (great, good, mediocre...or, A, B, C)  Then, without delay, you need to pick up the phone and call your best group.  You have hot interest from your prospect.  Don't reply back with a formal, boring, takes-too-long-to-get-there letter (which may not even get opened!).  The lesson:  Phone calls are the best option.  If you can't initiate the call, then send a short e-mail with your number listed and tell them that you are waiting for them to call you.  The point is, get talking live as soon as you can!  Mail is good for some things.  Replying immediately to an interested prospect isn't one of them.
3. The parents got ignored.  This was a D1 softball coach in the Southeastern U.S.  She has an up and coming program, but had almost an adversarial relationship with the parents of the prospects she was talking to.  Why?  "It's the parents that make the whole recruiting process harder than it should be, Dan," she said during our phone conversation.  "That may be," I replied.  "But you've read our survey of high school prospects, Coach.  You know how important parents are in the final decision an athlete makes, right?"  She agreed...reluctantly.  The lesson:  When parents get ignored during the recruiting process, you're making it twice as hard to get that prospect to sign with your program.  Not impossible, just much harder.  Not only do you need to be nice to parents, I maintain that parents need to be recruited separately from their son or daughter.  Why coaches ignore parents during recruiting, for the most part, I'll never know. 
4. The small school's inferiority complex.  A D3 in Florida has a horrible case of telling themselves "we-can't-get-good-prospects-here-because-we're-Division-III".  Maybe you're at a small school and you can relate.  Can I tell you something?  Let me be loud and clear:  SMALL SCHOOLS CAN RECRUIT HIGH CALIBER D1 TALENT.  I've seen it happen.  It's happening as you're reading this, Coach.  The key to doing it is two-fold:  First, understand how athletes make their decisions and what motivates them.  Lots of high caliber prospects would love to go to a smaller school.  Secondly, make the decision to actively recruit them.  State your case creatively and confidently.  The lesson:  Lots of athletes will take a look at what you have to offer.  Not all top-flight prospects want the pressures of a D1 athletic experience.  Be the coach that is ready to give them an alternative choice.  
5. Phone calls that don't have a purpose.  I had the chance to sit in on a conference call with a recruit that a women's basketball coach made last week.  She didn't understand why her calls didn't result in more commitments, but I understood about two minutes into her call.  They went nowhere fast.  There was no "meat" to the conversation...no good questions, nothing that applied to the athlete personally, and lots of instances where the coach said, "So what do you want to talk about?"  It was uncomfortable from start to finish!  The lesson:  You need to have a game plan for your recruiting phone calls.  We talk about that in our book, "Selling for Coaches", and the primary points we make are vital to successful phone calls: Have a plan, make it personal to the recruit, ask really good questions, and set-up the next phone call.  Create a plan of attack for each recruit.  

Yes, it was an interesting week to say the least.  The important thing to note here is that all of these coaches - and all of the coaches that I work with one-on-one around the country that I didn't use as examples - are really open to instruction.  They want to get better at recruiting, and want to understand how to do it more effectively.  It's great to coach them and help them with their recruiting.

Are there some common mistakes that you know you're making?  Are there one or two areas in your approach that need some tweaking and adjusting?  E-mail me at dan@sellingforcoaches.com.  Tell me about them, and let me see what we can do to fix the mistakes that might be hurting you in your recruiting efforts. 

Posted by Dan Tudor at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gary, a coach who is a SFC Premium Member, had e-mailed me a copy of a letter he was thinking of sending out to his list of prospects. 

But this wasn't an ordinary recruiting letter.  You see, Gary hadn't stayed in contact with many of his recruits because of some turmoil within his program: One coach was on a leave of absense, and Gary was stepping in to oversee her program.  Meanwhile, he was starting his practices and spending a lot of time with his new freshmen recruits.  Things were chaotic.  And he wanted to share that with his prospects in his latest recruiting letter.

Bad idea, in my opinion.

"Why?" he asked.  Afterall, isn't it a good thing to be transparent and open with your recruits you're trying to build a relationship with? 

The answer is two-fold.  When it comes to positives about your program and how it relates specifically to your recruit, our recruiting guides definitely recommend that coaches open-up and share details about themselves and their program, whether those details be about positive or negative events.  However, you have to first have a foundational relationship built with your prospect before you're able to share that kind of inside "family" information with them.

