A Simple But Effective Strategy to Approach Your Prospect's FAFSA Delay Objection
Waiting on prospects who are waiting on their FAFSA numbers? Try this:
One of the most frustrating aspects of this current recruiting year is the 2023-2024 FAFSA restructuring, and the associated delay in giving your prospects their final numbers as they wait to choose a college. And their coach, and their next team.
I mean, that’s always been the story with your recruits: They want all the details possible as they and their families try and make sense of the money part of the college decision. That’s not unreasonable at all, as we’d all agree.
But at the end of the day, you’re looking for good prospects to make a commitment to be great future student-athletes in your program.
So what if there was a way to gently move your prospect out of their analysis paralysis?
And, what if that strategy actually circumvented the need for ‘waiting on the FAFSA’ that is the safe space right now for some of your better prospects?
I got a lot of questions about that after one of our recent training articles that got a lot of views, “The Decision Delay: What Are the Signs, and What Can Coaches Do In Response?” - mainly because it didn’t address the FAFSA-specific money objection lots and lots of coaches are dealing with right now. So in response to that, I want to outline a very effective and proven strategy that we’ve been recommending to our clients - and at the end of this article, I’ll show you proof that it’s working.
Step One: Ask for a Verbal Commitment
Remember, even though your prospect (and his or her parents) want financial details so they know exactly how much it’s going to cost at the end of the day, they are also anxious to find a home and have the recruiting process done. You remember how it felt as you had your choices narrowed and were close to making a final decision, right? You were anxious, wanted to call a campus home, and see the recruiting process over and done with.
The only power you have, aside from having the coding skills necessary to hack into the FAFSA system and get your prospect a final answer, is this:
Prove that you want them.
And the most effective way to do that, according to our focus group research, is to ask them to commit.
Here’s what to include in the language you create for your prospect who you want to see move past their FAFSA delay:
Let them know that you feel for what they’re going through, and that you know it’s creating a tough hurdle as they try to figure out what they should do.
Create the context of needing them to help you figure out what to do when it comes to what you have to do as a coach building a program and a recruiting class.
Suggest that if they’re feeling ready, you want to know if they would verbally commit.
Step Two: Add in Two Important Safety Guarantees
Technically I would tell you these are optional, but I highly recommend them if you want to close the loop and have your prospect feel a little less stressed about taking this step with you and your program:
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