| Dan Tudor

May 14th, 2012

Irrational Recruiting Decisions Made by Recruits (and College Coaches)

It’s the thing that drives recruiters absolutely crazy when it comes to understanding how teenage athletes make their final decisions.

Most of the time, they make irrational final decisions.

This past year it seems like I’ve seen more examples than ever of that in our ongoing work with college coaches. Here are some of the constants I see in this generation of recruits when it comes to how they are choosing the school that they would describe as “the right fit” for them:

They are deciding based upon their emotions. That includes both male and female prospects, Coach. How they feel – and how their parents feel – about you and your program seem to consistently seem outweigh the logic and facts behind your program.

They aren’t taking a long term view of their college experience. Make no mistake, they start thinking about it right after they make their decision (hence all the de-commits and second looks) but as they are making their final decision (the first one, anyway) they are, in large part, considering what feels right at that very moment. I’ve said it many times before: They choose with their hearts, and justify that decision with their head.

They are conscious of the highs and lows in recruiting. If you skip talking to them for a few weeks, expect them to be looking elsewhere for options. If you’re consistently talking to them? You earn big points. And so it goes…up and down, over the course of recruiting. And they are remembering who is giving them those highs (and lows) and factoring that in to their final decision.

They are relying on others to help them make their decisions. Primarily their parents, followed closely by their high school and club coaches. Our research shows that they will often go against what their own gut is telling them and side with these highly influencial outside decision makers. It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what is happening.

They will often turn to irrelevant statistics to justify their actions. You’ve seen it before: You hit it off with the prospect, mom and dad love you, she’s a perfect fit for your program, but then at then end she chooses the school that finished two spots ahead of you in the U.S. News rankings for their major. Will those extra two spots on the list make her happier in the long run? Of course not. But right now, it makes her feel like she made a smarter decision.

We could add more to that list, of course. Or we could end it here and just agree that this generation is a tough one to recruit, and resign ourselves to just rolling the dice and hoping to get lucky every few years with a great recruiting class.

That’s not the smart approach, though. Yet that’s the attitude of many college coaches: They lament the problem after correctly identifying it, and then don’t do anything to change their prospect’s irrational outlook despite knowing that they are taking that approach. In other words, I see coaches reacting to their prospects’ irrational behavior during the recruiting process with their own irrational behavior.

Am I suggesting you fight irrational behavior with your own version of irrational behavior? Yes. I’m giving you permission to attract this next class or recruits using techniques that will help prompt your recruits to stop in their tracks and snap out of their irrational decision making process. See if any of these ideas might work for your recruits:

Make your case with more passion than the other guy. If your prospects are using emotion to make their decision, we’ve seen plenty of cases where the coach who shows the same kind of passion and emotion connects the best with that athlete. And the last time I checked, passion isn’t a budget related item that your competitor has more of (unless you let them).
Challenge them: Tell them that they are going about all this the completely wrong way. Once you have their attention, make your case that they need to reconsider how they’re deciding on a program. Get them to take a second look. Compel them to continue the conversation with you…but start it off by contending that they are doing it wrong right now. Get their attention!
Ask them, “Is that the smart way to do it?” Maybe the answer is yes. Or maybe it isn’t. Asking that question and actually getting them to think about everything in a new light is one of the most productive challenges you can issue during the recruiting process.
Counter their illogical views with logical facts. Again, the theme here is “do the opposite”. It worked for George Costanza, it can work for you (if you aren’t a “Seinfeld” fan, that won’t mean much too you). If they are all about the feelings, and you can’t seem to connect with them, stop them in their tracks with facts that go against their emotions.
Always include the parents and coaches. Clue them in on what you’re talking to the prospect about, and why it’s important that your point of view should be seriously considered.
Exude a confidence – even if you’re not feeling like you have any! – that tells them they’d be CRAZY not to choose you. No explanation needed, Coach. The only thing I’ll tell you is that your prospect and their family are looking at you closely, and trying to figure out if you really believe what you’re selling.