Here's why you want to be careful about when, why and what you share with your prospects when it comes to stuff that might be considered less than positive:

• It might give them a reason not to choose you.  Here's what I mean: Sometimes parents and athletes who are being recruited by multiple programs are looking for reasons not to choose a program.  Think of it as choosing their college by process of elimination.  Be careful not to share information that would give a prospect a reason to walk away.
• It may be too soon.  There's info that you'd feel comfortable talking about with your spouse that you wouldn't feel comfortable talking about with a new coach down the hall.  It doesn't mean that the new coach isn't a great person.  Its simply a matter of not talking about something private inside your immediate family that might be viewed negatively by someone who doesn't really know you.  In time, perhaps they will be ready to be on "the inside".  But not just yet.
• It might give them the wrong impression.  You think you're being open and transparent, which we talk about in our two recruiting guides as a positive for recruiters.  However, you have to be careful...by sharing certain news, are you leaving yourself open to misinterpretation by your prospect?  For instance, you share that the new weightroom you've been promising recruits isn't going to be built for another two years.  However, its going to be twice as big as originally planned!  Good news, right?  Maybe not.  Maybe your prospect is stuck with the idea that the new weightroom isn't being built in time for them when they come on campus...maybe they wonder whether it will be built at all...will it ever get built?  Remember, they might be getting a different message than the one you're sending.
• It can bring the conversation to a screeching stop.  Your prospect may not be able to get past the turmoil you've shared with them.  You may find yourself continuing to come back to answering the same questions over and over.  What was a nice, flowing conversation before has turned into a 40-foot high hurdle that you can't overcome.

Am I saying that you should never share intimate details about your program?  No.  What I am saying is that its extremely important to use discretion when you're thinking about sharing something that involves inside information that might be perceived as negative by your recruit, especially towards the beginning of a recruiting relationship.

If you have questions about this topic, or would like Selling for Coaches to work with you, your coaching staff, or your athletic department, please e-mail me personally at dan@sellingforcoaches.com so that we can talk about the hurdles you are facing in your quest to bring in the best recruits possible.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

BY TAYLOR BELL, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

When John Foley was being recruited out of St. Rita in 1985, he said badmouthing was the least of the evils that dozens of colleges employed to influence his decision.

Foley, USA Today's defensive player of the year, was offered $25,000 in cash, a new house for his parents, a job for his father, a car for his girlfriend and full scholarships for his friends. One school even tried to influence his father by taking advantage of his alcoholism.

''They talked more about giving me things than talking about their schools,'' Foley recalled. ''Then when they realized I was leaning to Notre Dame, they said Notre Dame was great, but there was no way I could get through there academically. No one gave me a chance.''

Later, after an injury ended his football career, he helped to recruit other athletes for Notre Dame.

''I challenged the badmouthing,'' he said. ''I'd call kids and explain that they could make it academically, just as I did, if they applied themselves and took their schoolwork seriously.''

The NCAA investigated Foley's recruiting, including allegations that some schools offered money, houses and jobs, and two major programs were penalized severely.

''The NCAA said I wouldn't get to college if I didn't cooperate with their investigation,'' Foley said.

But the NCAA never has penalized anyone for badmouthing.

In college football, badmouthing is as much a part of the recruiting process as campus visits and highlight films. Everybody does it -- at least to some extent.

Not surprisingly, it isn't a popular subject among coaches. In fact, one Big Ten head coach declined to comment for this story.

What is badmouthing? According to the dictionary, it means ''to criticize severely and persistently; to criticize or disparage, spitefully or unfairly.''

But college coaches, recruiting analysts and high school recruits offer other definitions.

''Anything is OK unless it gets real personal,'' said Dave Roberts, who coached at six colleges in 35 years. ''We were 0-11 one year. What can you say? I'd go into a home and ask, 'Who's beating us up?' If someone is bashing us, it must mean they don't have enough good things to say about their school.''

Pat Fitzgerald experienced badmouthing as a recruit coming out of Sandburg High School, and he has to deal with it as the head coach at Northwestern. It is common for rival schools to question a recruit's ability to make the grade at Northwestern academically.

''It happened to me as a player,'' Fitzgerald said. ''One school told me that I didn't fit into Northwestern academically, that I wouldn't make it because I was a good student but not Northwestern's type. 'Look at your transcript,' he told me. I scratched that school from my list.

''Today I tell kids, 'Do you want to play for someone who thinks you're not good enough to do something?' That's what I thought when that coach said I wasn't good enough academically to go to Northwestern. At first, I thought, 'Maybe he's right.' But my parents said I wasn't going to that school. Why? Because you won't play for someone who doesn't believe you are good enough, they said. I'm glad I had so much support from my parents.''

Fitzgerald doesn't think that badmouthing is as prevalent as others suggest, that most coaches focus on their schools and don't talk about other programs, that their sales pitch is subtle but not malicious.

''I think coaches use sales techniques rather than badmouthing,'' he said.

