The Pitch Perfect Pitch
Some highlights of a talk I just gave to a group of coaches. I think it'll help the way you approach your next prospect.
For the second year in a row, I got the chance to speak to the coaches who are a part of the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association. It’s an emerging sport, and I’m honored they’ve asked us to help establish their sport in the college universe…it’s a group of young coaches who are really serious about building their programs, but need to learn the foundational principles of recruiting. That’s our job (a good thing, because I can’t really even do a somersault anymore, much less anything acrobatic).
The talk they wanted me to give was centered around the idea of building out a ‘perfect pitch’ to recruits. Like I told them at the start of my talk, that started to remind me of the 2012 movie, Pitch Perfect. I had two teenage daughters at the time, and this was one of their favorite movies…and I have to say, as a dad who has sat through a lot of mediocre kid/teenage movies over my lifetime, this one was actually pretty good.
So, I based my talk, The Pitch Perfect Pitch, around the movie.
I tell you all that because I wanted to share three important points (complete with screen shots from three of my Pitch Perfect themed slides) from the talk that I think would help you. Much of it was specific to this group of coaches, and their unique needs, but there are a few core points that I think would be good for you to keep in mind as you start-up new communication with a group of new recruits:
I made the point that the reason I included this as the number one thing to incorporate into your ‘pitch’ was because if you don’t set timelines and deadlines with your recruiting class at the start of the process, you’re likely to end up with the same expression on your face as she has. Why? Because without those things defined, you’re going to be continually more and more frustrated in recruiting.
They need to play by your rules, coach. But in order for them to do that, they have to know what the rules are. Otherwise, they’ll make them up as they go along (which leads to the expression on your face that’ll be the same as hers).
How do you do it? Here’s the mini-deep dive to take if you want to learn:
Timelines, Deadlines, and the Nuance of the Recruiting Process
A Step-by-Step Guide for Coaches on Setting Timelines & Deadlines
Don’t puff up your school and make it seem too good to be true, Coach. That seldom syncs up with reality - and your prospects are looking for those kind of things as they go through the process.
Here are the mistakes to avoid:
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