One of the trickiest balancing acts college coaches are asked to perform on a regular basis is effectively meeting the needs of prospects on their visit to campus, along with their parents.
Unfortunately, it’s an act that many coaches never learn how to master.
For years, when we’ve heard coaches describe their campus visit strategies to us during our On-Campus Workshops and consultations, there has been one primary question that gets asked by college recruiters: What’s the right mix of time and attention that a coaching staff should devote to both prospects and their parents?
While there’s no universal “perfect mix” we could recommend – because, of course, every prospect and parent is unique – there are two simple but important rules that any coach can use to build better campus visit experiences for their best prospects that they really, really want to impress:
- Separate the prospect and their parents. Not too soon into the campus visit, find a way to separate the prospect from their parents. The reason is simple: Each party will usually have a much more memorable visit, and coaches will get more information from both the recruit and the parents. Useable, actionable information that will help increase a coach’s chances of winning that recruit they really, really want.
- Send parents on the traditional admissions tour, and send the recruit off with some of your team. This is where I could unload mountains of data from all of our focus group surveys we’ve done with clients over the years, helping them design winning recruiting visits for their prospects. That data, largely comprised of feedback from current college athletes reflecting back on what they liked and didn’t like about their visits to college campuses, tells us something that I’ll boil down to this main point: When you separate the recruits and the parents while they are visiting your campus, they are both free to speak their mind. Parents can ask questions that they might not normally ask around their son or daughter. Recruits can relax and be themselves around their peers, instead of awkwardly deferring to those over-eager parents who gladly jump in to answer the question that you just tried to direct to their son or daughter. The long admissions tour? The parents will be much more receptive than their kids – who, by the way, would love the chance to just hang out and play xBox with your players as a way to determine whether your campus feels best to them.
The biggest point of feedback we get from recruits and parents is that they feel much more apt to ask questions that they wouldn’t otherwise be comfortable asking a coach, admissions counselor, or financial aid officer. That’s important: One of the main goals any coach should have when they bring an athlete onto campus is to make sure they leave after the visit feeling like you were the school, coach and program that wanted them the most. THAT’S what they’re looking for in a visit, and that’s what they’ll remember once they’re home.
Yes, there are many potential twists and turns any smart college coach could implement into those two basic rules. The possibilities are almost endless, depending upon the needs and personality of the recruit coming to their campus.
However, these two rules are big keys to a good foundation from which to build a solid recruiting visit.
Want more specific strategies for great campus recruiting visits? We’ve written a special guide for college coaches who want to super-charge their campus recruiting visits, and it should be a part of your coaching library. Click here to order any of our recruiting resources, Coach.