STEP SIX-- BUILDING RUSH CONFIDENCE IN YOUR MEMBERS

At the beginning of this publication, we mentioned that a good rusher is a confident member. Confidence comes from experience. You will become a confident rusher when you overcome the fear of awkward silence. To become a good rusher, you must enjoy meeting people and talking about a variety of different subjects.

What Will We Talk About?:

If you've ever played any type of sport, I'm sure you've heard your coach utter those magic words, "You play like you practice." The last place you should learn to develop your conversational skills is with a rush prospect. You can practice with pledge brothers, other members, girlfriends or complete strangers. The purpose is to learn the art of conversation.

The conversations you will have with rush prospects will exist on three different levels which you should be conscious of, selecting the right topics to fit the situation. Those three levels are:

1. Small Talk

• Sports
• Current Events
• Current Classes

2. Inquiring Talk

• His Interests (books, movies, hobbies, activities, etc.)
• Your Interests
• Delta Tau Delta (locally and internationally)

3. Delt Talk

• History of Your Chapter (distinctions, honors)
• Membership Costs
• Duties of Officers
• Why I Pledged This Fraternity and Why I Would Pledge Again
• What Value There Is to Fraternity Membership
• What I've Learned As A Fraternity Member

Your questions, as well as responses, should flow easily between these three categories. Obviously, those topics in level 3 are not appropriate during the first five minutes after meeting a new prospect. Remember, the reason for having this conversation is to get to know the individual, find common interests, and discover if he would make a good member and a lifelong friend.

Anticipate Questions:

There are several questions on the rush prospect's mind that you must answer. Many of these can be woven into the fabric of normal conversation, but it is important the answers be well thought out and consistent throughout your membership. Other questions a rush prospect may ask may be uniquely personal such as, "Why did you join this chapter?"

As rush chairman, you will decide how you would like each of the following questions answered. You may also contribute questions specific to your chapter.

Don't be caught flat-footed with the questions, "Why did you join this chapter?", or "What makes this Fraternity better than some of the other fraternities?" If you don't know the answers already, then you'd better think about it. Questions you will need to be familiar with answering are:

• What are the advantages of belonging to a fraternity?
• What are the responsibilities?
• How can I find the best fraternity for me?
• What if I transfer to another school?
• Why are there so many conflicting opinions about the value of fraternities?
• What is the cost?
• What is rush?
• What is expected of a pledge during the pledge period?
• What is initiation?

Handling the Concerns Before They Become Excuses:

Incoming freshmen nowadays know the power of their situation. You will need to have the answers to their concerns regarding fraternity membership.

Again, practice on commonly voiced concerns can not only turn a prospect around, but move them significantly toward accepting his bid. During a committee brainstorming session, or rush workshop, you should list the top ten concerns people have heard during the rush process for why they might not join. Brainstorm answers the whole chapter can use. There are four basic steps in handling a concern. They are as follows:

• Qualify the concern.
• Gently challenge the concern.
• Provide new information.
• Concur that the concern has been handled.

Qualifying the Concern: By the time you get to the point of addressing concerns, you have probably determined whether or not you are interested in this prospect. You probably have spent a good deal of time and invested resources in trying to get this man to accept his bid. Turning concerns into opportunities can be a lot of fun. When qualifying a concern, you are trying to find out if that is truly the reason he is having second thoughts about joining. If the concerns are "My parents won't let me join" or "I can't afford to join a fraternity", some examples of qualifying statements would be:

1. If your parents would let you join, would you?
2. If I can show you how you can afford the fraternity, would you join?

Gently Challenge the Concern: The second step is to gently challenge the views that have caused this concern. Again, sample statements might be:

1. o I think it is important that parents be involved in such an important decision, but you also need to realize this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and your parents need to know how important it is you want to make this commitment.
2. Fraternity membership isn't as expensive as you think.
3. Introduce New Information:
4. At this phase of the process, it is important the new information either reemphasize something that has already been covered or introduce new material that might be developed to meet the specific needs of the prospect. To continue our examples, you might use the following:
5. Because I know how important this is to you, why don't the two of us visit your parents, or call them on the phone. I'd like to also explain the importance of fraternity membership and how we can help enhance your college career.
6. If you break the cost of fraternity membership down month by month, you will find it is not that much more expensive. Remember, if you live in a dorm or an apartment, you will still have social expenses and most of that is already provided in your dues.

Concur that the Concern Has Been Handled:

The final step is to reach agreement that you've eliminated the concern. If doubts still exist, you continue the process until either you discover the prospect is just giving you the runaround, he decides to join, or you discover it is a legitimate concern that is preventing him from accepting his bid at this time. Other Common Concerns: Benefits of Selling With "FABS":

Any first year salesman knows how to use feature, advantage, benefit selling. Although rush is the process of making friends, they also need to understand the benefits of membership. During a committee brainstorming session or rush workshop, you undoubtedly will list all the benefits of fraternity membership and, specifically, the benefits of membership in Delta Tau Delta. Again, there is a building block process to this technique.

FEATURE + ADVANTAGE = BENEFIT

You should understand that the Feature is the aspect of fraternity membership or the attribute about your chapter you want to highlight. The Advantage will most likely be what the prospect will get out of the Feature, and the Benefit is the personal reward they will receive from the Benefit. The middle part of this process is the most important and it provides the bridge between the Feature you are highlighting and the personal Benefit it will bring to the member. An illustration of this follows:

Bridge Words: "Because of..." "You can..." "Which means that..."

Example: "Because we have a separately finished study room away from all the noise and distractions going on in the rest of the house, you can study in peace and quiet without having to drive to the library... which means you will be able to squeeze more studying into a shorter period of time." The Feature is the well-furnished library/study room, the Benefit is more free time.

Checking Question:

To finish the process you want to make sure your prospect understood the connection. A checking question will get a response from him to the "FAB" statement which you just made.

The typical checking question will start with the words "Can you see how..."

Example: "John, can you see how having a dedicated study area can help you make good grades and give you more free time?"