recruiting methods for Boy Scouts

[gwd-scouter]

Our DE holds recruiting rallys at our three middle schools. These have in the past been supported by local troops, sort of a "that''s our school" kind of thing. Never been hugely successful, but at least the attempt is made.

 

Got a call yesterday (thursday) from our DE that he had a rally that day at the school, had a list of about 20 boys that signed a sheet saying they were interested in being Boy Scouts, and could I show up that night at the school to sign up new Scouts. Loved the idea, but......

 

The school was not actually open for us, we had to meet in the parking lot. We did (my husband and I showed up) signed up one new very eager Scout and his mother who would like to serve as a leader. DE told me that it was now incumbent on me to call on those names on the sign up list he gathered earlier to try to get those boys. Problem there is that most of that list (20 boys) have only a first name, barely legible handwriting, and some whose names I recognized as already being in other troops.

 

Yes, I an desperate for boys in our troop as we only have nine now, but just how far do I have to go? DE came by my office earlier that day with the list of boys he rallied that day, said "you need to call these boys" and....well that''s it. He had the rally, but left the rest to me. I guess that''s probably the way it is, but it wouldn''t have been nice if he had told me about the rally ahead of time.

 

Actually - the school where he did the rally is typically assigned to another troop in our district. They never answered his calls, so he called me. Last minute and second choice I don''t appreciate, but at least we got one Scout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kudu]

gwd-scouter writes:

 

"Problem there is that most of that list (20 boys) have only a first name, barely legible handwriting, and some whose names I recognized as already being in other troops."

 

Are you saying that you only have a list of first names? No phone numbers?

[jambo]

GWD=scouter,

I sympathize your sincere effort to recruit Scouting. This is not done by the Council any more. They want each boy to be a recruiter, and they get a patch for it. I remember when I assisted running " school night for Scouting ". The Council executive would get permission from the principal to book the auditorium, to put on a show. I recruited Order of the Arrow, members and a dozen or so Eagle Scouts, in their class "A" Uniforms. The Scouts would put on skids on First Aid and etc. The MC was a Marine Sargent, who told the boys to grow up to be men, and join the adventure of Scouting ( not cubbing ). After the presentationt , we had a run on the recruiting table, we had 50 to 60 boys being excited to join Scouting. That was the good all days. Jambo

 

 

[frank10]

Assuming it''s a list of first names and phone numbers you can use the reverse look up feature at http://anywho.com (It''s by AT&T) to find the last names of the listed ones.

[Kudu]

Rereading your first post, I wonder if it is possible that you are apprehensive about calling people on the telephone.

 

If so it is time to bite the bullet and call everyone on the list in one sitting.

 

Your DE is right, you need to call these boys, and you need to do it now. You should be able to get 1/3 - 1/2 of the list to a meeting. That would double your Troop. Parents'' first and last names are nice, but you do not need them.

 

1) Write down what you want to say (a couple of words for each point to remind you, don''t read a script) Cover the same points if someone answers or if you leave voice mail. Remember to smile if you are leaving a message, it will change your tone of voice. Who, What, When, Where, Why (Why = Tommy wants to join Scouts -- don''t get into an abstract discussion about the Aims of Scouting):

 

a) Hello, I am gwd-scouter from Boy Scout Troop XXX and I am calling because Tommy wants to join Boy Scouts.

 

b) Did he tell you that he wants to go camping?

 

c) We meet every xxxxx night at xx:xx at xxxxx, do you know where that is?

 

d) The cost is $xx per year plus $xx per campout. We camp once a month.

 

e) Boy Scouts is different from Cub Scouts. At 11 years old, boys are more independent and do not need to be accompanied by a parent at weekly meetings and monthly campouts, if that will be a factor in your decision. (This is important, you can ask them to help out in some way AFTER their son registers).

