by Dan Christensen, Tudor Collegiate Strategies
Well, the first tip here, implied by the title is that your recruit’s parents need to be hearing from you!
Over and over again, the research done here at Tudor Collegiate Strategies shows how important the parents are in your recruit’s decision-making. Parents talk about their opinions of schools, they help recruits narrow down their choices, and they assist their child in things like planning visits and filling out forms.
If nine out of every ten recruits you have say that their parents have the biggest outside influence on their decision, why wouldn’t you want to take the opportunity to sway that influence?
But, what exactly do the parents want to hear from you in order to shape their opinion of you as a coach as well as the school you coach at? Here are two things they need to be hearing from you:
1) What is their return on investment?
One of the first things that parents want to know about in order to continue considering a school for their child is cost. In big part because many of the parents are the ones footing the bill!
If they pay tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to your institution, what is the return they get from it? A stronger athlete? A smarter and more mature person? Networking opportunities? A high paying job?
These are all things you need to be talking about with mom and dad. Otherwise, why should they dump a bunch of their hard-earned money at your school when they don’t think it is worth it?
This is not just limited to money. Even if your recruit is being offered a full ride, what is the return on their investment into the hours that prospect will spend on your team and on your campus? What about the return on wearing your school’s sweatshirt in front of their friends and family back home?
Your recruit’s parents have a huge influence on their decision. Whether you talk about this or not. Would you rather the determination of return on investment be in the hands of the random places mom and dad get that info or would you rather be the one to explain it to them? I hope you choose the latter!
2) Why their child?
Parents think the world of their kids. They probably think they are a little smarter and little more athletic than they really are in a college coach’s eye. They think their kid is special!
Do you think they are special too?
Parents want to hear it. And why.
If they are going to be entrusting their child’s college education and college athletic career in the hands of a coach, they want to know that coach believes in their child.
Talk about why you are recruiting their son or daughter. What about them athletically gets you excited about them potentially being on your team? What about their personality? What do you think makes them special and valuable as a person?
If you can show mom and dad that you, amongst all the coaches that are recruiting their child, think the most of their athlete, that is going to put you closer to the top of their list. If you don’t do this, it is going to be really hard for mom and dad to make a case for you when their child asks for their opinion of you and your program!