by Matt Mattson and Josh Orendi

We've talked to literally THOUSANDS of fraternity members across the country, and through our conversations we've realized a pretty interesting statistic. Over 50% of the non-members who build a friendship with your brothers join your chapter. It's true, isn't it? If your brothers really get to know prospective members, about 1/2 of them end up joining. 

If this is the case, then there are two really important “truths” to be aware of:

Truth #1: You're a hell of a lot of fun to be around. Over 1/2 the people who build relationships with your members go on to join the organization.  

Truth #2: How ever many new members you took last year, multiply that number times two. Your chapter is so focused on itself that it has failed to build meaningful relationships with more than that many people " the entire chapter " in an entire year!

So, the obvious advice follows… get to know twice as many guys as a chapter, and there is a good chance you will end up with twice as many members joining!

I (Matt) used to be an admissions counselor for a university. It was my job to recruit students to come to the college for which I worked. I was great at making the “sale.” I loved the university and could passionately describe it in such great detail that almost nobody could pass up a chance to attend. So, I was taken aback one day when my supervisor told me that I needed to stop concentrating all my time on “making the sale,” and start putting a lot more effort into GETTING MORE APPLICATIONS. She said, “Matt, this school sells itself once people get to see it. Your job, first and foremost, is to find get more applications so that we can get more people to see it.”

The same thing applies to fraternity recruitment. Don't spend your time trying to make the sale to the four guys who have shown interest — at most you’ll probably get two. Go out and get 400 guys' names so that you at least have a chance to get 200!   

by Matt Mattson

I've been providing some distance coaching services to a chapter that I met at a recent Dynamic Recruitment Workshop. The chapter has been battling some three-year-old punitive stipulations that disallow the chapter from housing freshmen. In a fraternity community that is housing-oriented, this has created a significant recruitment challenge for the chapter.

We've been coaching the chapter to focus first on the issues of the situation which are in their control (for fans of Good Guys, these are the S.P.A.M. concepts). But we've also been working with the chapter to help them take a cue from a Japanese martial art.

Not exactly karate (as the goofy title of this post implies), Aikido is a Japanese martial art that teaches people to exploit an opponent's strength, weight and motion to your advantage. A great description of Aikido can be found here.

In his book Rules for Revolutionaries, Guy Kawasaki writes about the concept of Aikido marketing. He says, “Aikido marketing is using an opponent's strength against itself instead of meeting brute force with brute force.”

This concept can be easily and successfully applied to a fraternity or sorority that might be in a challenging situation like the one I mentioned we're working with.

In an effort to get the chapter to turn their perceived weakness (freshmen can't live in the house) into a strength, we pointed out that on their campus only about 15% of the freshmen were joining fraternities. And because we know that on almost every campus we work with, a common excuse for not joining a fraternity is that many freshmen don't want to live in a fraternity house (they would prefer a normal freshman residence life experience), we suggested that this chapter change its perspective. 

The truth is that 85% of the freshmen on that campus aren't interested in living in a fraternity house, and while the chapter often hears that the reason their prospective members chose another chapter is because they could live-in freshmen year, that information is coming from ONLY the 15% of freshmen who were looking to live in a fraternity house. That means that 85% of the campus would probably be more interested in their chapter than any of the other chapters!

We coached the chapter to pitch their situation in a different way — using their opponent's strengths against them. To differentiate the chapter's unique value, we suggested mentioning something like this when recruiting, “We believe that it is very important for freshmen to have a true freshman year residence life experience. We know you want to meet as many new friends as possible freshman year, so our policy allows freshmen that experience and the promise of a great house to look forward to next year. Plus, it makes your life easier.”

This may not work for all chapters, but consider how you can use the Aikido Marketing principle to differentiate your organization. How can you use your “opponents'” strengths to your advantage. Can you flip your perspective upside down and maximize what you can control?

by Josh Orendi

The Director of Expansion for a 100+ chapter fraternity walked onto a Midwest campus with 10,000+ students where nobody had ever heard of his letters. He was charged with recruiting 50+ men in 6 weeks to start a brand new chapter". The chapter had nearly 100 men by the end of the year. Here is one of the techniques he used to find the original core of members:

Nick called Jennifer, the VP of Recruitment for Kappa sorority. He asked her to help him better understand the Greek system and the quality of the fraternities on campus. She admitted that the Kappa's had their favorite fraternities, but overall they felt like the men on campus were disrespectful, unorganized, and a little wrapped up in themselves. She wished they were more committed to serving the community. Jennifer pointed out that there was only one fraternity on campus large enough to do a real mixer with them, and it was almost impossible to get all their brothers to show up for anything.

Nick said he understood and told her he was excited to offer something "different" with his fraternity. He arranged with her to make a brief presentation to her chapter at their next meeting. 

Then, Nick called on Joe — a handsome, athletic brother from a nearby chapter — dressed him well, and prepared for the meeting. On his way there he picked up an arrangement of violets (Kappa's national flower), a pack of note cards, and a large box of pens. 
As the Kappa girls settled in for the meeting, Jennifer announced Nick to the group. Nick walked to the front of the room, thanked them for the opportunity to address the chapter, and publicly offered a token of his gratitude as Joe unveiled the arrangement of violets and presented them to the sorority president. (the sound of hearts melting could be heard throughout the room).

Nick addressed the group, "Ladies, I'm here representing XYZ fraternity, a new fraternity at ABC University. I've been on campus for a few days talking with students and faculty. I also had the pleasure to spend some time talking with Jennifer. She is amazing! You should be proud to have her in a position of leadership representing your organization." 

He paused, then said, "It seems to me that there are not nearly enough gentlemen in this Greek community. Would you agree?" Heads nodded throughout the group, mumblings of affirmation came from the back of the room, and one girl snapped her fingers and said, "Damn right!"