 

f) My number is xxx-xxxx

 

 

2) Make lots of notes as you call. Don''t give up after one or two rounds of calls. I use the following abbreviations:

 

a) Yes (with notes about what the parent said in case they don''t show up)

 

b) No (write down reason to give your DE feedback)

 

c) BY = busy signal

 

d) NA = no answer

 

e) VM = voice mail (time and date)

 

f) Msg = left a message with a person (who)

 

g) CBL = call back later (in ten minutes, at the end of football season, in the spring after religion clases end)

 

3) Do not give up just because you left voice mail. Keep calling back at different times of the day. Nobody answers voicemail.

 

4) Have something interesting planned for their first meeting. First impressions are everything.

 

a) Try a half-dozen spark tools and a bag of cotton balls out in the parking lot.

 

b) Or knife safety.

 

c) Or print up an equipment list and have someone bring in his pack and go down the list. Do NOT show off a bunch of expensive toys!!! In the north the only thing they need to buy right away is a $7 closed-cell sleeping mat from Wal-mart.

 

d) Have a good game planned (dodge ball is usually popular, especially if it is banned in the schools). Use the game to start the Troop thinking about who they want in their Patrol. Have everyone in the Troop find a buddy, then have the buddies group into two teams. Stop the game and let the boys change around if they want.

 

5) Have enough registration forms on hand, plus a permission form & equipment list for the first campout, and a Troop info sheet if you have one. Hand the parents a registration form when they arrive, with the assumption that they are there to sign up (as they would to register their son for sports). If they want to check it out first that''s OK, but don''t be the one to suggest that they delay filling out the registration form.

 

6) Here is some stuff that might be useful if you haven''t read it:

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=168355#id_169164

 

Kudu

 

[gwd-scouter]

Yes, I am a bit hesitant to make cold calls. Well, OK, not exactly cold calls because the boys put their name on the list - but no guarantee they told their parents about it. Yes, some of them did not include phone numbers. Interesting idea about the reverse phone look up. Kudu, I remember your earlier post about recruiting nights, sign up sheets and making calls, so I will make the calls.

 

I still don''t like the idea of hanging around in the school parking lot waiting for people to show up. I don''t think it makes much of an impression on prospective Scouts and their parents that we can''t seem to be more organized by having a sign up table, brief presentation, demonstrations, etc. inside the school.

[Kudu]

gwd-scouter writes:

 

"Yes, I am a bit hesitant to make cold calls."

 

Yes, I am the same way. It is human nature to think that the situation would be much better if only something was different. Just sit down and do it, it is not so bad once you get started. As soon as you make your first "sale" your self-confidence will soar and your natural missionary endorphins will take over.

 

" - but no guarantee they told their parents about it."

 

The chances are that they did not, but you can work that to your advantage. Most parents are surprised to hear that their son signed up to join Boy Scouts. You know something about their son that they don''t and you can offer him something that they can''t.

 

I''m sure you will think of something from your own experience: Given my interest in Scout history when they sound surprised to hear about this, I tell them that even in the depths of the Great Depression, the Handbook for Scoutmasters advised spending money on postage to mail announcements to parents rather than trusting the boys (who would some day be known as the "Greatest Generation") to remember to bring papers home with them from a Scout meeting. Just say something from your own experience that is natural to you.

 

"Yes, some of them did not include phone numbers."

 

Sit down with your "very eager Scout" (and maybe his mother "who would like to serve as a leader") and try to figure out what the last names are, and maybe roughly where they live. From there you may be able to look up the phone numbers or find them in a school directory.

 

When other Scouts have joined you also can ask them. One trick is to ask the boys whose names are just before and just after the names without phone numbers because they may have been sitting or standing close enough to have noticed who signed up just before or after they did.

 

You can offer Recruiting Patches to anyone who can bring someone on the list to a meeting to register. Often a Council will have free patches this time of year, and more expensive ones in the Scout Shop you can buy for Scouts who bring in more than one new Scout. One year a popular boy -- the son of the District Commissioner (who had given up on getting him to join Scouts, btw) brought in six new Scouts when I mentioned that a Patrol Leader patch is the "recruiting patch" for bringing in at least four new Scouts :-)

 

But don''t depend on the Scouts to do the recruiting. You need to call all the no-shows again after the first meeting.

