Some useful things I’ve learned about lobbying over 20 plus years

I’ve been working as a lobbyist for more than 20 years in Brussels. I’ve represented most interests in town,  from NGOs, trade associations, foundations and multi-nationals.  The cores of good lobbying don’t change on who you are representing. It does not matter if you are working on detailed policy, emotional,  or technical issues. The rules stay the same.

1. Have a plan. If you don’t have a plan to get the vote or decision you want, don’t be surprised when serendipity does not stand in to help you. Most people don’t use a plan because they know that their chances are slight from the start.
2. Be civil. Being civil and decent is easy to do. Too few try it. Being civil to officials, politicians, and colleagues is a bare minimum. If you can’t do it, try another job.
3. Don’t bad mouth people. Don’t bad mouth people when they are not in the room and don’t bad-mouth when they are in front of you.  Brussels is so small a place. Your bitching is going to get back to people you don’t want it to. Badmouthing someone in their face tends not to work out well for you.
4. Ditch your ego. Remember, ego is the enemy. If it becomes about you, you are going to fall down. Drop your ego at the front door. Pick it up when you go home (if you need to). But don’t bring it to work.
5. Get used to loosing. I’ve found a lot of people find it hard to lose. I am used to it. I come from a progressive political background. Canvassing for the UK Labour Party in many failed general elections gets you used to not-winning. Your chances of winning every case are zero. If you find the thought of losing too much, or through tantrums when things don’t go your way, stop it.
6. Understand the process. Years ago, Ken Collins MEP, then Chair of the Environment Committee, told me to go and speak to Richard Corbett, then a group staffer for the Socialist Group. We needed his advice on an obscure procedural issue. Richard was one of the few people who really knew the rule book. His advice allowed us to get what we needed. From that, I learned you need to know the rule book for the process you are working on. You don’t have to memorise it all, but you need to be able to have the rule books you need close at hand to refer to when needed.
7. Understand why politicians and officials make decisions. Look at what drives them to reach a decision, rather than what drives you or your client, and try and match them.
8. Start early. The earlier you start in the process, the better. The best time to step in is the ‘ideation’ phase when the proposals have not even been written. Framing the debate, rather than responding to the debate, is where you want to be.
9. You need to bring real evidence to the table—real facts, not Trump facts.  Don’t drag out a study from 20 years ago to back up your case. Up to date, reputable, and independent.
10. Participate. Silence is not golden. If you don’t participate in the process, or step in late, don’t be surprised if you are ignored. You only have yourself to blame.
11. Hope that your political friends will win the day for you. I was always amazed out how many people put political hope in former MEP, Roger Helmer.  They thought that because his views were aligned with his, they’d be saved. I hated to point out that being supported by Roger Helmer was a sign of almost certain political defeat. You can’t base your hopes on political interests that agree with you. It would help if you broadened your political support to win.
12. Remember that in Brussels most people are ‘pro-European’. I am surprised at how many people think slagging off the European project will help advance their interests.  If you want to jump into bed with little-Britain messages, do, but don’t expect to win.
13. Know who is really making the decisions. If you don’t know is making the real decisions on your file in the Commission, EP, and the national capitals, and member state committees, your chances of getting what you want are neutered.
14. Speak to the people making the decisions in the Commission, EP and Member States. You can communicate with people by emails and letters, but there is nothing better than a face to face meeting. There is something about a physical meeting that allows you to grasp if people are going to back you or just being polite.
15. Spend time on the road, meeting people. Your job is to meet the people making the decisions to back your case. It is not spending time in internal meetings, collectively gazing at your belly buttons.
16. Any decision has only a limited number of people making it. On an ordinary legislative process has around 200-250 key decision-makers and influencers. I’ve worked with many a client or myself as a campaigner meeting most of the key decision-makers and influencers.
17. You’ll find that there are around 20 people who really make the decision. Many are unexpected. They don’t broadcast themselves. Find out who they are and win them over.
