Fall Campus Visits Might Be Crazy if you Don’t Do This Now
Mar 28, 2022
Hi Coach,
We all know coaching and recruiting brings about many highs and lows, but when an unexpected hit comes, it can leave us wondering what we should be doing, how we can survive, and if there are ways to perhaps even thrive during this time.
I’ve been watching to see what will unfold for college coaches and universities around the country. While things are uncertain for the time being, they will likely pick up again, and when they do, you will likely get very busy. Many recruits will be needing to visit campus in a short amount of time, so prepare for the flood gates to open by doing these things right now. Let’s dive into proactive things that you can be doing as a
SEEK COMMUNITY. Whenever seasons of unknown hit, it’s easy to feel alone, overwhelmed, and isolated. It’s important to find safe spaces to connect, vent, ask questions, and plan. Find an online community of other coaches to connect with, whether it’s forming a Slack group with people you already know, joining a Facebook group of like-minded people, or creating a weekly connection Zoom meeting with other coaches. I just created a new group called the Productive Coach and Recruiter. I’d love it if you would join so we can continue our conversations there.
Refine and hone your skills. If you have time to brush up on your knowledge or expertise with online learning, now is a great time.
Reach out to recruits to provide information, education, and insight. They have a lot of questions, try to answer them and position yourself as an expert in your sport.
Educate parents and your recruits’ coaches on your “product”. By product I mean what you have to offer in terms of academics, team culture, graduation rates, how you will train them, etc. When you share this with them, it will help to change opinions and perceptions of what your school or program is really about, which is especially helpful if you are not the best in each area.
Use this time to create resources (images, pictures, good questions, emails, phone call talking points) about what you have to offer to help recruits, their parents and coaches imagine themselves being at your school when things open back up.
Create the structure and systems necessary for you to be able to manage the workload for when it gets busy again. What can you prepare for now?
Update or create workflows to help you deliver exceptional campus visits. What can you create a “standard operating procedure” around?
Work on the recruit experience: guide to visiting campus checklist, email templates, delivery methods to create streamlined and epic experiences for each and every recruit when they come to campus.
Work on your email or conversation sequence for after they come to campus for a visit. What happens if they don’t commit right away? Refine this to make the after visit process leading up to a commitment run smoothly.
Publish content on your social media platforms that will be helpful for your ideal recruits in this season of uncertainty of whether or not they will be able to come and visit. What questions do they have? What are they googling? Create that and publish.
Take time to run your data and numbers. Which topics of conversations with your recruits are your biggest needle movers? Push those. Which ones are big objections? How could you do a better job overcoming them? Information is power.
If I know one thing, it’s that coaches are the most resilient human beings I know. While this crisis affects every single one of us, I believe in the grit and tenacity that comes with humans who are wildly passionate about what they do and who they serve.
I don’t have a crystal ball but I do cling tightly to a belief that things WILL turn around and when they do, coaches will likely be crazy busy and in high-demand to fulfill the needs of recruits and their parents that have been anxiously waiting to get to campus so they can make a decision.
It’s challenging to know how and where we should be spending our time but I want to encourage you to spend what you can building out systems that will support you when things pick up again and you find yourself in the busyness of being a college coach and recruiter.
The best way to increase your value in this downtime is by improving: improve your systems, improve your skill, improve your strategies… focus on ways you can tangibly improve and better yourself.
I know this is hard, I know we had no warning, I know it feels impossible. You are not alone, I’m cheering you on every step of the way.
You are in my heart and mind, you are who I think of when I create. The world needs what you have to offer. Continue the fight, continue the work that you’ve started, and continue to hold fast to the faith that you won’t just survive but that you will someday soon THRIVE.
Again, if you want to be around a like-minded community of coaches who are looking for greater efficiency, less stress, more time and proven tools and strategies to get better recruiting results, consider joining The Productive Coach and Recruiter.
If you want my help setting up your on-campus visit systems or anything else I mentioned in the checklist, consider joining Recruiting Made Simple, or email me at [email protected] and we can talk over other ways that I can help.
If you want more ideas for how to work productively from home, follow my video tips on twitter, facebook, or instagram.
Stay safe and healthy!
Mandy Green