Don’t fret about a prospect acting irrationally, Coach. Develop a strategy around it to ensure that they’ll pick you and your program!

We’re beginning our planning sessions with new clients for this next recruiting class. Want to talk to us about working one-on-one with you and your staff to develop a rock-solid recruiting plan? Contact Dan Tudor directly at dan@dantudor.com so we can set up a time to discuss how we do it, and why it works.

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May 7th, 2012

Cementing Your Prospect Relationship Using This Tested Technique

There’s a great deal of psychology that the professional business world uses daily in their interactions with their prospects and clients. As a college sports recruiter, you can (and should) use the same kind of techniques to solidify your relationship with your athletic prospects.

One such technique is what I call the “stay the course” technique. Here’s a sampling of how it works, using an actual study that was conducted to back up my ideas to you today.

When most people (your prospects included, coach) decide on a course of action, they have a very strong desire to stay with that course. Frequently, this desire is so powerful that they will refuse to alter their chosen path … even when there is overwhelming evidence that it is unwise.

There are several reasons for this. For one thing, there’s the simple power of ego. Nobody likes to feel like they made a bad decision. Perhaps more important is that nobody likes a “flip-flopper.” A classic example from the world of politics would be a candidate who “flip-flopped” on positions and, therefore, couldn’t be trusted. There have been numerous instances over the past decade where the allegation alone were enough to derail the political aspirations of many politicians. As a society, we don’t like people who appear to not keep their commitments.

Once a person chooses a certain position, their desire to be consistent will compel them to behave as promised.

An interesting study illustrated this universal human tendency. A “beachgoer” (an accomplice to the study) would stroll onto the sand and choose a spot near a target subject. The “beachgoer” would then spend about five minutes spreading out his blanket and setting up with suntan lotion and a small portable radio. Just another person enjoying a day at the beach. He would then stand up and walk away, without saying anything to the target.

Shortly after the “beachgoer” left, a second accomplice would approach the unguarded blanket and make a move to steal the radio. Only five percent of the time would the target make any effort to confront the “thief” or do anything to try and prevent what appeared to be a crime.

Now … here’s the interesting part of the study: With a second group of targets, instead of simply walking away from his blanket, the “beachgoer” asked them to keep an eye on his things. And the results were drastically different. Ninety-five percent of the time, these targets aggressively attempted to prevent the “thief” from stealing the “beachgoer’s” radio.

What made the difference?

Like the first group, this second group of targets didn’t know the “beachgoer.” The only communication they had with him was that single verbal exchange when he asked them to watch his things.

But because these subjects had agreed to do something, they aggressively stayed the course … despite the fact that it was not in their best interests. In fact, it put them in the potentially dangerous position of confronting a brazen thief in order to protect the low-value property of a stranger they’d only spoken with for one moment.

Understanding this tendency of people to follow a consistent course of action can help you persuade them to act in a way you want them to act – whether you want to get your boss to assign you to a particular project or get your child to do better in school. Or, get your recruit to commit to your program.

One of the things that we constantly hear from college coaches who read our two foundational recruiting guides is that they now understand how their prospects feel makes them most likely to commit to a particular program or a coach. How they feel about the coach, how they feel about the players on the team, and how they feel about the thought of playing for you as a coach.

There are three steps to making this technique work, Coach:

1. Make a statement of fact that your prospect can agree with. (“Playing for us here really improves your odds of being able to start as a freshman.”)

2. Link a conclusion to this statement of fact. (“In order to make sure that happens, we need to make sure you’re one of our early commitment prospects so that we can stop recruiting other athletes that play your position.”)

3. Obtain a commitment from your prospect based on that conclusion. (“So, you’ll get that application paperwork I sent you last week turned-in early and start planning your college career here at our university right away?”)

It’s easy, it works, and it begins to get your prospect thinking about a permanent athlete-coach relationship with you and your program.

