HOW DOES A CLIENT CHOOSE A GR CONSULTANT ?

The government-relations consulting trade is intensely competitive with many consulting companies. There are dozens of consultancies in Brussels alone  chasing the same potential business.

How does a client choose a consultant? Cost is always an issue except in circumstances when protagonists may retain several teams of consultants each. But clients typically look for GR consultants or public policy advocates  who hold the potential for making up for whatever the client feels they are lacking: ‘access’, ‘insight’ or ‘technical knowledge’. There’s little question that a principal determinant is often, simply, how well-connected the consultant appears to be. The perception of a consultant’s ‘access’  to key decision-makers  is almost always a consideration. There is an all-too-common assumption by many consumers of government relations services that ultimate success hinges primarily on  ‘getting top officials ‘ears.” on an issue.

There is considerable variation in the format of the interaction and  ‘deliverables’ provided by GR consulting enterprises. Many are very light on originally drafted written product, opting instead for oral reporting and advice by telephone or short, sharp e-mail notes, often with electronic attachments such as excerpts from government web-sites. They typically try to be very responsive to client queries for information and requests for advice on how to handle certain situations  much of which is responded to orally, and not in writing.

A few GR consulting firms and some of the law firms that provide similar services tend to be much more written-product oriented, providing all manner of written analysis and background information, strategies and draft material for submission to government, in addition to being responsive to requests for quick oral advice or a ‘read’ on the current political and public policy environment.

One thing that all consulting services try to provide is an on-going assessment of a government’s priorities and preoccupations. While such information and insight often includes intelligence and analysis that is readily available from a thorough read of general and specialty publications, the consultants can  and frequently do add some colour commentary, unavailable in the media, that can be insightful, provocative, entertaining and occasionally even usefully relevant to clients. (Indeed, providing such information is often a means of subtly telegraphing to clients how well plugged-in, connected and well-informed the consultant is).

For example, information and insight provided by a consultant that speaks to the relative political standing and authority of various top officials (or their senior advisors) might not ever turn up in the reports of the mainstream media, but it can be valuable to those outside government who are seeking the appropriate champion or sponsor for a particular issue.

In short, much of the helpful advice such as that provided by a good government-relations consultant need not be voluminous. And furnishing it, for some consultants, is often not very labour-intensive.

Nonetheless, it can provide value to the client in making them better informed and prepared and more sophisticated in their dealings with government officials. Perhaps, most importantly, a good consultant will help a client craft an appropriate ‘ask’ in other words, help make the client’s request of government an optimally realistic one that takes into account the relevant realities in and around the issue at hand.

So, in sum, can the use of experienced external consultants in lobbying or government relations guarantee success? Of course not, but, on balance, the advice and assistance provided by competent, experienced GR consultants increases the prospect of success, or at least the achievement of some manner of alternative, acceptable outcome.

As with many other areas of consulting endeavour, the benefits of employing GR consultants lies in whatever ‘value-added’ they can provide:

• Are the insights the consultant provides on either policy or process, politics or public policy, relevant to the organization’s challenges, objectives and strategy?
• Are the consultant’s contacts at the political or bureaucratic level those from which the client organization would not otherwise gain value?
• Can the consultant provide or at least inspire an alternative ‘narrative’ or ‘story’ which the organization can use as part of its advocacy?
• Can the consultant provide valuable ‘back channel’ feedback to the client organization on how its representations are being received by decision-makers and advisors, information that could be helpful in developing future arguments?
• Can/does the consultant provide good technical advice or assistance in crafting documentation (i.e. submissions, applications, briefing notes, backgrounders, options papers, issue analyses, etc.) which are helpful in advancing one’s issue?
• Can the consultant provide practical, alternative strategic approaches to the organization’s advocacy plan?
• Can the consultant suggest or facilitate an approach to coalition-building that will strengthen the organization’s cause?

Is the use of government-relations consultants an inevitable necessity for companies or organizations aiming to influence decisions of government? Absolutely not! That assumes, of course, that the organization has, within its own ranks on its staff, on its board or among voluntary advisors individuals who can bring to the organization the knowledge, mindset, experience, perspective, contacts and skills that are relevant to effective public-policy advocacy.

If an organization doesn’t currently have access to such human resources, can these attributes and skills be learned or otherwise acquired by the organization? The answer is Yes.