Look, if you are going to pull off a memorable home visit, you have to keep it simple.
Why?
Because none of us like the experience of a stranger coming into our house, sitting down with us across the table, and trying to sell us something. Whether it’s a pyramid marketing scheme, a set of steak knives, or an alarm system, we automatically resist the act of being sold something as it’s happening.
Guess what, coach: you’re selling something.
So, to prevent the risk of appearing to be just another sales person trying to convince them to do something that they’re not sure they want to do yet, take a different approach… Make this about you being open, transparent, and truthful simply by structuring your visit in a way that exudes that vibe.
But we find works best, as a general rule, is to take the first half of the visit and ask the athlete and his or her family about their process and timeline for making a decision, along with questions about how they are assessing and comparing the different programs, coaches, and colleges that they are looking at. In other words, ask them questions about their decision making process.
As you near the second half of the visit, tell them, “I really appreciate you answering all of my questions, and I really now want to give you time to ask me questions. So for the next half hour or so, spend time asking me every question that you would want to ask about my program, my coaching style, or the University… I’m an open book, and I really want you to get every question answered so we can all figure out what’s the next step in the process should be.”
Then, let them ask questions.
Here’s the twist: as you answer their questions, you have full permission to sell yourself, your program, or your school. And you do so in answering their question.
So for example, if one of their questions relates to the quality of the business degree that your college offers, as a part of your answer you can sell the degree program in the overall academic quality at the school. As you do, your “sales pitch“ to your prospect is going to feel a lot more natural and conversational, and really not a sales pitch at all, as they see it; Rather, you’re just giving them information that they asked about.
Rather, you’re just giving them information that they asked about.
We take in information from others in a much different way when we are asking for that information, compared to when we are presented with the information that we didn’t ask for.
See the difference?
As you answer questions in the second half of the visit, focus on ways that you can weave the selling points of everything you offer as a part of your answers. It’s much more natural, and it has been giving coaches a much better response from families that now feel like you were having a conversation with them, rather than selling them a set of steak knives.
The last step of the visit is to ask them, “so based on everything we talked about tonight, what would you want to see as the next step in the process?”
That’s important, because it lets you know what the next “to do” item is on their list, and you have a very natural way of continuing the momentum you’ve gained by doing an effective home visit.
What I just described is, of course, the general structure that will work for your visit. There maybe other things that you would need to add or take away, based on specifics with that athlete or your programs situation, but in general that is a very good reliable way to conduct a home visit.
Less selling, more interactive questioning, no formal presentations, no cheesy sales pitches. Just you having a conversation with the retreat that you want on their home field, letting them get the feeling that you were genuinely interested in them and their family is not just an athletic prospect, but as a person and a student.
Try that format on your next visit! I predict you were really going to like the results.