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April 23rd, 2012

The Newest Cool Tool for Advanced College Recruiters

by Sean Devlin, Front Rush

Are you looking for a better way to show off your school’s facilities to recruits?

We found a really cool app that can help.

There is a new app out on the iPhone and iPad called TourWrist (tourwrist.com) that allows you to take full panoramic pictures of, well, anything and share them via email, on the web, facebook, twitter, or other social media sharing websites (or even your school’s website!) All that you do is download the app (free) and follow the directions. Its as simple as spinning in a circle and taking a couple of pictures. After a few minor adjustments, your combined panoramic picture is uploaded to the web and available to be shared.

Here is a quick example of our office…
http://frontrush.com/web/landing/assortment/front_rush_office.html

So take the above example and apply it to your facilities. Do you have a great soccer stadium? TourWrist it. Your locker rooms just re-done? TourWrist it. Great engineering building? TourWrist it.

The social implications are cool too. All of the pictures that you take can be embedded directly into Facebook or shared via Twitter. By the time this article is released we will probably do the exact same thing and share our office picture on our social networks.

Sean Devlin, the technical genius behind the Front Rush recruiting management system, is one of the featured speakers at the upcoming National Collegiate Recruiting Conference. He’ll have more to share at this must-attend event…don’t miss it! Click here to register.

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April 23rd, 2012

The Facts You Need to Know About Follow-Up Recruiting Phone Calls

Telephone Phone calls to recruits don’t rank very high on most coaches’ list of things to do.

So, what about follow-up phone calls? Even harder, for most recruiters. It’s a challenge to work through the first phone call effectively, but what in the world do you talk about on phone call number two, three or ten??? It’s not an easy subject to tackle.

So, what’s a perplexed coach to do? I know what you want to do. You want to pick up the phone and make another follow-up call to that prospect who’s taking just a little too long to call you back with their decision, or the prospect that is slow in even showing interest in your program.

So, since many of you are facing the challenge of making effective follow-up phone calls on a fairly regular basis, I wanted to give you six tips for making great follow-up calls to your recruits.

Get a Commitment for the Follow-up
Perhaps the single biggest mistake coaches make is not establishing a specific date and time for the follow-up call at the end of their previous visit. Vague commitments from prospects (“call me next week”) or recruiters (“I’ll send the paperwork you need and follow-up in a couple of days”) result in missed calls, voice mail messages and ultimately a longer recruiting cycle. All you need to do is ask for a follow-up date and time. Try something like this, Coach:

“I’ll be glad to that information about our business program pulled together so I can mail it to you. And what I love to suggest is that we set up Tuesday, the 19th, maybe around 8:45 to review it in detail and determine the next steps if any. How does that sound?”

If you’ve had us on campus to work with your athletic department, you have learned all about why asking how something “sounds” is vital to moving the process forward. For right now, just trust me…ask “how does that sound?” instead of something like “what do you think?”

Back to your call…if this is not a good time, recommend another time. If that doesn’t work, get them to establish a time and date. Creating a deadline is a simple but extremely powerful tactic. Use it.

Build “Call Equity” and Be Remembered
After every first call to a prospect, send a thank-you card. Handwrite a message that simply says, “John, thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. I look forward to catching-up with you further on the 16th! Keep up the good work.” No more, no less.

In today’s fast paced world, a handwritten card tells your prospect that you took the time and the effort to do something a little different. This registers in your recruit’s mind and creates a degree of “equity” in you. It differentiates you and is remembered. And, it gives your teenage prospect a reason to be there when you make your follow-up call. If you want the details behind this line of thinking, you should read our special report that goes inside the mind of your college prospect…it’s fascinating, and will tell you all about what your prospects think about handwritten notes and letters.

If you don’t think a card will get there in time, send an email with the same note. Just be aware that an email does not have nearly the same impact as a handwritten note.

Email a Reminder and an Agenda

The day before your follow-up call, email your prospect to remind him or her of your appointment. In the subject line, enter the words: “Telephone appointment for March 19th and article that I wanted to send you.” Note that the subject line acts as a reminder but it is vague enough that the prospect will probably open it. There is a hint that maybe the date and time has changed.

