Posted by shobob on 9/11/2010 4:49:00 PM (view original):

Posted by plague on 9/11/2010 4:35:00 PM (view original):

Posted by smoelheim on 9/11/2010 8:29:00 AM (view original):
The nice thing about you recruiting plague, is that you still have a lot of contacts from GD that you encourage to come over to HBD. I dont play any other WIS games anymore, so my contacts are pretty well limited to HBD.

That being said, it is some SERIOUS slim pickings out there right now... people just aren't into baseball right now. And at the end of the seasons that are about to trigger off, you'll be contending with Christmastime, which could be another bludgeoning.

I would guess 95% of the people who join Caray world are not people who I have had contact with in GD. I would say 100% of them are people who have not read the classifieds in the HBD forums.....

I have twice put adds on the classifieds in the forums and  it has never gathered me 1 owner for Caray world.

Plague, I have to ask, how the heck do you get new owners then?  Or is Caray a public world?

I would say the main way I get new owners is I send a lot of sitemails out looking for established WIS owners who play GD. I look up and down the standings of each world looking for successful GD owners. The goal of this world was to introduce GD owners to HBD and allow them to learn the game. I explain the world in the sitemail that I send out.........

Other HBD worlds obviously would not target GD owners, but they can still search HBD worlds for prospective owners and send them a 3 or 4 sentence  statement explaining their world and their current or future ideas for their world.

For example if I was too take over commish of a known crappy world I might send out a sitemail that goes something like this. I would also be selective of who I invite. I would look for owners who have been established in the HBD community, and I would look at their history and see if they look like owners I would want in a world I commish.

Hi, I just took over as commish of <known crappy world>  and I am looking to transform this world into a legitimate world in the eyes of the HBD community. I know it will take several seasons and hard work on my part. I am currently commish in Caray world and you can send a sitemail to any of the established owners in that world and ask them their opinion of me as commish, I am confident their response will be positive. I will NEVER let this world go public and I will strive for this world to roll over within 24 hours of its availability, something I have accomplished on a regular basis in Caray world. This will take time to establish but with a little patience on the worlds participants this world in several seasons will reach that goal.

I figure 90-99% of the people I send sitemails too will not be interested for whatever generic reason, but the small percentage that respond have a possible interest and then you have to sell them on why they should consider playing in your league.

I remember after the first season of Caray world  we had like 16 openings. I spent the greater part of the weekend searching for owners to replace the 16 owners that left the world, it really sucked, I think I got carpal tunnel that weekend, after that every season the amount leaving got smaller and smaller until now the turnover is around 2-5 owners a seasons.... My goal has always been to never go public (I think that is important in selling your world), get the best owners I can get who meet the requirements of the league, and roll within 24 hours.  Experiences I have had forced me to make adjustments, like 1 owner who 3 days after saying he would join still had not joined, which does not work when I am trying to establish a roll over in less than 24 hours... So I created a rule saying if you agree to join the league you must join within 24 hours of roll over or I will find a replacement owner, and if he joins before you do  then he is in and you are out.

Posted by shobob on 9/11/2010 4:49:00 PM (view original):

Posted by plague on 9/11/2010 4:35:00 PM (view original):

Posted by smoelheim on 9/11/2010 8:29:00 AM (view original):
The nice thing about you recruiting plague, is that you still have a lot of contacts from GD that you encourage to come over to HBD. I dont play any other WIS games anymore, so my contacts are pretty well limited to HBD.

That being said, it is some SERIOUS slim pickings out there right now... people just aren't into baseball right now. And at the end of the seasons that are about to trigger off, you'll be contending with Christmastime, which could be another bludgeoning.

I would guess 95% of the people who join Caray world are not people who I have had contact with in GD. I would say 100% of them are people who have not read the classifieds in the HBD forums.....

I have twice put adds on the classifieds in the forums and  it has never gathered me 1 owner for Caray world.

Plague, I have to ask, how the heck do you get new owners then?  Or is Caray a public world?

I have never let a world go public and as commish I think its important not too let that happen. Established owners have to feel confident that you will not let this world go public and that you are working to recruit new owners.

I understand why some worlds go public, and I am currently playing in worlds that the commish has asked in world chat if we should go public and I have voted yes to go public. For whatever reason those commish were not getting new owners and I would rather play than not play so I voted yes.

Posted by mhulshult on 9/11/2010 10:21:00 AM (view original):

Posted by plague on 9/11/2010 4:54:00 AM (view original):

Posted by smoelheim on 9/10/2010 11:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shobob on 9/10/2010 9:10:00 AM (view original):
Are you guys noticing that there aren't many nibbles right now?  Or is it me?  I just counted up the number of apparent open spots as advertised in the classifieds, and it's at least 55.  This all goes back to my annoyance at WiS for creating 5 new worlds in the last 3 months.

Took a lot of legwork, but I approved Mordecai within 48 hours of rolling over, needing 4 new owners. CLEARLY the hardest time I've had recruiting to this point. And I definitely agree that opening 5 new worlds at the end of baseball season/beginning of football season was a terrible way to go.     

Every season I start recruiting about 7 days before the world ends, every season I have enough people to replace the owners leaving the world, and every season the world rolls over within 24 hours. I wonder how many commish put a ad in the classifieds and feel that their job is done.

Good point.  This also requires your owners who are not returning to let you know, and not all provide that courtesy.  

But recruiting for your world is much like selling any product.  Since most of us probably aren't sales reps, think about it like selling your house.  There are 100 other similar houses out there that potential buyers have to choose from, so you have to do something to distinguish your world from the others.  And because there are more available teams than there are people actively looking to add a team, you will likely have to go find folks to takeover a team and convince them that buying a team from your world is a good idea, even if they're not looking for one.  If you wait for them to come to you, you'll likely be waiting a while.

One thing I do that helps, and maybe others have a better method, but this helps me a lot.

About 7 days before I start recruiting I make a list of all owners in the world who have not renewed and post it in world chat. I ask those owners to let me know their intentions. I title the list Unknown....As owners let me know their intentions I move them to 2 other lists that I also post in world chat. Returning and Not Returning. Most people will let me know their intentions, and sometimes people change their mind which is Ok, I am just trying to get a feel how many replacements I need. For those that do not respond I will either send them trade chats or sitemails asking them of their intentions. I usually don't bother with people who have not logged in for multiple days, I just assume they are not coming back.

I do something just like that too.

I have had 1 total recruit in 2 seasons that came from my classified posts. Most of mine came from me advertising in the other worlds I am part of.  Best thing that I've seen help gain people is an active world with a good blog.  Giving people some extra stuff to read for entertainment goes a long way when they are waiting between cycles for their worlds to sim.