ProTalk: The Prospect
By Rick Welling, Dave Dawson and Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Barbaresi; USAREC, Doctrine Division
Aug. 21, 2015
"This article provides a step by step scenario and tactics, techniques, and procedures to turn a lead into a prospect.
Staff Sgt. James Johnson - “Jessica, I look forward to meeting with you and your parents tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at your house. If you can, please have your social security card, birth certificate, and driver’s license handy, so I can verify eligibility and confirm I have all of your personal data correct. Also, if you know of anybody else who may want to hear more about the Army, please let me know tomorrow.”
Jessica Carter – “Okay, I will see you tomorrow. Bye”
Staff Sgt. Johnson – “Good bye”
“Whew! Sergeant Miller, I just made an appointment for tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m. with a female high school senior and her parents, would you be able to go with me? I need a buddy.”
Sgt. 1st Class Carl Miller – “I will go with you – no problem. What time do we need to leave?”
Staff Sgt. Johnson – “We should leave here at 4:45p.m.”
Sgt. 1st Class Miller – “Okay good, by the way, congratulations on making an appointment.”
Staff Sgt. Johnson – “Thank you! I have been trying to contact her for three days since receiving her name from my center of influence, Mrs. Debrowski, Central High School’s, guidance counselor.
Johnson is a DA select recruiter with 14 months experience. Miller is the center leader. He has been assigned to the command for six years and to the center for two months.
Nicknamed JJ, Johnson loves recruiting, enjoys the challenge of the job and the hunt. He prides himself at being the best recruiter in his center.
Johnson used all of his resources to get in touch with this prospect and made an appointment with her. Here are the tactics, techniques, and procedures he used.
Once Jessica agreed to an appointment, she became a prospect. A prospect is a person who has agreed to meet with a recruiter, or a person who’s been interviewed but has not committed to process for enlistment. Until Johnson contacted her and she agreed to an appointment, she was a lead.
Johnson reviews his notes from the phone call while they’re still fresh in his mind, annotates ARISS, and prepares a plan for his initial appointment.
He recounts what they spoke about, remembering she was really excited about the opportunity to receive training in the medical field and money for college to pursue a nursing degree. She also mentioned her father was recently laid off, that money is tight and that she needs to find a job to help her family.
She gave Johnson her e-mail address and mentioned she has a computer but won’t have a cell phone until she gets a job. Jessica told Johnson she took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery at North County High School last year and that it seemed easy. The high school belongs to Company North, where Johnson is stationed.
Johnson does his homework before the interview. He:
Checking his email the following morning, Johnson finds this response from Jessica.
Staff Sgt. Johnson,
Thank you for sending me the information. I too look forward to meeting you and Sgt. 1st Class Miller tomorrow. I have the documents you need to see to verify my eligibility. My parents are anxious, but I’m excited to learn more about my opportunities. My dad is proud that I’m exploring my options.
See you tomorrow.
Jessy
He continues preparing for his interview by programing his cell phone with Jessica’s address, making sure his tablet is fully charged, and does a 10-15 minute rehearsal of the interview with other recruiters roll playing the parts of Jessica, her mother, and father. Miller observes the rehearsal, providing feedback.
The day of the interview, Johnson calls Jessica prior to their interview confirming that she and her parents are home and the time he will arrive.
He and Miller arrive at Jessica’s house 5:25 p.m. Both recruiters begin by talking about themselves to ease tension, discuss the Army life, and motivate the family to talk about themselves.
Johnson waits for the opportune time to start his interview. He starts by telling his Army story and the Army’s story to build trust and credibility. As Jessica begins asking questions, he realizes the Army can meet her short and long-term goals. She had no idea how diversified the Army is and how many opportunities the Army provides.
Her parents are impressed - they like the opportunities Johnson presented their daughter. Mrs. Carter even mentions that Johnson provides better guidance than that of either of her daughters’ guidance counselors. Both parents are highly impressed, telling Miller he is fortunate to have Johnson as part of his team. Miller thanks both of them.
Johnson comes to a point in the interview where he provides Jessica with a course of action that will meet each of her goals, asking her to become a member of the Army family - “Jessica, do you want to join the Army?” Jessica hesitates, looks at her parents, smiles and replies with an astounding “Yes!”
As the young NCO congratulates and welcomes Jessica to the Army family, the Carters smile, seem happy and supportive.