Your email should confirm the date and time of the appointment and then briefly list your agenda:

“John, the call should only take about 10 or 15 minutes. We’ll review what we talked about last time and I’ll answer any questions. And then we’ll determine what you see as the next step, if any.”

Notice how the words echo those used when the follow-up was initially set. In particular, notice the trigger phrase “. . .what you see as the next step.” The “if any” helps reduce some of the stress or concern your prospects or their parents might have. Often they skip the follow-up call because they are worried that they’ll be pressured to make a commitment. This is natural. If prospects sense an easy, informal, “no pressure” type of phone call, they are more likely to show up and be on time for that call.

Add Value in a P.S.
Notice the reference to an article in your email’s subject line. At the end of your email, add a P.S. that says, “John, in the meantime, here’s an article I thought you might enjoy regarding. . .”

The article may be about your your team, a big win, an interesting story about a recruiting issue of interest, or something completely non-sports related that might show a little bit of your fun side. This creates tremendous value even if your recruit does not open it. Why? Because you took the time to do something extra. This helps you be remembered and gives the prospect yet another reason to take your follow-up call.

Of course, this means you have to do some homework. Keep an eye out on the web for articles of interest and value relative to your sport or the topic of recruiting. You might even keep a file of these articles because they can be used over and over again with future recruits.

Call On Time
Don’t start your relationship on the wrong foot. Call on time. Never, ever be late with your follow-up call. Not even by a minute. The promptness and respect you show on a follow-up call reflects on you, your program and your college.

By the way, you know who notices late calls the most? The parents. And you don’t want to get your relationship with them off on the wrong foot, do you?

Avoid Opening Statement Blunders
So many coaches stumble and fall by using these routine follow-up opening statements:

“I was calling to follow-up on the paperwork…”
“I am just calling to see if you had any questions…”
“I just wanted to make sure you got my email…”
“The reason for my follow-up was to see if you had come to decision…”

These opening statements are not only poor; they are commonplace and do nothing to differentiate you. You are perceived as yet another run of the mill coach looking for a “sale”. You need a little more pizzazz, don’t you think? Think of ways to differentiate yourself and give your prospect a real reason to sit up and pay attention to your follow-up call.

Here’s the key to follow-up calls: Have something original to say, and know when to say it. It’s a bit of an art form, to be honest, and the best way to become an expert at it is to practice, practice, practice.

Got prospects to follow-up with? Try some of these proven principles and use some of these tips to get a better response.

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April 23rd, 2012

2012 National Collegiate Recruiting Conference – Speaker Schedule

If you’re planning on joining us for the 2012 National Collegiate Recruiting Conference in Boston, June 1-3, 2012, you’re in for a spectacular array of recruiting experts and panelists.

If you don’t have your reservations set, you need to hurry to secure your seat. Click here for all the information.

Here is the schedule for the 2012 NCRC:

FRIDAY

3:30 P.M. Welcome Reception

4:00 P.M. Kick-Off Roundtable Discussion - Hosted by Dan Tudor, Tudor Collegiate Strategies

5:00 P.M. Rick Chandler – “Untie Your Sailboat” This life-coach for young adults, business professionals and students drives how the point that we were all meant to live at maximum capacity. This is a message you’ll want to give to your team once you return to your campus, and take Rick’s message to heart to make sure 2012-2013 is everything it can be for you as a college coach.

6:00 P.M. Paul Biancardi, ESPN Recruiting Analyst Our featured guest on Friday night is Paul Biancardi, long time college basketball coach and nationally recognized basketball recruiting expert for ESPN. Paul will talk about his observations about how today’s college coaches recruits, how kids are making their decisions, and what kinds of lessons can be learned from recruiting at the highest level of college sports. Paul will also have a Q&A session at the end of his discussion.

