Daloth
Well-Known Member
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- Jan 25, 2011
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First off, I want to say three things:
1. This will be long, and I'm posting it here and not the football forum because they are insane.
2. I am 21 years old, and I was recruited to play college ball (Not D1, but multiple schools trying does help get an idea of what it's like).
3. I worked for a door to door sales company in six different states for a little less than a year, all on company dime (because we were good at our jobs).
Putting these last two facts together, I want to try and get some of you to understand what is going through not only the kid's mind, but the coach's minds as well when recruiting, because when you really get down and think about it, being a good recruiter is being a good salesman.
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First, and foremost, understand that every little thing matters. With rare, life altering instances, you are not going to have someone just up and buy something from one fact or one example you throw at them unless something drastic happens ie, you buy a Lamborghini cause you won the lottery, you get a security system because your house was broken into, you go to Texas at the 11th hour because you grew up in texas and they offered last minute.
If you take these rare one shot factors out, you have to break a person down. You have to show them, reason by reason, why they don't just need what you are selling them, but why they want it, and how they ever lived without it before.
There are several ways to do this, I personally rammed people with facts. every time they would say no, I would give them a statistic that showed why they were wrong. You can't argue with math, for us that math is 102,000 people a week, it's top ten winningest programs of all time, it's #18. If that doesn't get a recruit, then you move onto more personal things, location, history, women, food, safety, distance from home, cost, playing time, potential to go to the next level. All of these things are selling points, all of these things work well for UT in selling points as well.
This is also what separates and average salesman from a great one. You can do two things, pitch yourself (Wilcox) or pitch the brand you are selling (Sirmon). I have a southern drawl, I can't go to New York city and pitch myself as a good ole southern boy and expect to make money, just like you can't expect a guy from the west coast to come down and recruit well here (Wilcox). But, what about Sirmon and Kiffin then? They are great salesmen. NFL experience for both, Sirmon lived around here for years also, he understood the south well, and Kiffin (whether we like it or not) is one of the best recruiters in the nation for various reasons.
There is also a very effective sales route that I haven't mentioned yet. In fact it's probably the most effective, and that is the scare tactic route. I've used it before myself, and we were a great victim to it this year (Peters).
Now, all of you can say what you wish, but what you say on this message board IS important to recruiting. Did it cost us Peters? No. Not by itself. But if I were Arkansas, I would have sat him down and shown us this board.
"These are your fans, look what they think of their own staff." "They don't even think Dooley will be there next year, why go there?" It's no different than saying "That car has horrible crash protection rating. That company has a declining stock, don't buy into it, etc."
You take what weaknesses a person has and prey on them. Fire down the road? Send in the insurance and home security people. Car keeps breaking down? Try this new model. Bad tv reception? Switch to dish. Bi-polar fanbase who cries for their leader's head? Go to my school instead.
See how easy it is? And the fact these kids don't even have fully developed brains yet only adds to it, look up what parts of the teenage brain develop last and see what you find in terms of reasoning and risk taking.
And this is where I end by saying, these coaches get paid a base salary. Win or lose they get paid the same each year (with incentives for winning obviously). Many salesmen work on pure commission alone though, I know I did. When you have the choice of twisting the truth, of scaring someone, of doing whatever it takes to get a deal done, or not eating that day, it becomes easy to decide why Saban and Kiffin recruit how they do. I worked for maybe 300$ a deal. These men get paid millions. Saban, if he takes 25 recruits, averages out to make $120,000 on each one. I think anyone here would lie, cheat, or do whatever it takes for 120k alone, let alone a million or more.
To think that they wouldn't stoop so low as to lie to a kid, to use social media as a tool do to it,to risk everything for one more deal, then you have never worked in the business or seen it done right.
If what you're selling isn't good, you won't sell it. Dooley for two years has been pitching a downtrodden program, a divided fan base, and thousands of people who don't understand just how bad it really was.
We're gonna lose a few on the way because of that alone, so please, people, don't give them any more selling points than they already have against us. Take our lumps now, complain in private, and brag about us everywhere else. It may not seem like much to you, but to an 18 year old, and to the grown man trying to sell him his school and team, every little bit makes it easier to get them to sign on the dotted line.
