“You know...for the company”

In the Coen Brothers’ movie “The Hudsucker Proxy,” mailroom clerk Norville Barnes (played by Tim Robbins) turns a doodle on a notepad into a nationwide toy phenomenon.

Aimlessly drawing one day during a break from his duties, Barnes sketches a simple circle on a piece of paper. Sensing his genius, he sets about the process of convincing everyone at Hudsucker Industries that he is really onto something magical.

His big internal sales line? “You know...for the kids.”

Barnes’ brainstorm eventually draws the attention of company president Paul Newman, who turns that simple idea into the hula hoop (which he dubs the “Extruded Plastic Dingus”), making billions of dollars for his company and – according to this very tongue-in-cheek film – changing the American way of life.

If only it were that easy to sell your marketing program, communications plan, or public relations strategy to your company’s management team.

The truth is, of course, that creating such a program, plan, or strategy is often a breeze compared to the hard work of selling it to the internal audiences who have the authority to give you the green light, or to stop you in your tracks.

Why? Because communicators often get so excited about what they’ve created, they skip some very basic, very necessary steps in the internal sales process. Specifically, they forget that what they are selling is not as important as what their audience wants to buy. In other words, it won’t matter if you have the latest and greatest evolution of the Extruded Plastic Dingus if your boss was expecting a Stitched Oblong Brown Leather Throwing and Kicking Toy.

How can you give your next plan the best chance for approval?

• Identify important advocates. Every great idea needs a coalition. So spend some time identifying who within your company will need to support your plan (idea, strategy, whatever) for it to see the light of day. Be creative, and err on the side of making your list too long. This will help you protect yourself – and your work – from a veto coming from a surprise source at the worst possible moment.
• Interview those on your list. Before you even start crafting your document, spend some time talking to those on your necessary advocates list. Don’t ask them what they think should be in your plan; that’s speaking your language. Instead, ask them about objectives, opportunities, risks, and how they will measure the success of what you are working on. This gives you the information you need to put the fingerprints of these key individuals all over your plan as you write it.
• Pre-sell along the way. As you begin to put together your document, give those you interviewed a preview of what you are thinking – a little at a time. This gives you a chance to course-correct as necessary before you get too far along, while also keeping the necessary advocates on your list engaged. Start these conversations with something like, “Based on what we discussed, I’m thinking about doing something like this...what do you think?” and you’ll demonstrate that you were listening then, and that you’re ready to listen again now.

The message? Don’t expect that everyone will see the light (“You know...for the company”) the way you do. Do the strategic spadework along the way, and you’ll give your plan the best chance for a corporate thumbs up.