You have an idea!

You’ve thought it through, and you’re excited. You’ve uncovered something that’s really going to help your company or your boss or your client achieve their goals. You want your project to get attention and action. It deserves it, right?

Wrong.

Having an idea, unfortunately, doesn’t in itself entitle us to see it to fruition. Instead, in a business context, we must first translate that idea and present the case for it. Selling in your project requires a few key elements to ensure that it gets proper consideration.

1. Hypothesis

This seems obvious, but is rarely done well. The hypothesis behind your idea should illustrate why your idea is valuable (i.e. what problem you’re trying to solve), a rough sketch of how you hope to get there, both the potential upsides and downsides, and some conclusions you’ve drawn about possible results based on other people’s experiences, your research, assumptions, and data. It’s the underpinnings of an initial plan.

Try something like “I’d like to propose we try X because I think it can help us improve Y. My initial plans would include doing A, B, and C in order to lay the groundwork. Our potential obstacles include D, E and F and we’ll need to consider those in our plans. If we’re successful, based on my research to date, I believe we can achieve Z.”

The more clearly you state your hypothesis, the more likely you are to get and keep someone’s attention.

2. Allies

Cause you gotta have frieeeeenddss…. No, really. It’s very hard to fight a battle much less wage a war (even a well-meaning one) all by your lonesome. Building alliances requires coming prepared to share why you think your project or idea is worthwhile, and illustrating how you’d like that person to help you in your quest. Presenting a united front can help lend credibility to a project, as it demonstrates that it’s not just a solitary whim, but an idea that has backing from more than one mind.

3. The Opposition

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, even when you’re building a project plan. You need the naysayers to lend perspective, as well as demonstrate that you are considering all sides of the equation in your planning, including the not-so-pretty ones.

I’m not suggesting you indulge a jerk that can’t offer a constructive perspective, but I am saying that you need to present the concerns, challenges, or issues that are raised by those who are skeptical of your plan, if they’re out there. It’s doing your due diligence, and can give you a much needed reality check when you’re passionate about something.

4. Translation

If you’re selling  a marketing project into the C-suite, you’ll need to talk in terms of how it will impact brand reputation, awareness, lead generation. If it’s a research project, you’ll need to speak in terms of the insights you hope to collect, and what they’ll help you improve or address in your business. If you’re selling a project into  your team, you’ll need to help them understand how it will change their priorities, roles, and how you’ll equip them to do it.

It’s absolutely critical to put the project not in terms of how you see it, but in a frame of reference that’s relevant to the person you’re trying to convince.

5. Negotiation

We never win out of the gate. Okay, rarely. Slam dunks are the stuff of legend.

When you have a project plan in hand, come prepared to negotiate. Much like buying a car or selling a house, you know your ideal price, but you also know what you’ll accept. The great negotiators always come to the table to pitch the perfect vision, but prepared to walk away with a step in that direction. That requires a dose of humility – accepting that all of your solutions aren’t brilliant or perfect – and the patience to recognize that some progress is better than fierce and utter resistance.

6. Accountability

Want to win the trust of your colleagues for this and future projects?

Own your part in it. That means sharing the credit for successes – after all you didn’t do it yourself – and being willing to look in the mirror when it comes to assessing what might have gone wrong. It’s also important to have the skills to look at the failures clinically rather than emotionally, so that you can diagnose where the hiccups might have been without making them someone’s personal responsibility.

And when you’ve captured learnings – whether the happy ones or the challenging ones – share them. Liberally. Report back to the boss or the team and chronicle what you learned. Communicate often and openly so that folks know how invested you are not just in the project, but in the results.

What’s Your Principle?

I know you’re out there, those of you who have successfully sold in projects, or struggled to do so. I know you’ve learned in the trenches, and gotten it wrong before you got it right (where do you think this post idea came from?).

I’d love to hear more from you about what principles you have as part of your project pitch, and the questions you have for those that have done it successfully.

The comments are yours.

image credit: walknboston