by Dan Christensen, Tudor Collegiate Strategies
The fall is a time packed with campus visits. That visit is such an important part of the prospect’s college decision. And rightly so, coaches spend a lot of time making sure that visit goes well.
But, the visit is most often not the end of the recruiting process. So, what should be done after your recruit and their family have left campus?
That time is critical and so the questions you ask that recruit are very important. Here are two you can use to help keep moving the process forward.
1) Now that you have visited our campus, what do you want to see happen next?
Instead of wondering what they may still be looking for, ask!
There are a variety of responses they could give you to this question. But, essentially they will either have something they want to see happen next or not.
If they have some unanswered questions, you’ve opened the door for them to ask them. If they have some objections, now is the chance for them to bring them up so you can try to overcome them.
If they don’t have anything they want to see happen next, your follow up should be asking if they feel ready to commit. If there is nothing else to see, they just might be ready to make that commitment.
Sure, there is a possibility that they don’t want to see anything else happen because they have decided not to choose you.
But, at least you having this conversation by asking the original question gets you that answer. Otherwise, who knows how long it would have taken them to let you know.
2) What did your parents like about the visit?
We often discuss using the parents to get feedback about the athlete. But, what the parents think is super important to that final decision.
So, let’s ask! What did they think? What were some parts of the visit that sold mom or dad? That will be helpful to know next time you communicate with those parents.
And your follow up to the prospect’s response can be to see if the recruit liked those parts of the visit as well.
Ultimately, you are always looking to get more helpful feedback as the recruiter. Use these two questions to get that information in this critical time period, post-visit.
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