7:00 P.M. Dr. Adam Naylor, Boston University / Telos Sports Psychology Coaching – “The Coach’s Reality, The Player’s Reality, and the REAL Reality” Think you know what’s really on your players’ minds? Not so fast, Coach. This session will focus on the latest psychological research from one of the premier experts in the field. Dr. Naylor has over a decade of experience coaching athletes and coaches on the mental game of sport. His clients include US Open competitors, NCAA champions, Olympians, Stanley Cup champions, and UFC martial artists. He is also aclinical assistant professor at Boston University, and lectures and publishes both nationally and internationally.

8:00 P.M. John Brubaker, “Why the Successful Succeed” Longtime college lacrosse coach John Brubaker has taken his expertise in forming great college teams to the business world, and is one of the rising national stars in business performance coaching. John will end our evening with a straight-forward, inspiring speech for every recruiter who is wanting to be successful in their coaching and recruiting career.

SATURDAY

8:00 A.M. Dr. Thom Park, “Recruiting: Then and Now” Dr. Thom Park’s coaching and recruiting career spans several decades. which included a stint as one of the most successful Division I football recruiters in the history of the sport, as well as a Division I athletic director. He has a fascinating perspective as a recruiter, and is one of the most knowledgeable experts on the topic and the history of the art of recruiting. This is an individual every college coach should have the opportunity to meet in their coaching career!

9:00 A.M. Charlie Adams, “Parents, the Recruiting Process, and Finding the Right Fit” Charlie is the parent of a college athlete, and a nationally recognized speaker who helps lead athletes through the recruiting process. As the author of an upcoming book on the role of parents in the recruiting process, Charlie’s insights will be invaluable to college recruiters who want to address the needs of parents in 2012-2013.

10:00 A.M. Rick Chandler, “The College Coaches’ Most Overlooked Recruiting Tool” Want a strategy to present seven key ideas to the parents of your recruits that will resonate with them and set you apart from your competition? Rick Chandler will give you the details on his approach to connecting with parents and prospects.

11:00 A.M. Dan Tudor – “The 7 Deadly Recruiting Sins (and How to Avoid Them)” There are seven big mistakes that coaches tend to make as they get ready to recruit a new class. Nationally recognized recruiting expert Dan Tudor will take you through the list, and gives you ideas on how to adjust your approach heading into 2012-2013.

12:oo Noon Lunch – Presented by NCSA Athletic Recruiting Enjoy a wonderful lunch, courtesy of National Collegiate Recruiting Association. A focus group research discussion will be a part of this 90 minute break, which will be followed by a 30 minute break.

2:00 P.M. Sean Devlin, Front Rush One of the NCRC’s most popular speakers, Sean Devlin – the technical genius behind Front Rush – will present the latest technilogical changes that college coaches will face in 2012-2013, and give strategies for out-performing your competition in the coming year.

3:00 P.M. Dr. Thom Park, “Why Coaches Need Contracts” Dr. Park returns for an important session for every coach, young and old. As an advisor to college athletic directors and departments – and as a former athletic director himself – he’ll explain why every coach should look for opportunities to build their coaching careers through contracts. This is advice every coach needs to know as they build their college coaching career.

4:00 P.M. Adam Martel, “D1 Recruiting on a D3 Budget” Back by popular demand, Coach Adam Martel is back to present his session on how coaches at a small college can out-recruit their large college counterparts. Coach Martel, a former D1 volleyball coach, is now the head coach at a D3 school. Can you really recruit at a high level at a small school? Coach Martel says “yes!”, and will share his inspirational how-to story to coaches who want to follow his model.

5:00 P.M. John Brubaker, “Finding Work/Life Balance in College Coaching” We end day one with a powerful message from Coach John Brubaker, who challenges coaches to find a balance between the work they need to do as a coach, and the role they need to play as a vital part of their family. It’s one of the toughest challenges a college coach faces in the 24/7 world of college coaching and recruiting.

