We tried to hire these two for five years. And every minute of our waiting paid off.

Note from Steli: we are pleased to announce that Nick Persico officially “reunited” with the Close.io team and headed the development department . He will work on special projects in sales, marketing, and productivity assessments. He will devote some of his time to clients, and will also share thoughts on business in general and the work of sales and marketing in particular in our blog.


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Mark the goal. Stubbornly seek it. To finish the job.

This “formula of persistence” is the “secret of success” (if such a thing exists at all).

True, it is not quite a secret, because most of us are familiar with the first part. Seeing, identifying a goal is easy , because you only need to take the first step : pick up the phone, send a letter, go to a conference, go to a meeting ... I think the idea is clear. We all do it, and every day.

But stubbornly achieve the goal - is another matter, and this is the whole point . The first step is easy to do - it is difficult to insist on your own and achieve the desired.

I have already told you how to use this approach to close deals , turn refusal into agreement and achieve the impossible. Today we will talk about how it helps to hire those whom you hire, it would seem impossible , and find incredibly talented people who transform the business.

I will tell not only about what needs to be done, but also about how this is done. The fact that Close.io is today is primarily the merit of the team, and this team was not assembled without a fight. They fought for each employee, and for some the battle went on for years . And it almost always turned out to be worth the wait.

I want to share two stories from the archives of Close.io, which show very well how important it is to persevere and get to the end. But before proceeding to the story itself, let's make sure that we correctly understand how to approach the hiring of employees.

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Do not waste a day on something you don’t give years

When recruiting people into a team, you usually deal with candidates of three types: some work well, others change a company for the better, and still others change everything .

The first two are not so few, the last day with fire you will not find. If you realize that you have found a person who will fundamentally change your business, hire him, no matter what it costs and no matter how long it takes.

It is likely that it will take a long time to wait - but this is normal. As Nawal Ravikant, CEO of Angellist, said, “if you don’t want to work with someone all your life, don’t work with that person for a day.”

So forget about hiring someone to meet your current needs for the next six months, a year, or even a couple of years — look for people you want to work with for the next 10, 20, or even 30 years. You need to act on the future, and only this way you can hire the best of the best.

When such a person is found, persistently invest resources into it. It may not be possible to get him to his team today, tomorrow, after a week, a month and even next year. Do not retreat, continue persistently to achieve your goal, and then you will succeed - because when this person eventually matured, you will be there and do not miss the moment.

And what do two extra years mean for relationships that are tens of years long?

But enough talk - let's see how it looks in practice. I will tell two true stories about how stubbornness and dedication helped hire those who could transform the company.

Three-year hunting, which began with a drunken party

Today Phil Freo is heading product development and development at Close.io, so it’s no exaggeration to say that if it weren’t, our CRM for remote sales would be something completely different - perhaps it wouldn’t appear at all.

Long before Phil came to us at Close.io, we were just friends, and both were busy with educational startups: I started my own, and Phil led the development at another.

But even then I knew that I wanted to work with him, and I let him understand that. I remember once, when I got drunk at TechCrunch party, I said (as far as the stumbling language allowed): “Phil, you are a tough guy. I like your energy and your mind. I want to work with you - someday. I need to work with you. I will work with you. ”

He said that he was thinking the same way, but quite possibly it was just politeness: what else was he to answer? In any case, nothing concrete was meant: I had no opportunity to offer real work, and he was not looking for a new place.

Nevertheless, I expressed my intentions very clearly: someday, in some way, we will work together. Thus began the "hunt", which lasted several years .

The worst decision in the life of Phil

Fast forward a couple of years. My startup failed. While I was trying to figure out what to do next, Phil helped our mutual friend find a niche for a new application.

At some point I had my own idea, and I, knowing that Phil was consulting a startup, did not hesitate. Phil was not officially part of the team, but he turned out to be an incredibly helpful adviser and even allowed us to use his apartment as an office.

With Phil's help, we launched our product, found some support, raised money, and even got into Y Combinator . And as soon as we had enough funds and resources, we began to persistently try to entice Phil to ourselves.

For three months, we invited him for breakfast, lunch and dinner at least once a week. We called, wrote letters, came to his house ... We even had several partners from the Y Combinator incubator, who were pushing him to come to us. We tried everything possible .

And despite all these efforts, Phil broke our hearts with rejection. He was not ready to leave the startup in which he worked.

But most importantly what happened next. Most people, having failed after so much effort, break off relationships and give up. We did otherwise. In fact, his refusal only added to us determination.

