Laura's Winning Ideas

Proposal Expert, Laura Ricci, Muses on How She Reached Her 85% Hit Rate, Creating and Managing Dynamic Teams and Living Through Turnarounds Supporting Good People Doing Great Things

Get the Story, Win the Work

— LRicci at 7:13 pm on Thursday, June 21, 2007

Real stories compel engagement.

I love having great writers on a proposal team and letting them loose to pry and tease out the stories we need to bring our proposal to life.

Interviewing to find the story is hard and artful. Having a handful of good questions to get the conversation started is key:

“How does it help?” “How do we help?” — Warren Yerks

“What’s @ stake?” — Director Tom Clifford

To get inspired with ideas of how to “get the story” read Tom Clifford’s blog, DirectorTom

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Comment by Thomas R. Clifford

June 21, 2007 @ 7:59 pm

Hi Laura!

Thanks for including my “What’s @ stake?” question in your post.

When I’m interviewing, two additonal simple but effective questions I often ask are:

1. “What do you really do? I mean…REALLY do?”

I don’t want to hear, “I’m an accountant.” I push for, “I make people’s lives easier by figuring out the math for them so they can focus on what is important to them in their life.” These answers create emotional connections that people can identify with quickly and easily.

2. “How did you get this job?”

People LOVE to tell the story about how they got their job. It’s a sure-fire way to loosen them up and get them comfortable right out the gate. You can go anywhere after this one!

Hope this helps :)

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