by Gray Dorsett, ARI Recruiting
The final component of Recruit Scoring is Interest Scoring. Interest scoring uses a rubric of interactions and values to understand the ‘warmth’ of the recruit, acting like a type of ‘recruiting thermometer’. With this in place, it is easy to recognize the difference between a ‘hot’ recruit and a ‘cold’ recruit. One calls you every week and the other barely responds to an email. There is a mile between these types however and this is where Interest Scoring is most useful. It is surprising easy to create an Interest Scoring rubric and once in place it is a recruit thermometer, telling you how ‘warm’ a recruit really is.
Creating a Rubric
Our Interest Scoring rubric will be used to evaluate the interactions between coaches and the athlete so naturally it will judge two different sides: Coach Actions & Athlete Responses. Provided is a sample rubric that is used within ARI to automatically score actions.
Coach Actions: The 10 Day Rule
In the recruiting game its important to always stay top-of-mind. Coaches must communicate with recruits frequently when recruiting so the athlete always has that coach on their mind. Just like how brands compete for shelf space in a supermarket, coaches are competing against each other for a place in a recruit’s memory.
Here at ARI we operate under the 10 Day Rule. Some sort of communication or interaction should be had with a recruit every 10 day in order to stay relevant in the recruit’s mind. Frequency is so important that ARI software even notifies coaches when they go this long without contacting a recruit.
Coach Actions: Quality Communication
Frequency is all about quantity of communication, but quality matters just as much. Every communication method is unique and carries a different weight. An email and hand written letter might have the same words, but say very different things. Same for a phone call versus an in-person conversation. This is where we use the rubric to give each action a different weight. For example an in-person conversation is a 6 while a call is a 4.
Recruit Actions: Look for the Signals
Finally, the last component to take into account is the recruit’s actions. These are the signals they give off that they are interested in your and like what you are saying. Some of the quickest signals are the text backs, email replies and picking up when you call. These are reactions to the coach’s behavior and show they are interested enough to match the effort that was put forth.
The greatest signals of interest are when they initiate the communication themselves and take-action on their own. A phone conversation can mean very different things depending on who called whom.
How to Use the Rubric
Attached is a sample rubric that can be used to manually track athlete interest over the course of the recruiting period. Use this rubric to track interactions to generate an Interest Score to judge which athletes are most responsive and interested in your program.
There are also tools available that have Lead Scoring built-in along with a more sophisticated evaluation system. For example, ARI Software generates Interest Scores automatically by syncing to your emails and tracking conversations. Other business tools such as Salesforce include similar functionality.
Click the link below to download your own free template to use in designing your own measuring tool for your prospects’ interest in your program:
Recruit Interest Scoring Template
Thank you for following along with our series on Recruit Scoring! There are many different ways to go about Recruit Scoring, but what matters is to create a system that you are consistent with.
If you have any questions or thoughts please drop me a line at gray@arirecruiting.com. I would love to hear from you and am always happy to help any coach way I can!
Gray Dorsett is one of the co-founders of Advanced Recruiting Intelligence (ARI), a next-generation software for college coaches to not only track their conversations with recruits, but also measure their interest in their programs using proprietary tools. For a free demo to see how it works, and why so many coaches are switching to this new way of monitoring their prospects’ path through the recruiting process, click here!