by Matt Mattson
A major piece of the Dynamic Recruitment puzzle is the NAMES LIST. This blog serves to describe the free Fraternity Recruitment Names List that you can download from Phired Up's Free Resources Page. Download the document and follow along as we describe how you can use this tool to increase the quantity of quality members in your chapter.
You can see that this is a simple Microsoft Excel document. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated. We recommend that you find somebody in your chapter that LOVES spreadsheets, charts, and graphs (every chapter has one of those guys). Put him in charge of the Names List. This document should be a living document that is constantly updated. It is a way to collect names, contact information and data about prospective members. It can also be used to track your efforts, provide qualifying information on prospects, measure success, etc. This is the centerpiece of any Dynamic Recruiting chapter. You might choose to use a more advanced data management system (other than MS Excel), but that's up to you.
Quick note: A Wish List is different than a Names List. A Wish List is simply a component of a Names List. A Wish List measures the potential members your chapter might be interested in. A Names List measures how well your chapter members are networked into campus.
As you look at the document you've downloaded, the first tab (see the four tabs at the bottom of the page) is a sample, customizable Dynamic Recruitment Flowchart. This is the same flowchart you've seen in Phired Up's Dynamic Recruitment training, but it is simplified and put into a spreadsheet. There are two sections to pay close attention to. First, you can customize the section for the Six Cylinders. Remember, these are methods you’ll use to drive names onto your names list. Put your chapter's plan for generating names in shorthand within this section. Secondly, down a little lower on the page you’ll see a section for Small Activities. Customize this section with your chapter's plan to provide continual diverse small activities to build relationships with the people whose names are on your list.
Go ahead and click on the third tab at the bottom titled, “IFC Rush List.” Many campuses or IFC's provide their chapters with a list of all the men who have either signed up for formal recruitment, or all the men on campus who are eligible for recruitment. Go ahead and paste that list here, but understand that this IS NOT A NAMES LIST. This is a rush list… a list of strangers. In order for someone to make the Names List, they must either be someone that a member of our chapter has MET, or they must be someone that was referred to us by a trusted source. You can use this rush list to do cold calls or mass E-mails if you want, but that probably won't get the results you're looking for.
O.K., now go back to the second tab titled, “Master Names List.” This is where you’ll spend most of your time in this document. You can see that it is a basic database with fields to record a lot of information about your prospects. You can use as much or as little of this information as you want to. You can add fields or delete fields. But, let's go over what we've provided as an example.
Obviously you’ll want to record the basic information: Name, Contact Info, Residence, etc. Don't forget AIM names (or similar), etc. If you have info like GPA, SAT/ACT score, major/minor, home address, and graduation year, that's great info to have. You can use someone's hometown, major, or residence hall to connect them with members of your chapter that have those things in common, and give them something to talk about right away.
You’ll see this names list has a place to record whether a person is a legacy or not. It also has a section called “Facebook.” Some groups have found it helpful to create a Facebook group called something like “Interested in Building a Chapter of Alpha Beta Gamma?” Now, that Facebook group won't your secret to recruitment, but if someone joins it you can call them and say, “I noticed you joined our Facebook Group. You can't learn everything there is to know about us through that Facebook Group, but I’d like to take you out to lunch to learn more about you and share a little about us.”
The next few columns provide you an opportunity to record who and what are producing results. The “Source” column is where you can note where or at what activity your chapter member met this person. This way you know that if dorm storming Copeland hall gets awesome results, and tabling in the student center gets none, you should spend more time dorm storming. The “Brother” column provides a place to record which brother put this name on the list — this allows the chapter to empower this brother to follow up with the prospect, or to reward the brothers that are producing results for the chapter.
Obviously there is a space to record when the prospect came to an interest meeting, what they said on their “Interest Card” (Yes, I’d be interested in learning more; Maybe, I’d like some information; No, I'm not interested at this time). Remember, if someone says they're not interested, it doesn't really mean they're not interested — it just tells you that you should approach them differently. Maybe something like this, “Hi, I noticed you noted on our interest card that you're not interested in fraternity life right now. I can totally understand that. We're trying to survey the best and brightest on this campus to see what they're looking for out of college life that we might eventually be able to provide — if we improved the Greek System. Would you be interested in having lunch?”
This Names List offers an opportunity to record how many activities the prospect has participated in with fraternity members. Also, there is a ranking section. This isn't to rank how “cool” you think they are. Instead, this is an area to record how interested they are in your chapter. For instance, an A might indicate you should give them a bid soon, a B means you should “Pre-Close” them, a C means they need to be brought to more activities, a D means they just got on the Names List and an F means you're not interested in them and/or they're not interested in you.
The next few columns provide a space to record when they were “Pre-Closed,” who had that conversation with them, and what they're concerns were. Of course, if you start seeing that the reason many prospects are initially hesitant to join is because there is a perception that you're a hazing chapter, then you have some image work to do. This can be a good indicator of what the campus thinks of you.
The last few columns provide space to record if and when they were given a bid, if they accepted, and then any other important notes that you want to record about the prospect.
Remember, one person and one person only should be empowered to manage the Names List. Members should continually submit the information about their contacts to the Names List manager, and that Names List manager can keep the Names List and the chapter up to date.
There is one more tab on the bottom of the document, entitled “Performance Measurement.” Within this tab you see some examples of graphs and charts you could create to continually measure your chapter's recruitment efforts. This can serve as a dashboard to monitor your progress and success. Measure whatever is important to you and your chapter.
That's it. It is pretty simple, but vital to a chapter that practices Dynamic Recruitment.