Johnson then asks Jessica if she knows of anyone else who may want to hear more about the Army. She gives him two names. He thanks her again and asks if she could introduce him to her referrals. Jessica agrees.
You have just witnessed how a lead that was a referral from a COI became a prospect, went through a transformation, and became an applicant.
Look for the next article in this series, “The Applicant”.
At the time this article was written, recruiters in this command went through the process articulated in this article 565,531 times with a made-to-conduct conversion ratio (success rate) of 73.3%. That means that recruiters conducted 414,571 Army interviews this year.
The story of Staff Sgt. Johnson is an example of how recruiters hone their interviewing skills, by rehearsing, and improve conversion rates by blueprinting. Like many recruiters, Johnson enjoys his assignment as a recruiter
Every recruiter should take pride knowing that he or she educates every Army prospect, and improves the quality of life for every applicant who enlists. Johnson is a typical Army recruiter working hard every day to better the Army family and support his team. If you think about the Army and the Army family as a whole, recruiters are its lifeblood – providing a continuous flow of new Soldiers.
By Rick Welling, Dave Dawson and Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Barbaresi; USAREC, Doctrine Division
Aug. 21, 2015
"This article provides a step by step scenario and tactics, techniques, and procedures to turn a lead into a prospect.
Staff Sgt. James Johnson - “Jessica, I look forward to meeting with you and your parents tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at your house. If you can, please have your social security card, birth certificate, and driver’s license handy, so I can verify eligibility and confirm I have all of your personal data correct. Also, if you know of anybody else who may want to hear more about the Army, please let me know tomorrow.”
Jessica Carter – “Okay, I will see you tomorrow. Bye”
Staff Sgt. Johnson – “Good bye”
“Whew! Sergeant Miller, I just made an appointment for tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m. with a female high school senior and her parents, would you be able to go with me? I need a buddy.”
Sgt. 1st Class Carl Miller – “I will go with you – no problem. What time do we need to leave?”
Staff Sgt. Johnson – “We should leave here at 4:45p.m.”
Sgt. 1st Class Miller – “Okay good, by the way, congratulations on making an appointment.”
Staff Sgt. Johnson – “Thank you! I have been trying to contact her for three days since receiving her name from my center of influence, Mrs. Debrowski, Central High School’s, guidance counselor.
Johnson is a DA select recruiter with 14 months experience. Miller is the center leader. He has been assigned to the command for six years and to the center for two months.
Nicknamed JJ, Johnson loves recruiting, enjoys the challenge of the job and the hunt. He prides himself at being the best recruiter in his center.
Johnson used all of his resources to get in touch with this prospect and made an appointment with her. Here are the tactics, techniques, and procedures he used.
Once Jessica agreed to an appointment, she became a prospect. A prospect is a person who has agreed to meet with a recruiter, or a person who’s been interviewed but has not committed to process for enlistment. Until Johnson contacted her and she agreed to an appointment, she was a lead.
Johnson reviews his notes from the phone call while they’re still fresh in his mind, annotates ARISS, and prepares a plan for his initial appointment.
He recounts what they spoke about, remembering she was really excited about the opportunity to receive training in the medical field and money for college to pursue a nursing degree. She also mentioned her father was recently laid off, that money is tight and that she needs to find a job to help her family.
She gave Johnson her e-mail address and mentioned she has a computer but won’t have a cell phone until she gets a job. Jessica told Johnson she took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery at North County High School last year and that it seemed easy. The high school belongs to Company North, where Johnson is stationed.
Johnson does his homework before the interview. He:
- Reviews the initial blueprint information he received from Debrowski. She mentioned Jessica would like to go to college to become a nurse because her grandmother was a nurse, needs college money, attended four high schools in the last three years due to her father’s work requirements, is on track to graduate, and that she showed interest in medical jobs in the military.
- Finishes building her record in the ARISS system and retrieves her ASVAB results including her AFQT, line scores, and test date. Her AFQT is an 87 and every line score is over 110.
- Calls Jessica’s parents to introduce himself and confirm they are aware of the interview and will be present. This also reduces the probability that Jessica will forget about the appointment or won’t be home when the recruiters arrive.
- Coordinated with Miller to accompany him in accordance with the buddy program policy.
- Contacts the local AMEDD recruiter to research the Army nursing program medical opportunities. Checked FSR2S for a general idea of which enlisted medical MOSes were available and watched all of the medical MOS videos to gain a general understanding of what each job entails. Although he knows better than to try to sell Jessica on a particular MOS or career field, he wants to be able to answer any question she may ask.