SUNDAY

8:00 A.M. Mandy Green, “Organizing Your Coach and Recruiting Life” Mandy Green is a Division I college soccer coach and a frequent contributor to College Recruiting Weekly. She is also the author of a new college coach organizational guide, as well as a daily calendar for college recruiters. Coach Green will present the outline for how coaches can become ultra-organized, and how she uses the system to get incredible recruiting results – with time left over to be a wife and new mom!

9:00 A.M. Matt Boyles, Recruiting Researcher – Matt has produced a cutting-edge mathematical system for determining how many recruits you need to target in a particular class based on the number of athletes that end up staying on your squad. The implications can be huge; college coaches are constantly trying to figure out how many prospects is the “right” number to target and devote time and resources to. Now, there may just be a mathematical equation to help you determine that magic number.

10:00 A.M. Roundtable Discussion: Part One Lead by the conference host Dan Tudor, this will be a wide ranging discussion of recruiting issues raised at the conference, with ideas on solutions being shared by workshop leaders and your fellow coaches. This is one of the highlights of every conference!

11:00 A.M. Roundtable Discussion: Part Two We put plans on paper and help our attendees come up with a game plan for making the 2012-2013 recruiting class their best ever, using the information they attained at the conference as their guide. A fantastic way to end the 2012 NCRC!

12:00 Noon END OF CONFERENCE Not registered to attend yet? Click here so you don’t miss it!

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April 16th, 2012

5 Ways to Make Your Recruiting Surplus Scarce

Sounds contradictory, right?

How do you have a “scarce” surplus?

Marketing guru and best selling author Seth Godin outlines a great example that many of us who are old enough to remember rotary dial telephones and having to get up to turn the knob on the television when we wanted to change the channel:

When I was a kid at summer camp, a letter was as precious as gold (or perhaps candy). If you got five letters in a week, you were rich. Most of the time, we stood by the mailroom, plaintively waiting to see if there was some sort of message from the outside world–only to walk away disappointed.

Back home, missing a TV show was out of the question. If you didn’t see this episode of Mannix or Batman, it was likely you’d never get a chance, ever again.

Information, entertainment and communication was scarce way back when I was a kid walking in the snow uphill both ways to school everyday. It was scarce. And, therefore, quite valuable.

Today, scarcity has been replaced by surplus. Godin observes:

A new generation, one that grew up with a data surplus, is coming along. To this generation, it’s no big deal to miss a tweet or ten, to delete a blog from your reader or to not return a text or even a voice mail. The new standard for a vacation email is, “When I get back, I’m going to delete all the email in my box, so if it’s important, please re-send it next week.”

This is what always happens when something goes from scarce to surplus. First we bathe in it, then we waste it.

So the trick, then, is to turn the tables on this generation. Most coaches who skip past this article, or who are convinced that just overwhelming a recruit with “more” is the key to earning the relationship, are going to add to the surplus of information that a recruit is subjected to…information that routinely sounds the same as the other coaches’ communication, with the same sales message that this generation has long since learned to ignore.

“Surplus”, by the way, doesn’t necessarily refer to the number of emails or letters that you send. True, you can go overboard and completely bury a prospect in so much messaging that he or she will simply choose to ignore it. But I am also speaking of the type of messaging that is in surplus today…long, information-heavy letters and emails that jumps too quickly to selling a program instead of building a relationship. That’s the kind of surplus no coach should aim to accumulate.

