by Dan Christensen, Tudor Collegiate Strategies
Ever have a recruit that stops responding?
Whether you only had some introductory conversations or had built a good relationship with the recruit, this situation is always frustrating.
You often get to the point where you just want them to say they’re not interested so you can move on.
What I don’t want you to do is give up. Some of the best recruiters will win the recruits that everyone else gave up on. Always keep them on the list unless they tell you “no” or you no longer need them.
But, what can you do to help this situation? Try these two things:
1) Connect with the parents
Hopefully, you have taken our advice to communicate with your recruit’s parents early on in the process. One benefit to that relationship is to help you navigate a lack of communication on the recruit’s end.
If you haven’t heard from their son or daughter recently, reach out to mom or dad and ask them why that is. You can be straightforward with them and ask, “I haven’t heard from your child in a while. I am not sure if that is because you are no longer considering our school. But, I wanted to check in with you guys because I am still very serious about recruiting your athlete.”
If you’ve established a relationship early on with those parents, they’ll probably get you some good feedback. Hopefully, they’ll just tell you that something came up and they can then encourage the recruit to re-engage with you. But, maybe they’ll break the news to you that their child is no longer considering you.
Would it have been nice for the recruit to tell you? Of course. But, as a recruiter, you need to do everything you can to seek out the “no” just as much as you seek out the “yes.” If you had waited for the recruit to tell you that, you may have waited for weeks or months. Asking the parents got that same response but sooner.
2) Pay attention to your subject lines
If they’re not responding to the story you’re telling them, don’t stop telling it. Your consistency will increase the likelihood that recruit re-engages with you.
But, in the meantime, make sure your email subject lines are effective. If it is a recruit you have had very little communication with, they might not even be noticing your emails. It might be because the emails get buried in their inbox or that they just blend in with the other recruiting messages that recruit is receiving.
If you want them to start clicking and opening your recruiting emails, it starts with a strong subject line.
First, what would be considered a weak subject line?
School Name – Sport.
Recruits get so many emails with that subject line that they all blend together.
Instead, you need to get their attention. Have a subject line that does at least one of the following:
- Clue them in to an interesting aspect of what the email is about (We Have Chipotle on Campus!)
- Hint at something that will make them curious (Why you’ll crush it in college)
- Give a call to action (We need to talk soon, reply back?)
- Personally address them (Johnny, I have something for you)
If your subject lines are not working, try something else. Track the changes in open and response rates to evaluate what subject lines work best for you.
A creative subject line might be just what you need to get that unresponsive recruit back in the mix!
Our team of experts helps college programs create and manage outgoing messaging to recruits. We focus on increased response rates and making sure recruits remember what a coach is telling them! Want to see how it all works? Click here.