The Logic Behind Asking More Questions in Your Recruiting Emails
It's an important component to fostering a conversation!
You send recruiting emails for two reasons, most coaches say:
To tell the prospect about our program and college.
To see if there’s interest in your program and college.
In other words, you want to get a response. Whatever you’re sending them, you want them to respond. Right?
If that’s the goal, there is 15+ years of free research at dantudor.com/blog that you can access to teach you how to write more effective messages to recruits. There are several key components.
But the one that is a big key to getting a prospect to feel like they can, and should, reply to you?
Ask them questions.
But not the typical questions you’ve been asking, like…
“So what do you want in a college?”
“Are you interested in any of our majors?”
“Do you have any questions for me?”
Those don’t get a recruit motivated to have a conversation with you, especially at the start. They know your heart’s not in it…it’s kind of like you and I asking each other, “How are you doing?” What’s our standard answer?…”fine”.
That’s not the honey badger approach to directing the conversation. Instead, the questions I’ll encourage you to ask would come at the end of your message after you’ve given them the main content you want them to take home that day. Let’s say you’ve been talking about your new locker room renovation that just got completed. You’ve sent them a link so they could see what it looks like, told them a little about it, and now you’re wrapping up the message.
Ask them to react.
“So could you see yourself making that part of your daily practice routine here at East Northern State University?”
“Is that the type of place you’d see yourself enjoying as an athlete?”
“Does that feel like something you’re trying to find in a college program?”
And then, insert an instruction:
“Reply back and let me know”
“Get back to me before the weekend and let me know how it looks to you”
“Tell me how that all sounds, and if you need me to answer anything, let me know, o.k.?”
Most of your competitors are asking the wrong questions that don’t get a good reaction. If you’re a client, and we help you develop your messaging, this is why we’re always asking questions in your messaging. If you’re putting your own messaging together, incorporate this approach. You won’t be sorry, I promise.