by Dan Christensen, Tudor Collegiate Strategies
Coach, you are a storyteller.
If you have followed the content that Dan Tudor and the team at Tudor Collegiate Strategies put out week after week, you are probably aware that your recruiting message is a story.
This story is one that you tell your recruits, their families, and their coaches. It is a story that explains to these people the reasons why that recruit should choose your school for their college athletic career.
Your goal as a recruiter should be to tell the most compelling story possible. One that is going to help you attract the best student-athletes that are also the right fit for your program. Finding the right fit is so important. Which leads to the first foundational aspect of telling a compelling recruiting story:
1) Uniqueness
Think about some of the greatest movies you have seen. Or some of your favorite books of all time. Were they great because they were very similar to a lot of other movies or books?
I doubt it! Being a “favorite” means that story stood out amongst all the other stories you have heard.
So, what does that mean for your recruiting story? It cannot be the same story that everyone else is telling.
Your recruits are going to choose their favorite college based on the story they are told. This involves your brand and reputation but also the communication you provide throughout the recruiting process. This story needs to be told creatively and highlight what makes your school and your program different and unique.
If you try to be like everyone else and try to be a fit for everyone, your story will not be unique and it will be really hard for recruits differentiate you from other colleges!
2) Consistency
Have you ever been watching a movie on a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu and it freezes? There is some kind of buffering icon that comes up and you’re not sure when the movie will start back up again. Maybe it happens multiple times throughout the movie. Frustrating right?
This is how your recruits feel when your recruiting story is told inconsistently. You might start off strong, reaching out once a week for the first month or two. Then something comes up or you run out of things to say and there is a three-week gap in communication. Your recruits feel like your movie just froze. Even if it has been a good movie, it starts to get really hard to stay interested when the buffering happens over and over again.
So, what do your recruits do? They lose interest and go find another movie to watch.
Consistency matters. A lot!
But in order to be consistent, there needs to be a plan and intentionality behind the story you tell. Without it, your recruits will drop off and start paying more attention to your competition’s story. And we do not want that!