I’ve done extensive writing about how to recruit for a guild. I’ve also spent a lot of time discussing it with Karen on a View from the Top. It is always funny how giving advice is a lot easier than actually putting it into practice. I’ve been recruiting for Iniquity lately and that has refreshed my perspective a bit. Times have changed a little bit since the last time I did this sort of work and I thought I’d take a look at what is working for me.
Positive Encounters
I talk about positive encounters in my book and I still see them as the best possible recruiting method. Grouping with outsiders and using that time to meet and bond works wonders for finding new members. The main issue we’ve had is that we’re such a small guild we have trouble doing this. When you have guild mates who need updates it is hard to take a pass on them and keep that 6th and/or 5th group slot available to outsiders. Are you better served by getting the guild member and update or meeting that new player who can take your guild to the next step? It is a tough call and one a guild leader will have to make every now and then.
Try to strike a balance where you’re getting your guild mates the upgrades they need but still including some potential new members in your group(s). Offer to help others on commonly needed updates. In EverQuest II a good example is the Epic Repercussions quest-line. Someone always needs an update and it is an easy way to find potential members. If you’re good at running the related instances you stand to impress potential recruits. You can also send your top group runners out to occasionally join other guild’s groups.
Advertising
I’ve identified the major issue with my recruitment drive: brand knowledge. At this point very few people know who Iniquity is or that we even exist. This makes it very difficult to attract interest in what we’re doing. I have a pretty strict policy in not spamming general channels with a recruitment message but short of the high end guilds that is becoming the standard. You likely won’t attract the right type of player that way but at least others know your guild exists. There is a catch though. If you advertise you have to be honest.
That is where I’m stuck at the moment. When I recruit I’m overly honest. I explain that we’re about 14 players strong and that we’re dropping the first and second bosses in most zones. A lot of casual “raid” guilds will just claim they raid. When a player joins they quickly find out that raiding means sloppy organization and wiping to mobs that are said to be on farm status. If we had bodies we would stomp most of the encounters but it is hard to just say that. When will we have bodies? That is why I believe my recruitment message is turning people off. I’m being too honest and that may not be fair to the guild. Is it time to start fudging the truth a little bit?
I maintain that the answer is no. You can certainly be too honest like me but you can also get a bad reputation from promising something you cannot deliver. My thought is that if you give your honest pitch and the person is still interested in joining they’re probably more likely to stay. The morale of the story? Stay the course and be honest even when it is hard.
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I really think we should start offering a full set of relic to join!
Hello! Good topic, running into this a bit myself, but something I have found that actually helps some, is being honest, but also telling the recruit what your goals are. A brand needs a purpose. If you outline your guilds goals clearly, people can read that and decide what they want to do. I don’t think there is such a thing as “too honest” but perhaps your painting it in a more negative light than it needs to be. You are a guild of a dozen awsome players, who need a few more awsome players to advance, any recruit would be a needed and relied on member of the guild. Not many guilds can do that, since in most guilds you are # 145 recruit that is there to be a body on the raid. Sell your strong points, your community and your guild as a whole. You talk about your guild alot on the show, and it sounds like an awsome place. I think as a guild leader, at least for me, I tend to get stuck on the “we are stalled in progression cause we don’t have enough people” and I end up focusing so much on the raid side of it that I forget to sell the other great parts of my guild…sure I end up with people who might not be uber players but people can learn to play and raid. about 50% of my core were non raiders before they came to my guild, now they are there every raid night and the best raiders I have cause I gave them a chance. So I think in the end, sell your strong points, state your goals, be honest, and it will all work out.
And BTW IMO summers suck for recruiting because everyone is off playing this game called “real life” pfft.
A smart ad guy would tell you to be a little more general with your ad — “We do X zones for raid content,” and allow people to enquirer within. You’re still honest that way, but are much, much more likely to get someone who makes that first point of contact with you for discussion. From there, you have a shot of getting them to join. If you don’t get them to talk to you, you’re not going to get them to join. So you can be honest and still not hurt yourself… that, to me, is the smart way to go.
BTW: I downloaded the free trial of EQ2 recently… and wow, is it fun. I was always turned off by the character models before… what I didn’t realize and EQ never really got the message out is that the game is pretty darn costumizable in terms of character models… so even though I hated the generic/default looks for this characters, it was possible to change them a great, big deal. That’s a huge bonus… which SOE never, ever got out there. I’m actually strongly considering buying the game and Subbing.