Ever been to a restaurant where you’ve asked your waiter or waitress for a recommendation?
Think about why you’re doing that: Is it because you just absolutely have no idea what to order? Or, is it because you see that the restaurant is a great place for a meal, and you want to know what they think is good because they’ve had a chance to experience the place on a long term basis?
If you’re like me, it’s the second example.
Full disclosure: As the dad of three – the youngest of whom is just turning four next week – most of my restaurant theme choices involve something with a clown, a mouse, or a small Roman pizza take-out character named Caesar…so my analogy may not be the most credible to prove my point).
Why do we seek out a recommendation at a restaurant? We’re looking for reassurance that we’ve chosen the right place to get a great meal, and we’re looking for someone else to help us make our decision.
In short, we’re seeking some confidence from someone we deem as credible as we attempt to make a smart choice.
The same driving forces behind that scenario are at play with your prospect. And, how you as a coach react to their requests can play a major role in what they think of you and your program, and whether or not they choose to view you as a serious candidate.
At the core, your prospects are looking for this from you: Confidence.
They don’t have it yet as someone who is just getting to know you and your program. And, just like a patron entering a new restaurant, they are looking for a “recommendation”. They are looking for confidence. They need your confidence. For many recruits, we find that it is one of the key links in the recruiting process - especially if your program isn’t starting-out as one of their early favorites.
The reason they need confidence from you is fairly simple. At the start of a recruiting relationship, your confidence may be the thing that helps separate you from the competition. Or, it may be the thing that keeps you in the running. Your prospect needs a reason to move to the next step of the relationship. Time and time again, we’ve seen our clients be able to keep prospects engaged by showing confidence and enthusiasm in their emails, letters and in-person interactions.
Confidence can come in several different forms:
- With recruiting letters and emails, recruits may see confidence in your consistency and long-term commitment to keeping in touch with them. Seriously, we’ve talked to lots of athletes on college campuses during our workshops that tell us they ended up choosing a university based on the fact that a coach didn’t give up on them, and was the most consistent in terms of keeping in touch with them. They saw confidence in that coach who didn’t give up on them, and equated their commitment to a confidence in their program and school.
- With your recruiting phone calls, confidence is largely a tone in your voice. We’re finding that your recruits aren’t paying as much attention to the content of your early recruiting calls as much as they are your approach, your tone, and your pace. Are you stumbling around, not really sure of what you want to talk about and where the conversation is going? Or, are you to the point, engaged, and smiling while you talk (did you know that researchers have found that we are subconsciously drawn to people who are smiling, even when we only hear their voice and can’t see them smile?). All of these seeminly small thing underscore your confidence on the phone.
- With their visits to your campus, the need for demonstrated confidence is greatest. Your prospect is most likely nervous and searching for things that make you different from the other schools that they have already visited. You need to demonstrate confidence, as their coach, by speaking positively and being excited about your campus - even the parts that you’ve seen and talked about 257 times before. You and your current athletes need to talk about when the athlete plays for you, not if they play for you. It’s those repeated little moments of confident assurance that adds up in the mind of your recruit.
The examples I’ve given are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many unique examples of perfect confidence-boosting acts and statements based on your circumstance and your personality, they are too numerous to mention.
What you need to do as a college recruiter is make sure that you identify as many instances when you can have the chance to demonstrate the fact that you are confident in yourself and your program, and that your prospect should share that confidence too.
This is the ideal time of year to look into becoming a client of Tudor Collegiate Strategies through the Total Recruiting Solution program. For an overview of what the program does and how it works, click here. Or, contact Dan Tudor directly for a one-on-one assessment of how it would work for your program by emailing him at dan@sellingforcoaches.com.
