Here’s my world: I help a small college beat a large college for a prospect, and then I help a large college beat a small one. Day after day.
Don’t get me wrong, I love doing it, as does my staff here at Selling for Coaches. But it is a bit odd sometimes, coming up with winning strategies for each type of school. However, each type of school can make a case as to why they would be the best for a particular prospect. I was reminded of that recently when I read about the coffee wars "brewing" in Washington (I’ve waited a long time to use that pun).
In this story, Starbucks plays the role of the big college program. They’re the king of the coffee grinds around the country. if the coffee world had a BCS champion, Starbucks would be repeat winners, year after year.
And then you have Dunkin Donuts, playing the role of the small college program. They’re launching
an all-out assault on the big boys. McDonalds is too, because they’ve entered the coffee battles as a small upstart program. That’s their billboard they put up in Seattle, just down the road from Starbucks’ headquarters, taunting them about the price of their coffee.
This story has two story lines, and two sides. And, it has a lot of good lessons for both sides in the college recruiting battles. First, here’s how our big college program (Starbucks) is responding to their smaller competition, courtesy of this article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
"We get a lot of questions on the competition and that everyone seems to be picking on Starbucks through their advertising and try to reposition Starbucks as expensive or snobby, and, boy, when is Starbucks going to start advertising and join in that coffee conversation?" Starbucks Chief Marketing Officer Terry Davenport told investors a few weeks ago in New York.
"We’re not going to get into that conversation. We’re not going to get sucked into the, ‘My coffee is better than your coffee,’ price point type of coffee conversation. We’re going to play at a much higher level."
See what they did? They didn’t even engage in the conversation. And that’s my advice for a large college program that finds themselves having to battle a smaller college for recruits:
- Remain "above the fray".
- Stress the fact that your size gives prospects a distinct advantage over smaller schools, and back it up with specifics.
- Question whether it would be smart to go with a smaller unknown vs. the proven big program.
- The less you engage in the battle with a smaller competitor, the more you can get them to re-focus your prospect back on your reasons for coming to your school.
So, what if you are the smaller college program going up against that big program? Don’t worry…the coffee wars in Washington offer some great strategies for you as well:
"We see ourselves as trying to enter a new category and steal as much of the breakfast and coffee share as we can garner," said Kelly Hoyman, Northwest region marketing director for McDonald’s.
The fact that "four bucks" sort of rhymes with "Starbucks" is not on purpose, said John Livengood, executive creative director at DDB Seattle, McDonald’s advertising agency.
"The idea is, in a billboard, you got three or four seconds to capture people’s attention," he said. "You’re trying to be as short and sweet and as pithy as possible."
If you’re a small college program, here are the lessons you can learn from the coffee wars:
- Don’t be afraid to take on the big programs for good prospects. There are going to be prospects that will respond to your message, and choose you over them (trust me…I’ve seen it happen with our clients. It CAN be done!)
- Keep your message original and easy to understand.
- Don’t be afraid to poke fun at your larger competitors, and get your prospects to look at the downside of opting for the big program versus your program.
- Highlight the advantages of being small instead of apologizing for it.
- Go for as much of the "market share" (i.e., good prospects) as you can.
Each side has a strategy to win over the recruit. In the end, it comes down to who has established a more trusted relationship with the prospect. However, knowing what your strategy is going in – and how to get them to pay more attention to you than the other guys – is essential to laying the foundation for winning the battle for recruits.
And coffee.
Ready for better recruiting success in 2009? Here are two ideas for coaches who want to get the edge over their competition: Bring SFC to campus to work one-on-one with you. Or, let SFC produce and manage your recruiting letters and emails through our Total Recruiting Solution plan. Each one is proven to increase your odds for signing better recruits than you did last year.
