What are the tools in the Lobbyist’s Toolbox

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I’m doing some teaching in Maastricht about how to prepare a lobby plan.

I believe a written lobby plan is a key product for successful lobbying. I agree with Karl Rove :

“You  then need to sit down and write out a plan … If you have no plan, you will lose.”

I’m then asked what other “products” lobbyists produce.

I went through my filing cabinet of checklists, SOPs, case studies, and templates and came up with this list. See below.

The deliverables will vary depending on the area you focus on.

I think there are some areas that lobbyists should not tread – see ** – and other areas where outsourcing to specialist service providers – see * – may be what the idea of  “opportunity cost” is all about.

You’ll see some services explicitly or implicitly offered –  e.g. social media ads,  telepathy, what I heard at Place Lux at 2 am on Thursday  – missing. Simply because I don’t harness them.

If there are other deliverables you have in your lobbyist toolbox, please share.

Deliverables
1. Advisory
  1. Strategy Kick off + 6 to 12 month check in
  2. Deliver 6-12 month  operational Work Programe
  3. Coach through the legislative/regulatory pathway and identify the key windows of opportunity
  4. Building a clear plan from Strategy to Tactics
  5. Providing internal support materials/trackers / updates
Getting the Right Foundations – Research
  1. Prepare Lobby Plan (strategy & tactics)
  2. Mapping of key players
  3. Mirror your case with the values of key decision-makers
  4. Research on voting history/ vote prediction*
  5. Research on precedents (supportive/not)
  6. Find the legislative/regulatory options/solution for sensitive issues
Building a Strong Case – Making the Case Land
  1. Support building the case (what materials / research / data is needed)
  2. Stress Testing your case against benchmarks of good practice
  3. Policy Presentations to Commission, Member States, MEPs, other stakeholders
  4. Draft Elevator Pitch
  5. Draft regulatory submissions**
  6. Draft submissions to Public Consultation**
  7. Analysis of proposals (legislative, regulatory)
  8. Prepare Position Papers**
  9. Prepare Amendments & Justification**
  10. Analysis of Legislative texts (drafts, Positions, Amendments)
  11. Support submission of a strong  Shadow Impact Assessment**
  12. Support submission of a strong Shadow Evaluation**
Refinement
  1. Stress Testing with key people
  2. Find the most likely ‘workable’ solution that can land in the political climate
Landing the Case
  1. Face-to-face lobbying on your behalf
  2. Support with any Trade Association work needed (preparations/strategy etc)
  3. Coaching for meetings
  4. Feedback on meetings
  5. Harnessing unplanned Political Opportunities: creating material to support case from unplanned events.
Project Management
30. Project calls and updates
  1. Campaign active support (legislative/regulatory) EU + MS
  2. Set up outreach Programmes
  3. Project execution
3. Monitoring
  1. Issue Monitoring  EU political and regulatory*
  2. EU Member States political  & Regulatory*
  3. Global Regulatory*
Intelligence
  1. Political intelligence (not public)
  2. Ad-hoc advice calls – WhatsApp
4.Communications
  1. Media opportunities around key windows of opportunity
  2. Assistance with media interviews
  3. Events management
  4. Op-Eds drafting
  5. Visualisation of Positions/Submissions
  6. Organise Opinion-Former Policy Dialogues
  7. Support the key policy formers who enter into the debate
  8. Support new research being brought to the table at the right time

 

*Outsourced to 3rd Parties
** Not legal, technical, or scientific advice. Just make the material land for the public policy/political audience.