A salesforce for political campaigns?

by

 

 

Political lobbying is not difficult. It really comes down to 5 things. It is about knowing:

 

  1. the key (law) making process
  2. the key people,
  3. the positions of the key people,
  4. persuading enough of the key people to back your position.
  5. having people on board who can persuade key people

 

A lot of campaigns and organizations have some elements of 1 to 5. Few, have all. You may well have intricate knowledge of the legislative process you’re engaging with. You may know who this hidden key decision-makers and politicians are. Indeed, you may have well-crafted print position papers that address most, if not all, of these key people’s concerns. But, if you do not have colleagues or supporters who can persuade those key decision makers to back you and support you, it really amounts to nothing. If you cannot persuade the right people to back you on the day, it means nothing.

 

A checklist could look like this:

 

  • Do you know the key processes? Law making is just that. It follows rules and procedures. Quotas of votes need to be assembled and those quotas change depending on where you are in the procedure.
  • Where you are in the process. Are you too early, or more often, too late to intervene?
  • What are key issues? What is important to you may not be important to the people making the decisions. Maybe your view of what something says is not their view.
  • Who makes the key decisions. Do you know the names of the men and women who are making the decisions? In the EU, I guestimate this is about 250 men and women in Brussels and the national capitals. Often, some-one few people have heard about will be a vital player.
  • When is the key decision being taken? Often voting lists are decided in advance of the formal vote.  This means you can know the outcome days, or weeks, in advance.
  • Do you have contact details of the key decision- makers? It goes without saying, it is hard to contact people if you don’t know how to get hold of them.
  • Can you, or your allies or supporters get access to these key 250 people?
  • Who is speaking to the key decision-makers and are they really doing that.
  • Do you get feedback on how people are going to vote?

 

Strangely, too many campaigns fall because people don’t follow these old-school rules.

 

If there is software that makes their job easier that would be great. Perhaps, there is a salesforce for political campaigns. Please let me know if there is.