This is the third installment in Armchair Pool's seven part series on how to manage a hockey pool. For a summary of the entire series, see the blog post entitled "How to organize a hockey pool. A seven part series".
The first time I organized a hockey pool draft, it was for 15 people. I sent out 40 or so emails to all my friends and told everyone it was first come, first serve and then sat back and got ready to record the names. 5 people replied. 3 people wanted in the pool. I was astounded. Out of all my hockey loving friends, my
Canadian hockey loving friends, only
three people wanted to go in the pool?
I eventually got 14 people for my pool, but it took right up until the day of the draft and it took a lot more work that I had anticipated. I've since improved my recruitment process but I am still amazed at the amount of effort it takes to find 15 people to get together for an afternoon of drafting.
When the Armchair Pools hockey pool manager was developed, we incorporated functionality that would help pool administrators with the invitation/recruitment process. The "poolie management tool", as it is called, helps send and manage invitations to your pool. You can track who has entered your pool, who has declined and you can send reminders to those people who haven't replied. It can even track who has paid their entry fee. I have used the tool this season to organize my pool and it has helped me immensely. You can test it out for free by creating a trial pool
here.
Regardless of the tool, I still follow a set of rules when recruiting people for my pool. They are listed below.
Invite early
People have families and lives outside of the hockey pool. I know this should be irrelevant, but it's not. Wives and girlfriends know that late September is hockey pool season and they will do their best to fully book your potential poolies before you have a chance to invite them to your pool. To combat this, make sure you send out invitations well in advance of your draft date. I usually send out my invite a month before the draft. Make sure your invitation includes the date and time of the draft clearly. Also include the pool format, scoring rules details about the entry fee and prize money.
Follow Up
As replies to your invitations start coming in, keep track of who hasn't replied. Send these people a one-on-one email and find out why they aren't coming. You never know what is going on - maybe they don't check that email address, maybe their reply got lost in cyberspace, etc.. I had one case where a poolie had not received his email because his wife had intercepted it. When I tried to get a hold of him, I got an email from her telling me that he wasn't allowed to come to the pool. Astounded, but determined to make the best out of a bad situation, I quickly invited her to the pool in his place. Of course, I also requested that she come not to pick players, but to serve the drinks in something sexy. Needless to say, I never saw either of them at my pool that year. True story.
Recognize a 'no'
Remember that girl in high school who you asked out over and over, only to be constantly rejected. And remember how once you started ignoring her, she started calling. Yeah, ok, she didn't call me either, but that's not the point. The point it that people do not respond well to desperation, and by hounding people to come in your hockey pool you look desperate. So if someone decides not to come to your hockey pool, leave them alone. It's their loss. And who knows, if you ignore them, maybe they will call you.
Announce a 'yes'
As people commit to your pool, tell everyone about it. It will give committed poolies confidence the the pool will be a success. It also encourages people to respond to the invitation quickly in fear of losing a spot in the pool. If the pool is not filling up that fast, simply lie and say that it is.
Close the deal
Every year, I get a few guys who have committed to the pool will bail out on me with some stupid excuse.
"My wife made plans for us a few months ago"
"I need to spend more time with the family"
"My wife may go into labour"
These are all excuses I have heard over my career as a pool administrator. When you get the excuse, you need to act fast to keep these guys in your hockey pool. The best thing to do is use peer pressure and humiliation. Send out a few mocking emails to the rest of the pool explaining why your friend cannot make it to the pool. Every year in my pool, we draft a "boner team" for the guy who doesn't show and uses the lamest excuse. The threat of getting the "boner team" has motivated a lot of my poolies to honor their commitment to my hockey pool.
Follow these rules and you are guaranteed to get more poolies in your pool. However, that girl will never call you.
Tune in next time for Part 4 of our series, "Running things on draft day". It will discuss things you can do to make your draft day go smoothly.
