How to Break a Recruiting Tie With Your Competitor
What are the ways you can help a prospect break a tie, see the advantages of your program, and win their commitment at the end of the process?
That’s what one coach, who’s a part of the Honey Badger Recruiting group, emailed and asked:
“We are in a mid-major conference. We are currently in a battle for a kid with a school in another mid-major conference.
We have offered a full ride, and they have offered a preferred walk on to our prospect. We are selling our program on the standpoint of our culture, and coming to help win championships. The other program already win championships, and they do it regularly.
Any tips on how to promote our program with this in mind? They have nicer ‘flashier’ facilities, we have great community and crowd support (but, they do too).
I’m struggling to come up with ways to negate our ‘smaller’ conference and less flashy opportunities.”
Based on that information, let me start with what I would not recommend when it comes to a move-forward strategy in this situation:
Try to convince them why your conference is better than their conference.
Focus on your offer compared to their offer. If the offer was the thing driving their decision, they probably would have already told you that you’re their choice.
Compare your great community and crowd support to their flashier facilities.
If the decision truly rests on their ‘stuff’ - the championships, the bigger conference, the flashier facilities - your’ll lose.
But is the decision really coming down to that? Unlikely. Again, if it did, you would probably get indications that it isn’t likely going to be you and your program.
So, what’s the strategy?
Have the prospect define what they’re still trying to figure out about both programs and campuses. You’re in a battle with another program, and the prospect is in a battle to figure out which situation is best for them. Your job, at this point in the process, is to lead them into a deep discussion about what they don’t know - and still need to figure out - about you, your program, and the college.
Draw a line in the sand. “If your decision is going to come down to who’s got the bigger conference, or who’s won more championships recently, then it’s an easy choice. You’ll go there. But it seems like there’s something about us that you’re drawn to…can you let me know what that is?” Their offer versus your offer. Define it for them, let them know you see the choice as the same way they likely do, and begin to uncover what they’re thinking.
Let them tell you what should happen next. “What do you want to see happen next in the process?” Simple question, powerful impact. Let them define the course. We need to know what their priority is in the process, and having them reveal that to you gives you a distinct advantage over the other program.
Notice that the strategy doesn’t involve arguing or persuading. It involves uncovering what the emotional reasons are for this prospect liking one option better than the other at this point. It’s essential that we find out, because it gives us a roadmap for what the next will be.
This is a very winnable scenario…IF it’s played correctly. Stay tuned…
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