Are There Too Many Division I Basketball Programs?
It’s over-saturated, in my opinion. I believe there are too many Division I basketball programs.
I know it’s all about March Madness, the big-time tournaments, and getting your college program in it, but every college doesn’t deserve the privilege of leveling up to Division I.
It doesn’t make any sense.
I know it’s all about the NCAA tournament and the big money these programs potentially can make.
But what fun is it to work hard all season long, win your conference tournament, and then lose the first game of the NCAA tournament? It makes no sense.
I’m a teacher of the college recruiting process. Please feel free to subscribe to our newsletter. If you choose to subscribe all I ask is for your participation:
Leave comments.
Your opinion is welcomed, but please keep it clean.
The Broken Star is a story about one student-athlete who was unable to fulfill his dream of playing college basketball.
I ran into this man many years later and I was shocked and saddened to hear his story.
I want to share this story because many of us are connected to student-athletes in some type of way.
I believe it’s our moral obligation to do whatever we can to assist student-athletes in their dreams of playing in college.
I’m a teacher of the college recruiting process. Please feel free to subscribe to our newsletter. If you choose to subscribe all I ask is for your participation:
Leave comments.
Your opinion is welcomed, but please keep it clean.
Once upon a time, standardized tests were necessary. Now, I believe these types of tests are outdated and the system is broken.
Only the privileged who live in the affluent suburbs are benefiting greatly from these tests.
Student-athletes who attend school systems in underprivileged neighborhoods are being crushed by these outdated tests.
I think it’s time to do away with the standardized tests and come up with a different system altogether.
I’m a teacher of the college recruiting process. Please feel free to subscribe to our newsletter. If you choose to subscribe all I ask is for your participation:
Leave comments.
Your opinion is welcomed, but please keep it clean.
This is not another lecture about goal-setting. I believe it’s all a waste of time and a bunch of crap.
Most people never follow through with their goals anyway.
They may write them down on paper, lazily looking at them occasionally, and rarely implementing them. Sooner or later they toss them to the side or put them in a desk drawer to collect dust and to die forever.
Are you working as a College Scout or maybe you’re running a recruiting service?
What do you want to do?
What are you trying to accomplish?
The best way to accomplish anything is to create a challenge.
Push yourself the same as athletes do physically and mentally to the brink of exhaustion with one goal in mind, to get better.
In 100 days, what do you hope to accomplish?
The standard, boring, and outdated goals start with 30 days short term goals, 60 days mid-term goals, and 90 day long-term goals.
Let’s take it a step further and create a 100 day challenge.
What’s important to understand in creating the 100 day challenge is to always put it in writing!
If your challenge is not in writing then all it is, is a wish.
Example. Some delusional individual saying they wish they had one million dollars.
All they’re doing is wishing for a miracle, but there’s no real strategy behind how to achieve that goal.
It’s just a mere wish and, more than likely, it will never come true.
You really don’t want to be in a situation where you’re sitting around daydreaming of success.
You don’t want to be wishing for a better day or a better outcome.
Those are just thoughts and ideas in your head swirling around, never amounting to anything.
My examples of the 100 day challenge.
A New Box Of 500 Business Cards: Business cards are an essential component in your role as College Scout.
In my opinion, the two-sided business card is probably the best way to go.
You want to get good quality paper where it’s thick and nothing flimsy or cheap looking.
Don’t put too much unnecessary information on your business card.
Keep it simple. That’s probably the best way to go.
On the front side of your business card you want your logo, first and last name, your company’s name, and a contact number.
On the backside you can have a catch-phrase or slogan and your website address.
Develop A Social Media Presence: There’s no doubt about it, social media is a powerful weapon in branding yourself as an authority in the recruiting process.
You have a voice to share your thoughts, opinions, and your messages about recruiting.
It’s important to set up all your social media accounts the right way. You want your logo to be displayed and the proper headers.
When it comes to Facebook you want to set up a Facebook business page and a Facebook Group. They’re two different things.
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, you clearly need to have a presence on all social media networks.
A great place to get your headers and logo designs isfiverr.com. All of it can be done for an affordable price, so definitely look into it.
Be active on social media as much as possible on a daily basis and always include a link back to your website or to an athletic questionnaire.
Create a new website. Update current website:
Your website is home, it’s the face of your business.
It’s very important to have a properly designed, easy-to-navigate website.
You could get your website professionally done, but it will cost you a pretty penny.
You could do it yourself. Start out with WordPress, which is free. You will need to get the Divi Builder. It’s a great platform for building a website.
The cost can vary, but it is worth the investment.
Once your website is up and running you will need to create content.
I know, writing brand new content is time-consuming, but you’re going to need content.
I would suggest writing something every month, whether it’s once a week or every other week.
Why not give your opinion about recruiting since that seems to be a huge topic these days?
You can write about the camps or the tournaments you’ve attended.
Always give your unique perspective about the process. This will help build trust and credibility in the eyes of parents.
Logo Polo shirts or sweatshirts:
We’ve all been to games or some kind of tournament where college coaches are in attendance.
The only way we recognize their presence is by the logo Polo shirt they’re wearing. It’s very eye-catching and extremely impressive.
Everyone is gazing to see which coaches are there.
Now, just imagine how amazing it would be.
You’re wearing your Polo shirt and representing your company at these events.
That’s instant credibility! The conversation shifts to who you are, why are you there, who are you scouting? Amazing!
In this business people go by what they see. What is unseen counts for nothing.
Generate one new lead of a student-athlete per day:
One is the loneliest number in the universe.
Back in the 1970’s, the group Three Dog Night recorded, “One Is The Loneliest Number.” It may have been a number one hit, I don’t know.