- Researches the requirements, costs, curriculums, admission requirements and financial aid packages for all nursing degrees on the local college and university websites. He discovers the average cost to be $400 to $530 per semester hour, and $9,750 a year. The average ACT score was 23, with a graduation rate of about 44 percent.
- Sends Jessica an email confirming the date and time of their appointment, informs her another recruiter will be attending, and thanks her for taking time to talk with him. He reminds her to have her source documents available. He includes the links to the recruiting center’s Facebook page and the GoArmy.com site.
- Reviews the following social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, noticing that Jessica’s privacy settings are open to the public. This allows Johnson to gather significant intelligence about Jessica, her family, and friends. He learns her family and friends call her Jessy, that she plays the clarinet in the band, likes jazz music, used to work at the Club 88 Diner as a waitress, and she likes to volunteer as a candy striper at the county hospital. He notes Jessica has a close family relationship, two younger brothers living at home, and an older sister living with her grandparents while she attends Florida State University.
- He puts together an interview packet, which includes the applicant’s lead card and blueprint information, all the materials to be used as evidence during the interview (college/medical program information, active and Reserve military pay chart, MOS listing, LES, sample FSR2S reservation/contract, pictures, service comparison charts, sample Joint Services Transcript, etc.), a blank SF86/application for enlistment, all required enlistment documents printed from her RZ record, some applicable PPI handouts, some RPIs, and business cards.
Checking his email the following morning, Johnson finds this response from Jessica.
Staff Sgt. Johnson,
Thank you for sending me the information. I too look forward to meeting you and Sgt. 1st Class Miller tomorrow. I have the documents you need to see to verify my eligibility. My parents are anxious, but I’m excited to learn more about my opportunities. My dad is proud that I’m exploring my options.
See you tomorrow.
Jessy
He continues preparing for his interview by programing his cell phone with Jessica’s address, making sure his tablet is fully charged, and does a 10-15 minute rehearsal of the interview with other recruiters roll playing the parts of Jessica, her mother, and father. Miller observes the rehearsal, providing feedback.
The day of the interview, Johnson calls Jessica prior to their interview confirming that she and her parents are home and the time he will arrive.
He and Miller arrive at Jessica’s house 5:25 p.m. Both recruiters begin by talking about themselves to ease tension, discuss the Army life, and motivate the family to talk about themselves.
Johnson waits for the opportune time to start his interview. He starts by telling his Army story and the Army’s story to build trust and credibility. As Jessica begins asking questions, he realizes the Army can meet her short and long-term goals. She had no idea how diversified the Army is and how many opportunities the Army provides.
Her parents are impressed - they like the opportunities Johnson presented their daughter. Mrs. Carter even mentions that Johnson provides better guidance than that of either of her daughters’ guidance counselors. Both parents are highly impressed, telling Miller he is fortunate to have Johnson as part of his team. Miller thanks both of them.
Johnson comes to a point in the interview where he provides Jessica with a course of action that will meet each of her goals, asking her to become a member of the Army family - “Jessica, do you want to join the Army?” Jessica hesitates, looks at her parents, smiles and replies with an astounding “Yes!”
As the young NCO congratulates and welcomes Jessica to the Army family, the Carters smile, seem happy and supportive.
Johnson then asks Jessica if she knows of anyone else who may want to hear more about the Army. She gives him two names. He thanks her again and asks if she could introduce him to her referrals. Jessica agrees.
You have just witnessed how a lead that was a referral from a COI became a prospect, went through a transformation, and became an applicant.
Look for the next article in this series, “The Applicant”.
At the time this article was written, recruiters in this command went through the process articulated in this article 565,531 times with a made-to-conduct conversion ratio (success rate) of 73.3%. That means that recruiters conducted 414,571 Army interviews this year.
The story of Staff Sgt. Johnson is an example of how recruiters hone their interviewing skills, by rehearsing, and improve conversion rates by blueprinting. Like many recruiters, Johnson enjoys his assignment as a recruiter
Every recruiter should take pride knowing that he or she educates every Army prospect, and improves the quality of life for every applicant who enlists. Johnson is a typical Army recruiter working hard every day to better the Army family and support his team. If you think about the Army and the Army family as a whole, recruiters are its lifeblood – providing a continuous flow of new Soldiers.