The #1 Most Important Recruitment Tool

by Matt Mattson

You can’t recruit who you don’t know. In fact, you can’t recruit who you don’t know and have contact information for.  And if you don’t know who you know, then you know you can’t recruit anyone.

So, use a Names List.

If you want to be a high performing chapter, don’t keep your list of potential members on a bunch of crumpled up napkins, spread amongst your chapter members’ cell phones, or worse, in your recruitment chair’s memory.  Build a shared Names List using GoogleDocs (utlize our free resources linked below).

We’ve talked about a Names List many times before, but since it is the most important part of a Dynamic Recruitment System, it is worth repeating and expounding upon.  Here are some thoughts on this #1 most important tool in Dynamic Recruitment — if you’re not using a Names List consistently, you’re not doing Dynamic Recruitment.

• *NEW*  Create your own GoogleDocs Names List. Download and create yours now!  (Fraternities | Sororities).
• A Names List is probably the second most important document in your entire chapter (second only to your ritual book).
• A Names List is the #1 way to manage the relationships of the chapter.  If it is true that you can’t recruit who you don’t know and people don’t join organizations, people join people, then the Names List is the place to track, organize, and manage information about the people your chapter knows.
• A Names List is different than a “Wish List.”  A “wish list” is fine, but it is much smaller than a Names List.  A Names List includes every non-Greek person your chapter has met or that has been referred to you by a trusted source.  A “wish list” is made up of a small amount of people you’re targeting for recruitment.  A general rule of thumb is that any fraternity/sorority chapter in the country should have a Names List of around 500 or more people.
• Quantity Drives Quality!  The more people on your Names List, the more people you can choose from.  The larger the size of your chapter’s network, the more selective you can be.
• Dynamic Recruiting chapters update their Names List daily (if not hourly) throughout the year.
• At any time, any member of your chapter (or your advisors) should be able to open up your Names List and know the next steps that should be taken to move a potential member closer to joining the organization.
• When Phired Up is coaching a chapter or is executing a fraternity/sorority expansion project, the absolute first thing we do to get results is build our Names List.

The #1 Most Important Recruitment Tool is a Names List.  Use it.  Need help?  Just contact Phired Up and we can help your chapter start using this relationship management tool.