25 Ideas for Questions to Ask the First Time You Contact Your New Recruits

"But what do I say the first time I talk to new prospects, Dan??" Try these:

We laid out the four areas of focus for any first contact strategy in one of our previous posts, so I wanted to dive into one of the questions we always get from coaches as they look ahead to connecting with a new group of recruits (and beat their competition in the process):

“How do I ask some original questions and get them to see me as different from all the other coaches right away?”

First of all, there are no right or wrong questions to ask. This isn’t about coming up with a magic formula, or some kind of trick language that hypnotizes a new recruit into wanting to commit to you right from the start. Rather, it’s about asking the types of questions that most other coaches aren’t asking.

We wanted to come up with some unexpected, intriguing, deep and creative approaches to add to your existing talking points that you may already use and like.

See how these sound, Coach.

***Note: Obviously, you’re not the only one reading this. Several thousand coaches will be. So, you might want to switch these up a little, or use them as a basis for coming up with your own questions. That said, even if you asked them word for word, only about 10% of us changes a habit or action that we’re used to - even if we see something else that sounds more effective. So, these may work just fine as is.

10 Unexpected and Intriguing First Contact Questions

1. “If we made your athletic story into a Netflix series, what would the title of episode one be?”

2. “Let’s say you just <scored the game winner/broke your personal best time/struck out the last batter/etc>. What’s the song playing as the credits roll in your head?”

3. “What’s one thing about your sport that you’ve always felt no one understands unless they play it too?”

4. “If I gave you a billboard in Times Square to advertise yourself as a recruit, and 8 words to do it in, what would it say? What’s the one big think that would define you if you were a brand?”

5. “Do you compete with more fire when someone cheers for you… or doubts you? Why?”

6. “What’s something non-sports-related you’re secretly really, really good at?”

7. “When you picture yourself in college, what do you see that version of you feeling like? Not ‘look’ like - feel like.”

8. “What’s the weirdest pre-competition/game/meet ritual or superstition you do (or have seen someone else do)?”

9. “If your sport disappeared tomorrow, what would you compete in athletically instead?”

10. “Who’s one athlete - past or present - you’d want to trade brains with for a week?”

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8 Questions That Are Deep - and Disarming

11. “What’s something most college coaches haven’t asked you about that they should if they wanted to get to know you better?”

12. “When was the last time you surprised yourself in a good way?”