Achieve a high close-rate in sell calls with engineers using this simple storytelling 101 technique
A job change is very emotional and usually done in search of specific make-or-break things. Monetary reasons cannot be the only reason someone gets triggered to look for a job. Your sell call needs to address those reasons. The best way to do so is by storytelling.
Storytelling 101 is about ‘connecting’ with people at an ‘emotional’ level and ‘influencing’ their decisions, exactly what you need in a sell call. Your role may be the perfect fit for them, but how will they know without you making them realize it?
Bad sell call
A bad sell call is one in which you dump your pre-determined reasons on why they should take up this job offer. You will know it when you are trying hard. Without connecting with the candidate at a personal level, this is guaranteed to fail.
Good sell call
A sell call starts with identifying why a candidate is seeking a change. Identifying the reasons why you think they will get those in your role. Crafting a story to explain those reasons in a way that paints the picture of their future self in your team. Finally, influence their decision.
How to tell your story
You do the first call to identify the reasons they are seeking this role. For each of those reasons, share a story of how things will be better in your team. If you cannot offer something better, explain your philosophy on why that would be the case.
Once a strong engineer wanted to be in my team with no on-call. I explained to him why that was not possible given the critical nature of our team. However, I explained how we are trying to keep the stress of on-call lower with the efforts we are doing. I took some time to explain how on-call has helped some of my engineers become better software engineers.
The key is to not say “you will become a better engineer because of the on-call” but to explain the story of Jane who learned the technique of introducing dynamic rate limiting for APIs from her experience during an on-call situation.
It is important to pick the story that matches the candidate’s experience level and maturity.
Bring more real stories to the conversation
You do not have to be the only person doing all the selling. Identify engineers in your team that matches the candidate’s career trajectory and make them talk to the candidate. Get their help in sharing their stories.
Explain to them the candidate’s motivation and train your engineers on the speaking points. Prompt them to freely tell their stories. Nothing is more interesting than a true personal success story.
The next time you are on a sell call, throw away your script and bring out your stories.