Your Prospect's College Decision: Escapism or Convenience? Or Both?

How we 'buy' and make decisions in those situations is a well-studied science. Coaches need to understand it all when crafting their recruiting approach...

Consumers - and your college prospects - tend to make buying decisions based on two criteria that we all use to value something we’re considering buying during a shopping experience:

Escapism, and convenience.

It usually comes down to those two doors that your prospect is deciding between during the recruiting process - which, let’s be clear, is shopping…not for a physical product, but for a long imagined experience as the result of reaching an athletic goal. And, it usually comes down to those two things when we decide to go on a last minute vacation. And, yes, it usually comes down to those two things when your prospect is comparing your opportunity versus a competing coach’s opportunity.

Two quick examples of what I’m talking about (before we lay out some strategies for approaching your prospects differently moving forward):

Convenience is one of the primary ways we decide on a product or service, like many of your prospects do. For example, people in the early days of Uber people were using the new service concept even when they technically couldn’t afford it, but they valued saving six minutes. I use it when traveling and visiting campuses and our clients, as does the rest of our staff. Sometimes that means I’ll pay $30 for a fifteen minute ride to the airport. That’s actually a pretty expensive ride, but it’s more convenient in a lot of situations compared to renting a car, so I’ll use it. Tens of millions of people do the same every single week. It’s convenient, so we’ll use it.

And then sometimes, we choose escapism as our driver for making a decision. For instance, the number one consumed commodity sold during the great depression was make up. In the four years from 1929 to 1933, industrial production in the United States halved, but sales of cosmetics rose dramatically. This phenomenon, often referred to as the "lipstick effect," suggests that women at that time would spend a little more on affordable luxuries like makeup to boost their spirits during times of economic hardship. In this example, makeup could be a form of affordable ‘escapism’, or a way to maintain a sense of normalcy, during difficult times.

You have prospects using both psychological approaches to make decisions when it comes to which school, coach, scholarship or NIL deal to choose. In other words, their decision isn’t based all that much in logic most of the time. It’s based in emotion, not based on how old your school is, your conference title in 2005, or where you earned your master’s degree. As we’ve pointed out for decades now, they decide with their hearts, and then try to justify with their heads.

With all this in mind, here’s how you’re going to need to adjust your recruiting approach (if you want to account for this fact of buying decisions):

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Ideally, aim for both.

Escapism and convenience, combined together, are the magic formula in recruiting just like it is in the non-college sports world. DoorDash is an example of both: You can order whatever you’re in the mood for, from your favorite restaurant, without leaving your house. Starbuck, as well…you have a consistency of expectations around the country no matter where you are, you absorb the music and get to escape the real world and whatever is going on in your day for a few minutes, and if you want to order ahead or use the drive thru, its there for your convenience.

“But Dan, I can’t list anything on our campus that would fall under either category.”

You’re not thinking creatively enough, Coach…

For example, if you’re at a college without a pre-defined stellar reputation and it’s a