18. Go back to the capitals. All politics is local. That works in Boston and in Europe. Go back home to the capitals and the constituencies to really influence people.
19. Appeal to vanity when needed. If someone wants a photo-shoot with a celebrity backer, arrange it. If a country’s leader can be won over by the endorsement of a newspaper on an issue, sort it out.
20. In the Commission, use inter-service consultation to get the proposal you want. The reality is that most of the time, the Member States and EP don’t significantly change what the Commission puts out the door.
21. Develop long term relationships with key advisers in the EP, Commission, Council and the Member States.
22. Use tools like VoteWatch.eu to work out how MEPs really vote on the issues that interest you. Please don’t leave it up to folklore or rumour.
23. Don’t rely on your own country. Many lobbyists only speak to MEPs or officials from their own country or political background. That isolates you.
24.  Mass leafleting in their pigeon hole may sound quaint, but it goes straight into the bin 99% of the time.
25. The same goes for mass emails. They’ll go into the junk file and, if read, read after the vote.
26. Try clear writing. It will stand out. Barbara Minto’s Pyramid Principle will teach you.
27. Come in with a solution. Bring evidence to show how the solution will work. Put it down on up to 2 pages of A4 font 12.
28. Send the paper in advance of any meeting. You are going there to get a solution and not have a philosophical discussion.
29. Leave the paper behind. If you can’t, you are not considered as trustworthy.
30. Realise that everything you say and write is going to go public someday. Act as if you are working with a go-pro camera streaming live to a website that someone may watch.
31. If you walk in with your lawyer, you are most of the time admitting your guilt.
32. Get lawyers to look at the legal issues and prepare legal solutions.
33. If you threaten to sue officials or politicians, your chances of success are very low. Your chances of a public political suicide are high.
34. If you can’t be civil in a meeting, or can’t keep your misogyny at bay, don’t turn up.
35. Keep the paranoid conspiracy theorists locked up or away from anyone. Every organisation has them. Just keep them away from the outside world and don’t let them have any influence on any decisions.
36. Be patient. If you want to change decisions, you need to get used for the long game. From ideation to implementation. Many decisions take 10 years.
37. Resource up for the long term. If you step in, get what you want in the final directive, and then walk away, and presume the law gets adopted, you are fooling yourself. Europe has a tragic record for implementation. So, if you want to get what you worked for delivered on the ground, get ready for a long term commitment.
38. Be prepared for one-night political stands. The chance is that that you are going to need to work with political bedfellows you would not usually speak to.  Just remember it is for one night, and it is not a long term relationship.
39. The best way to keep up your area(s) and skills is to read. You need to read a lot. 1 hour a day on your own time is a good number to go for.
40. Use what works and drop what does not. If you want to win, use the techniques that work. If it comes from the other side, use it.
41. Be prepared. As the late  Andy Grove put it, only the paranoid survive. Don’t pray that the issue won’t come up. It will.
42. Steal a trick from John W.Kingdom. Have your case ready for when your issue comes up again in the political cycle.
43. Have filed away a report, a ready to position paper, and legislative amendment for when the political cycle on your issue comes back.
44. Look at the issue from the audience’s perspective and not yours.  Put yourself in their shoes and explain the issue to them from that basis.
45. Cold call. A lot of people don’t like calling people they don’t know. Get over that. You need to speak to people you have never met before and ask them for information.
46. Learn to tell a good story. If you can’t use metaphor and analogies, you led a deprived childhood and missed out the on fables and folk stories.
47. A good image, or infographic, can often tell a story far better than any words can.
48. Remember the rules of the game keep evolving and evolve with them.
49. Use checklists. There are 109 steps in the passage and adoption of a piece of legislation. You can’t remember all of them and all the opportunities each step of the journey has to advance your case. You need to have checklists for each of the steps in the area you work on.
50. It’s a great job. You learn something new every day.