Have you decided to turn your sports talent into a career? Or perhaps one of your children is on the road to take his or her talents to the next level? One of the first things you should do is to obtain the services of a sports agent.

Agents can help contractual negotiations, set up tryouts and help with marketing you and your talent to prospective teams, coaches and recruiters. You need to find an agent that is reputable and who has the talent, contacts and experience to help you obtain your professional sports goals. In combination with your skills and talents, and those of your agents, your professional sports goals can be obtained.

- First, obtain a directory of agents that represent your sport. These directories will not only provide general contact information, but accreditation and educational experience of these agents. You can find directories by country, city and sport.

- List agents that hold some promise. Use the Internet to determine whether these agents are good potential matches. You can also get feedback from others about individual agents services and performance.

• Make contact with the agents. You can do this either by email or a phone call. You should expect to discuss your sport stats including sports experience, weight and height. Don’t be discouraged when your first contact attempt to the agent only gets you to an assistant or secretary.

- Ask questions and take notes. You’ll need to consider this an interview and you also need information about such things as fees, current and past clients and their experience. Once you have spoken to your choice, you’ll have notes that you can compile to compare and contrast the agents’ qualifications and experience.

- Finally double check information that your potential agents provided. You can actually verify their education and such.