In the hyper-competitive world of football agents, attracting the attention of decision-makers at clubs is increasingly difficult.

Sporting Directors are bombarded with approaches and their attention span is getting shorter, especially in a busy transfer window, and many simply don’t even respond to phone calls or messages.

Some agents are still spamming clubs with Transfermarkt links or generic PDF presentations about their players, but the old way of doing things no longer cuts it in a fast-moving, digital world.

Here’s why:

1. Players don’t stand out: Different clubs have different needs, so sending everyone the same pitch is a waste of your time and theirs. Decision-makers have countless messages to filter and need a compelling reason just to open yours - especially if the player is unfamiliar to them.
2. Old-fashioned, time-consuming presentation: Sporting Directors, like everyone else, do much of their work on mobile technology. If your PDF pitch is not displayed properly on their phone or they have to open multiple links to assess your player’s credentials, it will more than likely end up in their trash. 
3. Information is out-of-date: The statistics and comparisons that you use to promote your player in a standard pitch lose their power by the hour in an ever-evolving market. While things are changing in real time, your message stays the same and is easily forgotten.
4. Clubs start to find you annoying: If a club is giving you radio silence, you don’t even know if the right person has seen the message or whether it has been passed on to someone else in the club for further assessment. “Have you looked at my player?” Does that WhatsApp message sound familiar? You ask for feedback too early, before the decision maker has had time to check out the player or before he has received feedback from his recruitment department. And that might be the last time you speak to him because he finds you annoying.
5. Lack of trust: While your message drops to the bottom of a sporting director’s inbox, other agents claim to represent your player. By the time you remind the club that you made the original pitch, it could be too late. You risk getting cut out of the deal or having to split your commission with other intermediaries.

Those are just some of the reasons why your messages get two blue ticks on WhatsApp, but no further response. And after a while, when the club decision maker has moved your messages to the archive, the two ticks on WhatsApp have turned grey. The bad news is that your message might never be read again, because you missed your opportunity to capture the club decision maker's attention when you had the chance. 

How to get Clubs attention and make more transfers

The good news is that innovative agents have found a way to solve all these problems and beat their competition. They have abandoned sending Transfermarkt links, clunky PDF’s or player profile screen dumps and are now using a new super tool called Custom Pitch, which allows agents to create, design and send a made-to-measure focused pitch to club decision-makers in as little as 60 seconds.

Here’s how it tackles the issues:

1. Fully customised in 60 seconds: A personalised experience is always best. Select one player, one target club and then tailor your message. Show you have done your homework. And you don’t need a graphic designer or an in-house data analyst to make your pitch stand out. Custom Pitch provides you with automatic or edited suggestions for price, pitch message, video, signature skill illustrations and player comparison graphs that make your player stand out and appear relevant to the specific club. For example, if you are pitching a central midfielder to an Italian club, you can share relevant benchmark data about players in the same position at the potential buying club and throughout Serie A;
2. Easy to read: Make it easy for clubs to assess if your player is relevant to them. A Custom Pitch message is a digital, one-stop shop with all the information a club needs, including a video player. It makes your player stand out immediately and the Custom Pitch is easy to read on any device. It can be sent quickly and securely in seconds, and decision-makers can respond just as swiftly and easily;
3. Powered by real-time data: The TransferRoom Custom Pitch is powered by real-time player data and will automatically update both straightforward player statistics (goals, assists etc) AND its bespoke features. So your pitch remains relevant and stands out;
4. Instant player interest tracking. You no longer need to guess if the Sporting Director has checked out your player pitch. Live analytics allow you to see who has opened your message and how often. It means you can refocus your approach as necessary, rather than spam clubs in the hope of attracting attention.
5. Become a Trusted Agent - Show you are the player's REAL agent: By communicating directly with decision-makers, agents using the Custom Pitch are able to assert their rights as the player’s legitimate agent and allow clubs to respond easily to them - and no-one else. Decision makers from 650 clubs are already working with Trusted Agents on TransferRoom and use the platform to check which agent is representing which player.

You may be a busy agency handling the interests of hundreds of players, a one-man band juggling a small number of clients, or something in between. Whichever applies, you’ve rarely - if ever - had the time to send out customised pitches for players, let alone different pitches for the same player to different markets. Well, now you do.

TransferRoom’s Custom Pitch enables you to create bespoke pitches in just one minute. Instead of joining a list of unread PDFs, your pitch will stand out because it is relevant, focused and easy to read.

The Custom Pitch, which is exclusive to Trusted Agents, allows agents to use their time and resources more efficiently and effectively to promote their clients’ interests and their own reputation in an ever-more-competitive market.

Learn more about the Custom Pitch and get started right away. Book a demo and see how it works.

For further information about TransferRoom and the benefits of becoming a Trusted Agent, click here.