HOW CERTAIN WORDS CAN WIN OVER A PROSPECT!

Sports Illustrated ran a piece during its recent August 3rd issue called "You've Got (Too Much) Mail".

It details a high school basketball prospect, Roberto Nelson, from Santa Barbara, CA. During SI's research into the story, they chatted with a few big name former high school stars seeking to find out what method of the recruiting process inspired them?

Before his Hall of Fame career, Bill Walton was considered one of the most coveted high school prospect in the country. In this story, Walton says he got his first recruiiting letter at age 15. It was hand written by a UCLA assistant coach and the last sentence stated "Make sure to focus on academics so that when the time comes you will qualify to live the privilege of being a UCLA Bruin."

The phrase, "live the privilege", is what stuck with Walton most and encapsulated his feelings about playing for Coach John Wooden said the SI writer.

Roberto Nelson was ranked in the Top 100 in the high school basketball recruiting class of 2009, Out of 2,161 pieces of recruiting mail sent to his home from 56 different NCAA Schools, the story says only Ohio State sent something that was perceived as truly "personal correspondence" to the prospect.

Nelson eventually chooses his college and accepts the scholarship offer from Oregon State. This particular school not once sent Nelson a piece of their recruiting mail. Like a good sales person, the school (Oregon State) met the prospect (Nelson) in person during the summer before his senior year. Then, followed up with four (4) phone calls to check in on the prospect and made one final visit to meet the prospect at his high school as classes began last September.

Moral of the story... don't just let direct mail be your total sales effort and or pump out e-mails without having first developed the relationship. Successful sales is like a dating relationship. You first prospect. Do your research on the client. Introduce yourself, be it with a phone call, a meeting at the office or a quick introduction at your (sports team) event or a chamber style mixer after work as examples. The key is to SELL YOU FIRST, NOT THE PRODUCT!

If there is a connection, ask for the second date. Here, you propose. Then, the follow-up process (do we schedule one more meeting; do we chat by phone or by e-mail to progress the discussions to a close?) Then, the marriage process takes over. Trust has been built. How do you follow through now? Do you ruin the trust or solidify it further? Do you keep things interesting or after the vows have beene exchanged, does your relationship go to rust?

Also, make note in the opening paragraphs that one particular prospect was sold on receiving a "hand written note" and a certain few words that ultimately connected him to his future school of choice!


Jim Loria, Career Planning Expert for Sports Professionals
Email address: loria@sfstampede.com