 

"I still don''t like the idea of hanging around in the school parking lot waiting for people to show up."

 

I didn''t understand that in your first post either. Where do you normally hold your weekly meetings? Now that you have their names, simply direct them to sign up at your weekly meeting.

 

"I don''t think it makes much of an impression on prospective Scouts and their parents that we can''''t seem to be more organized by having a sign up table, brief presentation, demonstrations, etc. inside the school."

 

I feel the same way about the BSA''s current "Eight Methods" as you do about dark parking lots :-) We live in an imperfect world. Work with what you have. Many Troops would love to have a list of 20 kids who want to join, especially if it is normally another Troop''s "territory". If you do a good job maybe the DE will give you the list again next year.

 

Kudu

 

[eolesen]

GWD, I''m not a fan of hanging out in school parking lots for recruiting, but if its what we have to do, it''s what we have to do... I''ve done it, and it''s downright discouraging to have nobody show up except the custodian, but even if only one boy shows up (as happened with you), it''s worth every minute of our time.

[Trevorum]

I nominate Kudu for National recruiting Tsar!!

[Kudu]

Trevorum writes:

 

"I nominate Kudu for National recruiting Tsar!!"

 

Thanks Trev but if it is all the same to you, I would rather be Stalin in the tradition of James E. West.

 

As the Stalin of National Recruiting I would return Scouting to the Baden-Powell Vision: Outdoor Adventure!

 

1) The first thing I would do is kick the Cub Scouts and the One Minute Managers out of Wood Badge and send everyone wearing Wood Beads to Reeducation Camp: A week of learning Outdoor Skills in small groups called Patrols.

 

This would change the Wood Badge paradigm to health spa from business manager school because hunger is a greater motivator than a business resume:

 

"Your Patrol did not eat this morning because nobody could start a fire with two matches? Congratulations! You have discovered the hidden Wood Badge agenda: The One Minute Dieter!"

 

2) Kick Leadership Development out as a Method of Scouting and restore it to its pre-1972 position as a subset of Boy Leadership, which is a subset of the Patrol Method.

 

3) Kick all of the classroom Merit Badges out of Scouting, including Environmental Science and the Citizenship Merit Badges. In their place restore the backwoods Scout Journeys (a series of wilderness expeditions of increasing difficulty), as the final test for every rank in Scouting.

 

4) Restore Patrol Leader Training to Scouting: Teach Patrol Leaders specifically how to hold Patrol Meetings, Patrol Hikes, and Patrol Campouts with an absolute minimum of adult presence.

 

Leave National Youth Leadership Training as it is. If marketed correctly, the verbal skills and self-confidence that it teaches could greatly enhance our recruiting efforts: My previously nerdy SPL returned from NYLT with a notebook full of team-building exercises and started to date college girls.

 

5) To celebrate true leadership skills change the BSA Mission Statement to:

 

"Outdoor adventure and confidence with girls, what more could a boy want?"

 

Kudu

(This message has been edited by Kudu)

[John-in-KC]

gwd,

 

You have a right to be apprehensive in an era where all manner of bad folk are going after our children. Your DE had an obligation as well... to provide you LEGIBLE input.

 

I would do three things in this circumstance:

 

1) Do the research needed to get full names tied off to phone numbers. anywho is a pretty good resource there.

 

2) Some people will not be publicly listed in the criss-cross. I''d dump those back on your DE and say "please find me enough data to call these kids."

 

3) I''d get my PLC together for a call party at wherever you meet. Let them do the calling work, (it approaches being Scout-run then), and let them have the glory of recruiting kids. Also... let them have pizza!

 

 

[Kudu]

Gwd,

 

Hopefully you sat down and breezed through the 20 phone numbers before checking this thread and finding more reasons to put it off. Sunday night is a great time to find people at home. If you haven''t done it already sit down and make those calls!

