3 Mistakes You're Making With Your Recruiting Environment
by Rodger Motiska, Winning Recruits
We hear a lot these days about creating halls of fame and transforming athletic facilities into “recruiting facilities,” after all it is the business we’re all in. With all this talk though, what we typically see are facilities that may look great after their “transformation,” but only have a marginal effect on the school’s recruiting efforts. Heck, our early efforts were pretty much the same thing.
Why? Because the focus is on decorating to make an "impression" and not on creating an experience that influences a recruit’s decision.
Here are the mistakes we see being made when it comes to creating environments that have a positive impact on a school’s recruiting efforts:
1. Looking at making facility improvements as "keeping up with the Joneses" instead of looking at how to give themselves a competitive recruiting advantage. Virginia Tech's All Sport Museum project is a great example of an athletic department going the extra mile to create something unique and memorable for the athletes they are recruiting.
2. Seeing the improvements as a one-time expense rather than making a long-term investment in their recruiting program.
3. Not understanding the difference between "decorating" and creating a recruiting experience. N.C.
State's Finley Hall of Champions (pictured here at the right) is an example of doing something dramatic that creates an unbelievable recruiting experience for the prospects that visit the campus.
What’s the difference? It’s the difference between a sleepy old history museum that has rows upon rows of artifact displays versus a dynamic “hands-on” interactive science center where the displays are engaging and focused on educating an individual about complex scientific principles. One is a display the other is an experience. Which do you think makes a more memorable impact?
Most people don’t think of utilizing their environments as a medium for communication, they concentrate on what the facilities look like rather than what they say about you. Your athletic facilities should be an extension of your recruiting message. Your facility enhancements should be used to set the stage for your recruiting efforts during an on-campus visit, creating a “selling environment” to persuade a recruit that your program is the best fit for them.
Consider the following:
- Why can Starbucks sell a $1.25 cup of coffee for $4.50? Because of the value that a customer gets for the experience – the opportunity to “get-away-from-it-all,” if only for the time that it takes to drink a cup of coffee.
- When a guy plans to asks his special girl to marry him, he usually plans to “pop the question” in a romantic setting. Why? Because the environment is more persuasive (and more memorable.)
These examples demonstrate the fact that an environment has an impact on your ability to sell. Making improvements to your facilities for the sake of “looking good” or keeping up with the competition isn’t going to have the same impact as creating an experience that helps sell your recruiting message.
“Change” is the biggest factor in creating a successful recruiting environment. By focusing on communication rather than decorating, you can create an experience that helps you connect with a recruit and makes a lasting impression.
Or, are you just going to "be like the Joneses"?