Most coaches understand what an amazing feat it actually is when they can establish a good, ongoing dialog with a prospect.
It’s not easy: You start with dozens, if not hundreds, of prospects at the start of the process. And you work to establish some kind of communication with as many as possible, and soon find that the vast majority aren’t going to take your opportunity all that seriously.
So for the prospects who make it through those many different filters, and take the time to actually engage with you by phone, text or email, it becomes critical for coaches to foster that opportunity by leading the conversation – not just ‘having’ a conversation.
The first is action-oriented, the later is passive. Too many coaches, in our work with different programs around the country, stay satisfied with just hearing from a prospect, and spending time talking or text back and forth. “Contact”, of any kind, seems to check a box on the to-do list for most coaches, and I’m sure their thinking is “it’s personal contact, they’re getting to know me, and they’re showing interest by taking my call.”
But as many coaches are slowly discovering, settling for what I just described isn’t getting the job done. In our adult world, time spent communicating with each other yields new information, a deeper understanding of what we’re communicating, and good back and forth interaction. With many of today’s teens? Trying to communicate with them gets you two word answers and politically correct answers.
So, here’s my advice:
- Have a specific reason for your call, text or email.
- Never ever ever just “check in” with them.
- Keep your calls to 10-minutes or less IF you are the one doing most of the talking.
- Find ways to keep the conversation going.
And it’s that last point that I feel is becoming the most important aspect of communication for a coach during the communication process: Find ways to keep your prospects talking, and – more importantly – revealing information.
Like I said, today’s teens tend to hold back and wait. They don’t reveal. They don’t continue giving the coaches who are recruiting them feedback, new thoughts, objections, or new questions.
Unless you purposefully continue to draw out information in your conversations, you’ll struggle in your recruiting. Here are three simple ways to start that process, and begin to draw out critical information from your recruits that will allow you to recruit them more effectively, as well as get to know their true motivations and questions as they go through the process:
- Ask them, “And then what?” We find that today’s recruit will offer little nuggets of information out to coaches, but then stop short of fully outlining everything they may have on their mind. So, especially when they offer up insights involving their decision making process, or timeline related details, try asking “and then what?” Prompt them to reveal what would come after what they first mentioned. In a sense, you are giving them permission to continue talking. Without that, they tend to say the bare minimum, and then stop.
- Look for the logical follow-up question. I’ve often made the point that when you are recruiting, college coaches should think of themselves as late night talk show hosts. Your job, as host, is to get your guest to reveal interesting information and stories about themselves. That’s true in recruiting, too. So, always be thinking of what the logical follow-up question to what your prospect just said. Get them to keep talking. And, as they go deeper into the details, pay attention: They usually don’t reveal the really good stuff until late into the topic.
- Get the parents to confirm. Hopefully, you’re fully engaged in conversations with the parents of your recruits as you read this. If you want to get added detail to what you’re hearing from your recruit, confirm what you just heard with your prospects’ parents. The easiest and most professional way to do that is by sharing something that your prospect told you (his or her timeline, objection, question) and ask the parents if they have the same question or opinion. Often times, you’ll find that they don’t. And that’s important, because discovering that your recruit and his or her parents aren’t on the same page means you need to uncover which side is going to win out, and whether or not you have the power to help everyone come to an agreement.
Your recruiting conversations are important, but even more so is your ability to draw out that conversation, get them to reveal details that they are hiding, and then be thinking strategically as to what your next step should be with that prospect.