1. This will be long, and I'm posting it here and not the football forum because they are insane.
2. I am 21 years old, and I was recruited to play college ball (Not D1, but multiple schools trying does help get an idea of what it's like).
3. I worked for a door to door sales company in six different states for a little less than a year, all on company dime (because we were good at our jobs).
Putting these last two facts together, I want to try and get some of you to understand what is going through not only the kid's mind, but the coach's minds as well when recruiting, because when you really get down and think about it, being a good recruiter is being a good salesman.
-------
First, and foremost, understand that every little thing matters. With rare, life altering instances, you are not going to have someone just up and buy something from one fact or one example you throw at them unless something drastic happens ie, you buy a Lamborghini cause you won the lottery, you get a security system because your house was broken into, you go to Texas at the 11th hour because you grew up in texas and they offered last minute.
If you take these rare one shot factors out, you have to break a person down. You have to show them, reason by reason, why they don't just need what you are selling them, but why they want it, and how they ever lived without it before.
There are several ways to do this, I personally rammed people with facts. every time they would say no, I would give them a statistic that showed why they were wrong. You can't argue with math, for us that math is 102,000 people a week, it's top ten winningest programs of all time, it's #18. If that doesn't get a recruit, then you move onto more personal things, location, history, women, food, safety, distance from home, cost, playing time, potential to go to the next level. All of these things are selling points, all of these things work well for UT in selling points as well.
This is also what separates and average salesman from a great one. You can do two things, pitch yourself (Wilcox) or pitch the brand you are selling (Sirmon). I have a southern drawl, I can't go to New York city and pitch myself as a good ole southern boy and expect to make money, just like you can't expect a guy from the west coast to come down and recruit well here (Wilcox). But, what about Sirmon and Kiffin then? They are great salesmen. NFL experience for both, Sirmon lived around here for years also, he understood the south well, and Kiffin (whether we like it or not) is one of the best recruiters in the nation for various reasons.
There is also a very effective sales route that I haven't mentioned yet. In fact it's probably the most effective, and that is the scare tactic route. I've used it before myself, and we were a great victim to it this year (Peters).
Now, all of you can say what you wish, but what you say on this message board IS important to recruiting. Did it cost us Peters? No. Not by itself. But if I were Arkansas, I would have sat him down and shown us this board.
"These are your fans, look what they think of their own staff." "They don't even think Dooley will be there next year, why go there?" It's no different than saying "That car has horrible crash protection rating. That company has a declining stock, don't buy into it, etc."
You take what weaknesses a person has and prey on them. Fire down the road? Send in the insurance and home security people. Car keeps breaking down? Try this new model. Bad tv reception? Switch to dish. Bi-polar fanbase who cries for their leader's head? Go to my school instead.
See how easy it is? And the fact these kids don't even have fully developed brains yet only adds to it, look up what parts of the teenage brain develop last and see what you find in terms of reasoning and risk taking.
And this is where I end by saying, these coaches get paid a base salary. Win or lose they get paid the same each year (with incentives for winning obviously). Many salesmen work on pure commission alone though, I know I did. When you have the choice of twisting the truth, of scaring someone, of doing whatever it takes to get a deal done, or not eating that day, it becomes easy to decide why Saban and Kiffin recruit how they do. I worked for maybe 300$ a deal. These men get paid millions. Saban, if he takes 25 recruits, averages out to make $120,000 on each one. I think anyone here would lie, cheat, or do whatever it takes for 120k alone, let alone a million or more.
To think that they wouldn't stoop so low as to lie to a kid, to use social media as a tool do to it,to risk everything for one more deal, then you have never worked in the business or seen it done right.
If what you're selling isn't good, you won't sell it. Dooley for two years has been pitching a downtrodden program, a divided fan base, and thousands of people who don't understand just how bad it really was.
We're gonna lose a few on the way because of that alone, so please, people, don't give them any more selling points than they already have against us. Take our lumps now, complain in private, and brag about us everywhere else. It may not seem like much to you, but to an 18 year old, and to the grown man trying to sell him his school and team, every little bit makes it easier to get them to sign on the dotted line.