Bob Chmiel, who coached for 28 years with stops at Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan and Notre Dame, insists there was more honor in the coaching fraternity in the 1970s and 1980s, even into the 1990s. But he said it has changed considerably in the last decade -- for the worse.

''We never used to call a kid who was committed to another school if it was definite,'' Chmiel said. ''Now there are major programs that have reputations for recruiting kids who have committed to other schools. In the past, a kid's decision was honored. We moved on to another guy.

''Not today. Now kids are getting pounded by other schools even though they are committed. There is more pressure on college coaches, more money at stake. College coaches need to start exhibiting the fraternalism of the past. Some of the best recruiters of the past wouldn't badmouth another school in any way.''

Chmiel praised two of his old bosses. Michigan's Bo Schembechler once told him: ''If you have to badmouth another school, you don't know enough about Michigan.'' And Chmiel said he never, ever heard a word from Notre Dame's Lou Holtz that bordered on negativism while he was recruiting a youngster.

Recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who has observed the recruiting process for nearly 30 years, said a lot of prospects are influenced by badmouthing ''because they don't know what is going on. Some coaches are very good at it. I don't know anyone who hasn't done it.''

''They make very subtle comments, very few blatant remarks. It is a backhanded compliment, something negative about another school, maybe a rumor or just innuendo.

''Early on, it is an effective practice. Later, kids become smart and realize what is going on. A smart coach will warn a kid what a school might say about them so a kid is aware of what is going on when it happens.''

For example, a school is loaded with offensive linemen. Another coach might tell a recruit: '''Oh, they did a great job, but they have stockpiled offensive linemen in the last few years.' It sounds like a compliment, but it's a backhanded shot,'' Lemming said.

Vinny Cerrato, who was Holtz's chief recruiter at Notre Dame for nine years, Chmiel and Roberts claim the trick is to try to ''dispel the myths,'' to turn negatives in your favor by anticipating what other recruiters are saying about your program.

''Badmouthing was huge when I was at Notre Dame,'' said Cerrato, now the personnel director of the Washington Redskins. ''They would say the school has no social life, that you won't be comfortable unless you are Catholic, Holtz won't be there much longer, it was too cold for kids from the South, the campus was too small, there weren't enough minorities, academics are too tough, too many players at your position. They'd rip on Notre Dame the whole time.

''But I didn't care about other schools. I felt we were the top dog. We didn't have to rip everybody else. When I knew who was doing the badmouthing, I would prep kids on what they would say when they came in for a visit. If all they are going to do is rip Notre Dame, what does that say about their school?

''I used to go in and sell what we had to offer ... academics, job after graduation, graduation rate, chance to play big-time football on a national stage. I sold our opportunities. I didn't care about other schools.''

Roberts said he long ago learned a lesson about the recruiting process that every coach should heed.

''I was at Vanderbilt, and we were recruiting Chicago,'' he said. ''Sometimes it doesn't matter what you say. We recruited four kids for 18 months, and Notre Dame came in during the last week and signed all four. Sometimes you do everything you can and then move on. Winning takes care of everything.''

Posted by Dan Tudor at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recruiters often work themselves into a frenzy about "The Close" when they're ready to sign a prospect. The bigger the recruit, the sweatier the palms. And head coaches who ask about that upcoming "big decision" every day for a week serve only to amplify the anxiety for a lot of coaches who live or die by the recruits they sign.

Okay, so maybe I exagerated a little.  But you know there is a lot riding on your offer, and you take it seriously as a coach.  So is it OK to stress-out about the pending yes or no?

The truth about closing is that it never happens all at once. Your efforts as a college recruiter to make it happen "all at once" - to focus all the decisions into one meeting and one day - is like trying to push an elephant through the eye of a needle. You're defying nature, asking for the impossible of your teenage prospect. It's why your prospect almost invariably says… all together now (because all of you know what the prospect almost invariably says)… "I need some time to think about it, coach."

The prospect knows what you too should know. You're not asking for "a decision"; you're asking for "a set of decisions".

Your prospect has to be able to say yes to each step along the way, like we talk about in our training guides for college coaches.  Your recruit has to think through all the angles, not just the pieces and parts you presented so clearly and persuasively in your recruiting letters and information, but a lot of other issues and considerations known only to him or her. These little decisions are interdependent and many of them must happen in sequence in order for you to get the yes you're seeking. So, of course, your prospect needs "some time to think about it."

If you looked at signing your athlete as a process rather than an event, you'd have fewer sleepless nights and sweaty palms, and your prospect would need a lot less time to say yes.  Like we teach at our On-Campus Seminars in college athletic departments around the country, coaches need to set up a complete system of recruiting: The letters, the phone calls, the e-mails and the visits are all connected (at least they should be) so that you put together a complete case for why your program is the obvious best choice.  And of course, if you've read our new study on how recruits make their college decision, you know how important it is to include their parents in all the aspects of your recruiting plan.