"You deserve better. The school and community deserve better," he said setting up the group. "XYZ is committed to building and supporting a fraternity of gentlemen that are dedicated to scholarship, community service, and campus leadership. I know from experience that the best way to find the top men on a campus is to ask the top women on campus (pause) that is why I knew I needed to find the Kappa chapter on campus." 

The ladies faces lit up like Christmas morning. A couple of women in the group began a well rehearsed Kappa song as others joined in with clapping and singing. Nick interrupted, "Ladies, I'd like to introduce you to Joe. He is a founding member of XYZ at DFG University across the state, and a great example of a XYZ gentleman." The ladies look over at well dressed, athletic, hunky Joe and dreams of mixers with a chapter of 100 Joes dance in their minds. 

"Joe is passing out note cards and pens. Please make sure you get one. I'd like to share information about XYZ with the best non-Greek men on this campus, but I need your help to do that. Will you help me identify at least 5-10 non-Greek, top tier gentlemen? I am particularly interested in guys that aren't the fraternity type and would never otherwise go Greek. While you're writing, I'll share a little bit more about XYZ with you "." 

Three minutes pass. Nick says, "Thank you for all your help, but there is one more name I need you to put on the card. Will you please turn the card over and write your name on the back so I know who to send a Thank You card to when those gentlemen become members of the Greek community?"
The girls pass their note cards and pens to Joe. The 5 minute presentation comes to a close. Nick thanks the women one last time. They applaud him for the work he's doing, and he departs. Nick is off to the next sorority where he'll repeat the same process.

Nick's visit with Kappa resulted in over 430 referrals. These are names of quality gentlemen who would not otherwise be interested in Greek life. They are personally referred by a woman that man knows, likes, and respects. Nick will use Facebook or the student directory to get each man's contact information. 

Then he'll place the call".
Looking at the first name on the first card: "Brian, this is Nick from XYZ fraternity. I was just at the Kappa house and met Robyn (the name on the back of the note card). There is a group of student leaders forming a new organization and she recommended that I connect with you. Do you have any free time tomorrow or Thursday night? I'm picking up the tab for dinner at Papa Gino's. Can I save you a seat at the table so I can share more information with you about the group? Great. Do you have a roommate? Feel free to bring a friend with you. I'll see you at ".

Nick called Jennifer a few weeks later to thank her again for the opportunity to talk to her sisters. He asked, "Do you share this information with any of the other fraternities on campus?" She said, "No. I don't think we ever have." Nick asked, "Why not?" Her reply: "They never ask."

by Matt Mattson and Josh Orendi

[This recruitment tip was originally published by Phired Up Productions in its "Six Cylinders" series which is used during the company's Dynamic Recruitment Workshop. The "Six Cylinders" document can be found among Phired Up's Free Recruitment Resources]

In a 1-on-1 conversation, ask well respected professors or administrators for recommendations of men they consider to be leaders, scholars, and gentlemen. The magic is in how you present your request. Here is a sample script:

 "Dr. Jones, I am working with a group of student leaders to improve the quality of fraternities on our campus. We think we can change the behaviors and image of Greeks by improving the level of men we target for membership. We want a higher quality student. We're missing out on some of the best leaders on campus and good men are missing out on the resources and friendships that fraternities offer.

Would you share with us the names of several of your top students, especially those who show signs of leadership? Also, may we make a 60 second announcement at the beginning of tomorrow's seminar to share this opportunity with others in our class?"

Expansion teams for top national fraternities use this technique to generate dozens of high quality leads before ever approaching a student. A professor at Marshall University was known for producing 5-10 names every year of the best students in his class.
 

by Matt Mattson

Have you ever seen a recruitment T-shirt or slogan that went something like this…

“Men of Honor.”

“Leadership, Scholarship, Service.”

“The Few, The Proud, The AXI's”

“Don't Talk About It. Be About It.”

“If You're a Lambda Raise Your Hand. If You're Not, then Raise Your Standards.”

You get the idea… Walk around campus glancing at the back of some Greek's T-Shirts on some campuses, and you’ll read mottoes of greatness, of integrity, and of purpose… But then walk around “Greek Row,” and you’ll probably receive a very different message.

When it comes to recruitment, often we think that it is important to come up with the best slogan, or the catchiest phrase to really boast about our best qualities. But calling a frankfurter a sirloin doesn't really make it gourmet.

I ran across this picture on the web one day. Take a look, and see if you can take any lessons from it that might relate to recruitment:

Take a closer look. That is a real picture of a real plane that crashed into a real tree next to a real sign that is advertising flying lessons. And the plan has been there a while. Would you take flying lessons there? Even if they had the catchiest marketing flier? I didn't think so.

This picture reminds me of a funny image I get in my mind sometimes… It is a group of about 12 fraternity members all wearing matching shirts that claim how “gentlemanly” they are. They're standing outside of their house trying to convince a prospect of that fact, but the house behind them has 8 couches on the lawn, and 3 on the roof. There is a beer funnel hanging from the third story window, and some women's panties hanging from the trees. There are posters all over campus advertising the chapter's “Pimps and Ho's” party. The smell of stale beer is still drifting from the house, and there are black trashbags covering the windows in place of curtains…

The point is that people will put a whole lot more trust in what they actually SEE than what you tell them about your organization. Take a critical look at all the things that are creating your public image. What does your house look like? What kind of image do your members portray? How is your group seen by Joe/Jane Smith on campus? More importantly, how is it seen by the best leaders — the people you want for your chapter? Assess your public image and look to change it organically — at the source — not through advertising or manipulating public opinion. 

If you want a higher quantity of higher quality members, consider whether or not your chapter's physical appearance (house, property, wardrobe, paddles on rush tables, party themes, etc) are helping or hurting your cause.