 

John-in-KC writes:

 

"You have a right to be apprehensive in an era where all manner of bad folk are going after our children."

 

Gwd, According to Richard Louv''s Last Child in the Woods this kind of bogeyman sensationalism is one of the reasons that children are kept indoors and on sanitized playing fields. So what? Being apprehensive is not going to help anyone, most importantly the 20 boys who signed up hoping that they would be closer to camping today than they were last week. Sit down and make those calls :-)

 

John-in-KC writes:

 

Your DE had an obligation as well... to provide you LEGIBLE input.

 

Gwd, You are talking about sixth grade kids here. This year ten minutes after I passed out the clipboards with the sign-up sheets I noticed that in one row the clipboard was still in the lap of the first boy (presumably dyslexic) still struggling to write his name and number. Remember that you are very lucky to have 20 names: With the help of the people who do show up this week you can piece together the details of the missing phone numbers much better than the DE can.

 

John-in-KC writes:

 

"1) Do the research needed to get full names tied off to phone numbers. anywho is a pretty good resource there."

 

Gwd, If you did not do that right away when you read wingnut''s suggestion on Saturday at 3:42 PM, then forget it. You need to get those kids to your NEXT meeting. You STILL have time but the clock is ticking. Sit down and make those calls :-)

 

John-in-KC writes:

 

"2) Some people will not be publicly listed in the criss-cross."

 

Gwd, So what? If you want to know their names, just call them up and ask them!

 

I''d dump those back on your DE and say "please find me enough data to call these kids."

 

Gwd, Why get into a stupid battle with the DE? The school where he did the rally is typically assigned to another Troop in your District but he gave the list to you because the other Troop was too much of a hassle. Why dump it back in his face now, four days later? Did you ever hear the Scouting expression "It is all about the boys?" Well it means suck it up, take some responsibility, and do the right thing by them! Sit down and make those calls :-)

 

John-in-KC writes:

 

"3) I''d get my PLC together for a call party at wherever you meet. Let them do the calling work, (it approaches being Scout-run then), and let them have the glory of recruiting kids."

 

Gwd, OK, if you can have the PLC in your house two hours before bedtime tonight (Sunday), then it might be worth seeing how well they do, but you might loose all 20 recruits if they do not have good phone skills. This sounds like yet another excuse to put off calling the parents.

 

I might try this idea myself for our third round of phone calls because a good guilt angle might work. But remember that the idea is to talk the parents into letting their sons join Scouts. Even with all our flaws as human beings, is anyone on our PLCs really better at that than us?

 

As far as "Scout-run" goes, if in the BSA the PLC was responsible (as they should be) for issuing "Blue Cards" and approving advancement (rather than letting adults conducting Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review do their work), maybe they would be responsible enough to talk with experience and authority when convincing parents that Scouts is a good idea for their sons. But is this the right time to dump this responsibility on them?

 

Gwd-scouter wrote "Yes, I am desperate for boys in our troop as we only have nine now, but just how far do I have to go?"

 

Just turn the computer off and make those calls :-)

 

Kudu

 

[gwd-scouter]

Kudu, I was not looking for reasons to put off making the calls. That comment came off a bit snotty, and I apologize if you didn''t mean it that way.

 

Well, I made the calls. Most of them anyway. As I said, I didn''t have phone numbers for some. Only reached two people and they said they''d like to come see the troop. The rest were either wrong numbers or no one home. I did leave messages on machines. I too thought Sunday night would be a good time to call, but actually not overly surprised at receiving answering machines since Sunday night is a big church night in our area.

 

Thanks all for your suggestions. If the two I talked to last night come and join, plus the one who joined the other night, that will make three - a thirty percent increase in our troop!

 

I will make a suggestion to our DE for next year. Maybe he could tell me ahead of time when he plans to do the middle school recruiting and I could be there as well to hand out our Troop flyer and talk with the boys.