In the business world, many of the best salespeople have relocated the proposal from the middle of the sales process to the end. Rather than gather up all the decisions to be made at once (as if that were even possible!) sales pros work shoulder to shoulder with their prospect in building the plan. They recognize that the big "Yes" they're seeking is really a string of incremental yeses. (Just think back to the last time you bought a car… was it one decision or a string of decisions, starting with "I guess I really need to replace this thing.")


Take the mystery and the risk out of the process-for your client and yourself. Turn "The Close" from a looming giant mountain into a series of no-sweat molehills. The pros sell interactively, and often get their yes before less savvy coaches get their "maybe". They spend less time working on the prospect, and more time working with the prospect. Selling your program interactively often happens fast, with frequent conversations and collaborations, some in-person, some by phone, some through email. By the time it's all on paper, the prospect has already vetted, problem-solved, and approved everything.

Your prospect really does "need time to think about it." Your job as a college coach is not to take that time away from them, but simply not to deliver your final proposal until they've put the time in and built the proposal with you.

Posted by Dan Tudor at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hi, Coach...Dan Tudor here.

A lot of you have asked me about what goes into a SFC Premium Membership...what does it include?  How is it different than the free stuff you get every Tuesday?  What's it all about???

Here's a few quick reasons I think every coach should be a SFC Premium Member:

• More great training during the week!
• More tips, techniques and strategies that you don't get in our regular newsletter.
• Free and discounted books and training not available to non-members.
• One-on-one phone consultations to help you create a winning recruiting plan.
• One-on-one phone consultations to design individual recruiting strategies for individual prospects that you're going after.
• Free teleseminars, audio and video training exclusively for Premium Members.
• It's cheap!  Only $29 per month for an individual coach, just $295 for an entire athletic department.  (Honestly now, coach...shouldn't you invest more in your college coaching career than you do in those fancy coffee drinks every day?)

We've designed a training program for coaches and athletic departments that is affordable, convenient and designed specifically for college recruiters.  Doesn't it make sense to invest $1 or less per day to improve your ability to recruit great athletes?

To find out more information, or to become a Premium Member, click here.

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

There has been a quiet shift in the recruiting landscape over the past two years. 

Have you noticed it?

For decades, and certainly up until just a few years ago, athletes and coaches played by a cordial set of rules.  Those rules had coaches present their best pitch to their prospects, the prospects would weigh the best options, and announce their decisions at the end of the recruiting cycle. 

Then the shift happened.  Coaches from all sports, at all levels, kept trying to beat the other guy by a step.  And then another step.  And another, and another.  Before long, the shift had happened.  Athletes were committing at the start of their senior year.  And then it moved to giving their verbal commitments the summer before their senior year.  Now, its not uncommon for a prospect to give their verbal commitment to a coach in their junior year...or even earlier.  One D1 program is raising eyebrows by making a verbal offer to a 14-year old basketball prospect!

Forget the ethical debate of "how young is too young" to start recruiting for college sports.  Instead, focus on the underlying reality that I think every coach should embrace: Today's prospects are looking to commit early.

There are a few reasons for this shift in thinking when it comes to a prospect committing:

• Recruiting is stressful for athletes.  Because of that, they are looking for stress-relief in the form of ending the recruiting process early.
• Prospects want security.  They know recruiting is competitive, and they are starting to put a priority on enjoying their senior year of high school knowing that their college future is secure.
• Colleges are putting pressure on athletes.  Earlier application deadlines, stiff competition for admissions, and pressure from college coaches to give their commitment early to secure their spot on the roster.

With that in mind, is it any wonder that your prospects are looking - and maybe even expecting - the opportunity to commit early to a program?  I'm not just talking about big time college football or basketball, either.  Early commitments can happen in any sport at any level - from D1 tennis to D3 softball.

Yet, many coaches aren't taking advantage of this new way of thinking on the part of their prospects.  Most coaches that I work with as SFC Premium Members are still a little hesitant to start talking to their prospects about verbally committing to their program early, especially if they aren't a football recruiter.  They feel the need to wait, go through the motions of sending out piles of mail and arranging a campus visit, on and on and on.  Meanwhile, your prospect is anxiously waiting for the chance to call someplace - maybe your place - home.

Here are a few things you need to realize if you're thinking about approaching athletes for an early commitment:

• Realize that there's nothing to lose.  If you approach your prospect about giving an early commitment to you and your program, and they say "not yet, coach", what have