Yes, it was unpleasant, and yes, I let him know what I thought about it. I even remember how I sent him the photo made that day and signed: “The worst decision in your life.”

But this annoying trouble did not prevent us from further investing in relationships. More importantly, we still clearly stated our intentions: someday, one way or another, we will work together.

The best decision in the life of Phil

We spend another year and a half ahead. Our startup got to its feet and turned into ElasticSales - the predecessor of Close.io, and we began to grow a little.

Phil's circumstances also changed: over the past year and a half, he put together a highly efficient team that was no longer so dependent on him. Feeling that he could quietly leave, Phil returned to the idea of ​​working with us.

Words can not convey, with what enthusiasm we met this initiative! And this time everything worked out: after several months of discussions, Phil joined our team. I will not lie if I say that I was in seventh heaven for joy.

Years of effort finally bore fruit - but was it worth it?

Of course. Every second spent has paid off.

When Phil came to us, he developed a technology that made our sales department succeed. And he also released our product - Close.io - to the market.

How much does persistence cost and does it pay off

Phil was worth it to us and him. But we invested in relationships, and thanks to them our cooperation has yielded such rich fruits.

Let's imagine that we abandoned the idea of ​​hiring Phil after the first year of unsuccessful attempts — or, having been refused, got angry and disappointed. What would be? Most likely, we would lose an extremely successful startup, and the market would be an extremely useful product.

Remember: as soon as you realize that you have found a person who will fundamentally change your business - do not let him go in any case. Because when the time comes, you will be remembered first.

I am quite sure that in our life we ​​very much underestimate the ability to pursue a goal. I really rarely come across people who show enough perseverance, but this extremely important skill applies to all spheres of life. And by the way, including that is why in our software for sales there is a special tool that will help you achieve goals .

Now let's talk about people who change everything on the vine ...

Win, lose, and finally win again.

I will talk about the person who left Close.io only to return in a few years - because we did not give up stubbornly.

Nick Persico joined us in the days of ElasticSales. He was incredibly talented, and quickly climbed to the top of the leadership team. When we changed the paradigm and turned into Close.io, he was the first to start selling our product and promoting it on the market. And in many respects it was thanks to his efforts that our launch was a success.

Nick grew so fast that he soon received an amazing offer from one of our clients. We did everything possible for Nick to stay, but in the end he nevertheless accepted their offer and left Close.io, and this loss cost us dearly.

But we, in spite of this, were not angry or grieved. We understood that we wanted to return him - we needed to return him, therefore we did our best to help him succeed in the new position.

As a result, the company in which Nick worked became one of our largest clients, and he began to uphold Close.io's interests on the US east coast: with his help, several companies met our CRM for remote sales and implemented it.

Not all startups are lucky

It's been a couple of years; Nick decided to leave his position and start his own startup. It would seem that here we will give up. But we did not give up; on the contrary, with double zeal, we began to invest resources in it.

We began to advise start-up Nick from time to time and did everything possible to help him succeed. But even helping him, we were very clear: we want to get him back someday.

After a while, start-up Nick started having difficulties. I remember these sudden calls every month: for the first 30 minutes we discussed a plan that would help get his startup out, and the next 30 minutes explained that the plan probably wouldn't work, so he should come back to us.

For two long years, Nick rejected our offers - again and again - but we did not think to give up.

Home again

Unfortunately (or fortunately, this is how you look), Nick’s startup didn’t get out. And when Nick realized that he needed to look for a job, who did he think about first? Where, he knew, would he gladly be met and supported?

In the Close.io team, we didn’t give up and didn’t let Nick go - and when he was ready, we were there.

At the time of this writing, Nick has been with us for several weeks, and he has already begun to change the way we work. Generally speaking, what he learned and learned outside our company made him even more valuable to us than before.

It took us three years to get him back, but it doesn't matter: the result was worth it, and if I had the opportunity to play back, I would have done the same.

Can your startup afford to do without stunningly talented people?

If there is moral in these stories, then it is like this: if you have found the same person - do not let him go by any means and always be close .

Invest in relationships as much as you can, and then, whenever possible. Remember that this does not necessarily have to be something “serious”: write blog articles together, invite you to go to the conference together ... just spend your leisure time and show interest in his career.

Nor do you let a person forget that you want to work with him, you need to work with him and you will work with him - no matter what it costs and no matter how long it takes.

Because you know: this relationship is not for a month or even for years, but for dozens of years ; you have a long road ahead.


About the translator

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