Recruiting Questions Vol. 2

A handful of weeks ago, I published a post on here covering some of the most common recruiting questions I get. At the end of the post, I asked you guys what else you wanted to know. Here’s the post answering those questions. I will do one of these every so often on here.
Link to “Recruiting Questions Vol. 1" (Previous post)
Link to “Summary of Recruitment Playbook”

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6. How should I structure my introductory email?
   Obviously I’m just one of the hundreds of coaches out there - so this will just be my preference.
   However, when I conducted a survey of more than 50 college coaches, 80% of them answered that they typically read emails on their phones.
   I think that’s a fairly vital piece of information.
   
   We also know that coaches value highly:
   - The email is personally written

   - The recruit knows something about my school

   
   What I read from those survey results is it’d be a good idea to write a personal email, where you tell the coach why you’re interested in their particular school/program - while keeping it short and sweet.

   
   From my experience, most emails I received which were written personally and where the recruit knew something about my school were almost always too long. The recruits often told me their whole life story in the email; how they got their first club from grandpa, what club they hit when they got their first hole-in-one, and even what handicaps their dads and brother play off.
   
   By lengthening the email, you’re creating a larger barrier for the coach to actually consider your information - and in effect lowering the probability takes action (answers).
   
   I would advise you to make it quick and easy for the coach to understand your profile. Link a swing video to YouTube, attach your scores in an attachment instead of the body of the email, and take use wording that makes it easy for the coach to respond in 30 seconds. Neat, clean, personal, and easy for coaches to read and digest on their phones.
   
   Here’s a post I wrote last year following the survey of the college coaches: Link to: “What college coaches look for in an introductory email”
   

7. How should I share my swing video?
   We know college coaches want to see your swing video in the first email. It is the #4 thing they look for in that email.
   So, it’s a must. Include a swing video.
   
   How though, is a matter of opinion. Here’s mine:
   
   Again, make it easy for the coaches and assume they are reading this email on their phones. I recommend uploading your swing video to YouTube, and pasting the link in the body of the email. Virtually every phone can open a YouTube link without hassle in a matter of seconds. You circumvent the hassle of having to download a large attached video file, etc.

   
   Further, I would cut together in a neat way several videos. Provide different angles, different clubs, etc. Even include some snippets of you putting, chipping, etc. You might even consider a very short intro where you present yourself. However, my recommendation would be for the entire thing to be less than 60 seconds.
   
   I might sound like a broken record here, but the most common mistake I see in swing videos/ introductory videos is that they are too long. The most annoying one is the slow-mo upload where the player hasn’t cut the video to start from their takeaway. So you end up watching 10-20seconds of dead space before the player takes the club back. Just make it easy on the coaches!

That’s all for this week! If you have other questions you’d like answered - send me a message:

Other College Resources I’ve published:
Link to “Summary of Recruitment Playbook”
Link to the College Golf Decision Tree

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