Just think about how simple and small the number one actually is.
Why not go out there and generate one new student-athlete lead per day?
In a month’s time you will have accumulated 30 to 31 new student-athletes.
The math is simple. One really is the loneliest number in the universe.
In one year’s time you could have over 365 brand new names and phone numbers of student-athletes and parents!
Now how amazing would that be?
Practice your presentation:
Your presentation is everything.
What you say to the parents is critical.
How you begin this process requires precision accuracy with parts of the presentation committed to memory.
The presentation should begin with you asking questions, probably 15 to 20 questions, to get the parent talking.
This is an amazing way to control the conversation.
Explain the process to the parents about how everything is going to work.
From there you quote the price followed by the closing question.
In my professional opinion, you should write out your presentation in great detail from beginning to end.
Practice and study your presentation to perfection.
Commit your presentation to memory. By committing to memory you will sound professional, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and authoritative.
Sign up 3 to 4 new student-athletes per month:
Believe it or not you’re in business. As a business professional, one of your top priorities is to make money and earn a profit.
This industry is huge.
There are millions of student-athletes who need college recruiting help and assistance.
I know for a fact that without the help of recruiting services, there will be huge numbers of student-athletes who will slip through the cracks of the recruiting process and some to the point total destruction.
Set a goal to develop a strategy of how many student-athletes you want to sign up for a month.
Attend 2 or 3 high school sporting events per week:
It’s extremely important that you attend as many high school sporting events per week as possible.
Visibility is critical. You want to be seen by the high school sports community.
Your attendance will attract attention, curiosity, and spark conversation about who you are and why you are there.
Attending games is also a great way to build trust among coaches, players, and parents.
I just gave you a brief glimpse into a strong example of the 100-day challenge.
You don’t have to be that detailed in writing out your challenge. I just wanted to give you some context behind each segment of the challenge.
A large segment of College Scouts jump headfirst into their role as a Scout.
Many of them are just making it up as they go along, winging it without a plan or any structure. This is a recipe for consistent struggle.
You must have a road map or blueprint that will lead you toward success.
This is the idea behind the 100-day challenge.
I want to know what you think of this topic. Please leave me a comment in the comment section below. Your comments are the oxygen we need to grow.
The Anxiety Associated With The Follow-Up Phone Call
Don’t be a cry baby! You’ve got to call the parents back at some time.
I know there is a high level of stress and anxiety associated with a follow-up phone call.
It’s your second go-round with the parents.
Your thought process is probably ‘will the parents be receptive or will they just blow me up?’
Let’s assume in your first face-to-face meeting or phone call everything went great.
They liked what you had to say, but they needed some time to make a decision.
This is often the scenario during your first encounter. The ‘wait and I’ll get back to you’ game.
Finally, the moment of truth has arrived.
You must make that second phone call. Unfortunately, inexperienced scouts often screw this part up for various reasons.
Preparation is the key ingredient to the follow-up phone call.
I’m assuming the last conversation ended with the parents saying they’ll think it over or something to that effect.
I’ve been in the business long enough to know that the parents are not sitting around every moment of the day thinking about the previous conversation.
It is safe to assume that, in regards to the parents, the moment the conversation ended they’ve completely forgotten everything you talked about. They forgot your name, the name of your company, and even what was discussed.
Here are the steps you should follow.
Call them back within 5 to 7 days.
You’re not giving them time to think about it, you’re giving yourself time for preparation.
The moment the first conversation has concluded that’s the exact moment you start your preparation for the follow-up phone call.
You must know exactly what you’re going to say to the parents before you punch in those phone numbers.
Example: Mr. Jones, the last time we spoke it was regarding Spencer’s football career and the recruiting process. What can we do to get this process moving forward with Spencer today?
The Point: You want to get right to the point without hesitation. You’re not wasting time, or words or any of that. You already know exactly what you’re going to say so be brief, be self-assured, be strong in your voice, and be confident in your approach.
Failure to get right to the point will allow parents an opportunity to cut you off or shut you down; to distract or try to intimidate you, by responding with ‘we’re not interested’. If you allow parents to have that kind of control, you’ve just shot yourself in the foot!
The Objection: Be prepared for an objection because there’s a high probability it will happen. That’s the normal response from most parents. The real question is, how are you going to handle it? Will you be prepared?
Preparation: Roleplay possible objections and how you would deal with each and every one of them. Write down the objection and your response to it. Continue to practice until perfection. Continue to practice until all has been committed to memory.
To eliminate confusion. You don’t need a separate rebuttal for every objection, keep it simple.
Example: When the parent says we’re not interested, no thank you, or just plain NO or any kind of objection, your response should be the following:
What exactly is it that you’re not interested in?
What exactly are you saying No to?
You’re feeding the objection back to them. Many times, parents don’t even know why they are objecting in the first place. You’re trying to find the hidden objection and, generally, there always is one.
The Hidden Objection:
If the parent has an objection and they can’t elaborate on it, then I would suspect there’s a hidden objection somewhere.
Your job is to dig deeper in order to uncover any and all hidden objections.
‘Not interested, no thank you, we’re going to pass on it, or just flat-out no’. These are common objections.
The strategy is to feed the objection back to them.
An extraordinarily large number of inexperienced scouts will accept the first objection, or any objection, the parent hits them with. This kind of mindset is a recipe for disaster.
By simply accepting that objection and walking away you could potentially ruin your career and be out of business permanently.
You want to achieve a certain level of financial freedom, but I guarantee you if you do not master the art of the follow-up phone call you will be in financial ruin.
I’d would like to know what you think of this topic. Please leave a comment in the comment section below. Your comments are the options in we need to grow.
