An Easy Way to Ease Into the Parent Recruiting Relationship
Your calling your recruit anyway. Just add this step...
There is plenty of evidence that recruiting communication with parents works when it comes to building a relationship with all the decision makers in a family, and speeding up the recruiting process overall.
But what’s the best - and easiest - way to actually get that process started?
I’ll make my case for doing it during your first (or one of the first) phone calls with the recruit.
It’s not complicated:
Make the first call as you normally would. Don’t change anything (but if you want our advice on what what to talk about based on what the recruits say they’d like to hear, read this - it could help a lot!)
As you end the call, add an extra step:
Ask your prospect, “Hey before I hang up, I’d love to say hi to your mom or dad if they’re around. Do they have a minute?”
Simple as that. If the parents are around, you’ll get them on the phone, and now you’ll be able to talk to them. It’s proven to be the easiest way to ease your way into a conversational ice-breaker with the parents, which is the foundational move you’ll want to make if you aim to build a long term relationship during the recruiting process with that family.
So…what do you talk about with them?
Again, not complicated, Coach:
Talk to them about the same things you’d talk to the prospect about. Too simple, right? Nope, it works really well. Tell them what you liked about their son when you watched him at that tournament, or what jumped out about their daughter when you saw her stats on the recruiting service you got her information from…anything that you’d talk about with the prospect, talk about with the parents. Simple? Yes. Effective? Incredibly.
Tell them that you really want them involved with the process. You may not, but they’d love to hear that you do. It opens a LOT of doors in the process for you that other competitors may not earn the right to go through. I’ve seen it make the difference at the end. Voice this simple message to them, and watch how it sets you apart.
Talk to them about what should happen next. Tired of seeing the process lag? Frustrated that you can’t get a prospect on the same timeline as you and your program? Tell the parent what the plan is. Tell them what you’d want to see happen next, and let them help make it happen (they’ll do a much better job of that than your teenage prospect, in most cases!)
On the first call, or soon thereafter, talk to them about money. They all want to find out more about it, but are a little hesitant to bring it up. Tell them what the possibilities are. You will so distinguish yourself from other more timid and seemingly elusive coaches that you’re competing with it’ll blow your mind. (We did a podcast on this topic that might be really helpful if you want to dive in deeper on this one).
Ask them, “What questions do you have for me at this point?” I don’t understand why every coach doesn’t ask this, but most don’t (then again, most college coaches don’t talk to parents in the first place, which is why we’re talking about this whole topic!). When you ask that simple question, you may be on the phone for another 20-30 minutes, but you’ll get them to reveal a lot about what’s driving their family’s decision, and - most importantly - give them a feeling right from the start that their opinion matters to you.
Here’s what your little bit of extra work will get you:
Another voice in the process to talk to and assess when it comes to whether or not that athlete is trending towards you or away from you.
An ally in the effort to schedule a campus visit, or get paperwork like their application processed faster.
Asking the same follow-up questions you’d ask prospects, and getting more detailed answers.
Gaining an understanding of what objections the parents might have that could be holding-up the process from moving forward.
You’ll be giving your recruit the feeling that you value their parents and are sharing information with them so they can help that prospect make his or her final decision.
You’ll be giving the parents the feeling that you value their son or daughter enough to invite them as the parents into the process - something that most coaches don’t get around to doing until very late in the process (if at all).
Easy peezy, Coach. But you’re the only one that can execute it. Soak in the proven formula, and give it a try.