What is scarce in the world of recruiting messaging? Here are five of the ten most common opportunity areas, in no particular order of importance, that we’ve identified for our clients heading into this next recruiting cycle:

It’s rare to find a coach who makes a claim about their program, and then backs it up with facts. Most coaches have the “facts” part down cold, without a doubt. What we find missing is coaches that will make a bold claim, and then back up that headline with interesting facts that they can personalize to the recruit.
It’s rare to find a coach that will connect the dots in a line of reasoning and give their prospects an answer to their primary question, “What’s In It for Me?” For some of you who have had us walk you through this aspect of your recruit’s needs during the recruiting process, you know that this question should be front and center in your mind as you communicate with your prospect. As you plan your recruiting strategy for the class that you are currently messaging, here’s the big question: Do you clearly tell them what’s in it for them personally at your school if they choose to compete for you? If the answer is anything but a resounding “yes!” then go back and re-work the wording in your recruiting letters and emails.
It’s rare to find a coach who uses Facebook and Twitter for anything more than just another place to post results and news releases. The greatest revolution in communication – social media websites – have been turned into another avenue to post statistics and news. And, your recruits don’t like it. Most of us use social media to interact and deepen relationships with those that are close to us, so are you surprised when you don’t get a lot of traction on your team’s Facebook site from the prospects you’re wanting to engage? You shouldn’t be. They aren’t there to read results, they are there to interact with you and get a behind the scenes look at what your program is really like. Instead of posting your next set of results, hand a Flip cam to some of your team and tell them to do a two food review of the fast food place you’re eating at on the road after the game. I promise you’ll get more interaction from that sloppy, unedited video of your recruit’s future teammates than you will be telling them which of your graduating Seniors just made second team all-conference.
It’s rare for a coach to explain why a prospect should pay their own way and come for an unofficial visit to campus. Our research is showing that most prospects will make an investment in time and money to a campus that isn’t their dream school only if there is a clear and personalized reason that they should do it. Start off your invitation with the words, “I really want you to come here on an unofficial visit because I want to…” and then tell them what you have in store for them: Meet the team to figure out if you like them, let you talk to your business school Dean one-on-one, or sit down face to face with the recruit and their parents to walk them through the offer you want to make them. They need a reason to come, Coach. Gone are the days (for the most part) when families awash in disposable cash from their third home equity line of credit would jet across the country to see if a particular campus was to their liking; today, you need to give them a tangible reason with a pretty solid potential pay-off. That’s very, very rare these days.
Ask for the sale. (You knew that was coming, didn’t you?) More and more coaches are amazed at how this simple idea gets results, but the vast majority still balk at the idea of making a strong plea like this earlier than they are used to doing. Here’s a compromise: Ask for a “soft commitment” from your prospect that will tell you whether or not the time might be right to ask them to come play for you. Click here for an outline of the idea.

I firmly believe that we are entering an age when recruiting messaging will be harder and harder to break through all of the noise that bombards today’s teenage athlete, both from other coaches as well as mass media advertising. If you are a coach who is settling for being a part of the surplus, your challenges will continue to grow as the years go by.

The alternative? Become a program who’s message is impossible to ignore. To achieve that means taking some risks, sitting down and mapping-out a better plan, and quite possibly taking your letters and emails currently being used and starting completely over.

It’s more work, but being “scarce” will have it’s rewards. Trust me.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a magical place that crammed all of the very best recruiting ideas into your head in one fast-paced weekend? A place where you got to listen to other coaches, athletic directors, marketing experts, organizational pros and Dan? That recruiting nirvana exists: The National Collegiate Recruiting Conference! It’s coming up soon and you can find out more – and register to reserve your seat – by clicking here. Don’t miss it!

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Dan Tudor

Irrational Recruiting Decisions Made by Recruits (and College Coaches)

Cementing Your Prospect Relationship Using This Tested Technique

The Newest Cool Tool for Advanced College Recruiters

The Facts You Need to Know About Follow-Up Recruiting Phone Calls

2012 National Collegiate Recruiting Conference – Speaker Schedule

5 Ways to Make Your Recruiting Surplus Scarce

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Dan Tudor

Irrational Recruiting Decisions Made by Recruits (and College Coaches)

Cementing Your Prospect Relationship Using This Tested Technique

The Newest Cool Tool for Advanced College Recruiters

The Facts You Need to Know About Follow-Up Recruiting Phone Calls

2012 National Collegiate Recruiting Conference – Speaker Schedule

5 Ways to Make Your Recruiting Surplus Scarce

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