by Megan Cooke Carcagno, Tudor Collegiate Strategies
Imagine this. You walk to your mailbox, open the little door, and find three pieces of mail waiting for you. One is a coupon mailer. It’s glossy and full of pictures with bright colors. The next is a slim white envelope, clearly a bill. It’s thin, crisp and cleanly designed. The last piece is a personalized, handwritten letter. You can see the postage is slightly askew. The address and name have distinct handwriting. It feels thick and mysterious.
Which one will you open up first?
I want you to think about your first impressions with a recruit in the same light. Sure, the mailer is bright and screaming for attention, but it lacks personalization. In fact, you know another will come along tomorrow so you feel no harm in casually tossing it away.
You’ll open the bill but not without any excitement or eagerness. It’s personalized, but offers no real connection and demands more than it gives. Knowing exactly what’s inside and almost dreading to read it causes it to sit on the counter for an extra day or two.
But the note…the note is intriguing. It’s taken time and is clearly with the intent of being a point of connection, not just a vehicle of information.
So what have we learned?
How we make a first impression matters. We want to ensure it does more than simply parlay information. Rather, it becomes the starting point of a relationship.That is the key to getting response rate up and connecting with the recruit more than your competitors.
Here are five ways to make your first contact email feel like that letter.
- Personalize it. Use names, school names, events, positions and times to make it connect to the recipient.
- Tell the recruit why they are receiving this communication. What is it about this player that made you reach out in the first place? Be unique and authentic.
- Avoid the “kitchen sink” email. Sending something that they can find online and flooding the moment with every single fact, attribute and link does not convince the recruit why your school is the best. It just makes you sound like everyone else. This is the “mailer” of emails.
- After explaining why you’re recruiting them, get to the point. What do you want to see happen next? What do you want the recruit to do with this information? What steps or actions need to happen for the next point of communication? Be in charge.
- Make it shorter. Yes, you heard me. Eliminate paragraphs and get it as concise as you can stand. The goal isn’t to give everything. Rather, this is the first step and it’s important to not hog the mic.
Want to clean up your first email or get some pointers on what’s working (or not) with your emails? Join Megan next week, Wednesday at 12:30p EST to work on your First Contact Email. Print them out and have them handy. We’ll break down the science, help you avoid the pitfalls, and get you organized.