[John-in-KC]

Kudu,

 

In my neck of the woods the TV channel investigative reporters crash on anything and anyone, including legitimate people doing legitimate things. If hassling "Joe Citizen" will get the 5 O''Clock News better ratings, they''ll do it. An area HS football coach had a 10th grader break his leg in practice. The next day, the TV folks were there in full force, interviewing the Principal, the Vice-Principal and AD, the Coach, the parents...

 

Should gwd, or any Scouter, conciously accept exposure to the public eye for legitimate actions, and be harrassed for it? Unabashedly, NO.

 

If the Professional Service is going to "support" us in the trenches, then they need to do right and good things for us.

 

Thank the good Lord my DD, Sr DE and DE are all good people. Of course, in our neck of the woods, school days for Scouting are long gone, too.

 

The best recruiter is still boy-boy, the best recruiting aid is still great program.

[Kudu]

gwd-scouter writes:

 

"I was not looking for reasons to put off making the calls."

 

I said that reasons to delay were being offered, not that you were looking for them :-/

 

"The rest were either wrong numbers or no one home."

 

When I get a wrong number, I write down the number that I did dial. This year I got a total of eight wrong numbers! I was able to convert five of them to correct numbers by looking at each digit and thinking about what other number it could possibly be, and then calling that possible number. For instance this year an "8" looked like a "6," a "2" looked like a "7," a "7" looked like a "2," a "9" looked like an "8," a "9" looked a "4," and a "1" looked like a "4."

 

On another thread I mentioned that the mother of one of the "unfixable" wrong numbers called me as result of the flyer. We had called six (6) different possible numbers for her, but it turned out that we were looking at the wrong digit: The obvious "8" was actually a "9"!

 

"I did leave messages on machines."

 

Did you mention that they were not required to accompany their sons to weekly meetings and monthly campouts? You must continue to call those numbers at different times of the day (evenings and after school in the afternoon are good times) because most of them will not call back.

 

"If the two I talked to last night come and join, plus the one who joined the other night, that will make three - a thirty percent increase in our troop!"

 

The bad news is that sometimes as many as half of the parents who say "Yes, my son is excited about joining and we will definitely be there tonight" do not show up the first week, or even the second week after a call back when they say "Yes" again. Each one of these "Yes" parents has a different circumstance and may take some figuring out to actually get them to your meeting.

 

The good news is that with a lot of persistence you should be able to convert 1/3 of the 20 names to paid registrations, but you must call each number until they actually say "No."

 

On what night does your Troop meet?

 

"I will make a suggestion to our DE for next year."

 

Your suggestions will have more weight if you offer them with 6 or 7 paid registrations in your hand :-)

 

"Maybe he could tell me ahead of time when he plans to do the middle school recruiting and I could be there as well to hand out our Troop flyer and talk with the boys."

 

Ask him how big the audience was from which he got the twenty names. I always get more than 50% of the boys in an audience to sign a list (my goal is always 66%). Flyers usually do NOT work unless you can convince the kids that it is their only ticket to do what they want more than anything else in the world, and even then only one parent out of every 18 boys who desperately want to join will call you. Remember that even in the best of circumstances next year, your calling list will be just as frustrating as it is this year.

 

The point of John-In-KC that "the best recruiting aid is still great program" is true. For you that also means that you must work very hard to to keep the interest of your six or seven new Scouts as you move in the direction of boy-run. That may mean letting the PLC decide what it wants to do in a general sense with the Scouters making a significant effort to translate that into something that surprises and delights boys looking for adventure every week, not just once a month on campouts.

 

You said that you are desperate for boys in your troop and asked just how far do you have to go in the process of recruiting. The answer is that you must go very far beyond what any reasonable adult would consider the point of diminishing returns: The point beyond which most people think "This is beneath my dignity," or "This is just not worth it," or "Nobody would blame me if I quit now," or in suburban Kansas City the point where the helicopters of investigative news reporters start circling your home :-)

 

Kudu

(This message has been edited by Kudu)