Email Workflow Part 3: Get Better ROI On Your Recruiting Emails

For the last 2 weeks, I have been showing you my recruiting workflow system.

In week one, I talked about how 1 extra week of research is the difference between good and great. Last week I walked you through how to save 2 hours a day with an email game plan.

This week, I will share the goals that I have for each recruiting email that gets sent out. I have this list below sitting next to the computer when I am composing a message and I refer to it frequently.

This recruiting goals list gives me purpose, direction, and helps me remember what to write, all of which helps to reduce the time it takes to get a message written and helps to get the quality up.

Recruiting Email Goals: When we create a message that will go to a prospective student, as Dan Tudor trains through his newsletters:

1. We want them to reply to that message,
2. Leave some questions unanswered,
3. And to have that communication to set up the next message.

Generate a response. Do not try to sell your school or convince a prospect to choose your school based on what’s written in one letter. The focus of each of your written communications should be to generate a reply from your prospect. You aren’t going to be able to effectively “sell” your college or university until a prospect feels like he or she can be comfortable interacting with you.

Leave some questions unanswered. Recruits don’t want us to try to answer everything in one letter. Instead, leave some details and answers out so that they have a reason to listen to you the next time.

Set up the next message. When you send a prospect a letter or email, make sure that you let them know what’s coming next. In other words, a letter that goes out next week should set up an expectation that another message is following in the coming days. Your recruit should be expecting the next step, not wondering when it will come. The only way to do that is to very clearly spell out the steps that you’re taking in the process.

It’s imperative to establish this system as early in the recruiting process as possible. As many of you begin written contact with this next class of recruits, I encourage you to make sure your letters and emails include these three important elements.

If you include these points, and they are structured correctly, you’ll get results and responses that exceed your expectations.

Here are a few other things that I keep in mind and have in my checklist as I write based off of what I have learned over the years in studying Dan Tudor.

• Simplify your communication with them. Be more direct and to the point. That’s what they want.

• Along with simplifying your communication, develop a plan to communicate consistently and effectively.
• Make it personal and focused on them. Make it less about you and your school, especially as you begin to communicate with them.
• Keep selling them on our plan for them. Why we want them as a coach and what is our plan for them. What is our plan and how are we going to help them succeed with that plan?
• Keep selling them on why they should come to our school and what’s in it for them.