Lobbyists from Drinker Biddle’s government affairs team — including chair Ilisa Halpern Paul, Julie Allen and Erin Morton — share some of their tips for how business owners can most effectively lobby members of Congress and their staff.
Do:
Sweetgreen branches out
In the six years since its founding, the salad-and-frozen-yogurt restaurant has become a home-grown success story.
MicroPact founder chose contracting over college
Kristoffer Collo is expanding his company and hopes to diversify beyond federal agencies into commercial, international work.
Booz Allen stays quiet in aftermath of NSA leak story
The episode has created a case study for crisis communications experts to ponder, as contractors feel out their role in the often-secret world of cybersecurity and data collection.
• Learn the acronyms of congressional staffers you’ll be meeting with: COS is chief of staff, LD is legislative director, LA is legislative assistant, LC is legislative correspondent
• Treat all staffers with the same respect. “Today’s staff assistant could be tomorrow’s chief of staff,” Paul said. “Even if you [meet with] a junior staffer, don’t treat that person any differently than you would a more senior staffer.”
• Prepare an elevator speech with a concise summary of where you’re from, what your business is, what community you serve, how many employees you have, and how proposed cuts will impact your company in specific terms — such as layoffs or cutbacks in services to customers.
• Prepare a personal anecdote or two about your business or employees. “Tell a story they can remember,” Morton said.
• Be prepared to meet in a hallway, cafeteria or some place other than an office. Space is limited and many other meetings are going on around you.
• Ask for business cards, phone numbers and staffers’ preferred mode of communication so you can follow up.
Don’t:
• Threaten a member of Congress by saying they should support your position because you voted for them or contributed to their campaign.
• Bring sharp objects to Hill buildings — like airports, they make you go through security lines.
• Give staffers or lawmakers any informational packets right away. They’ll read it instead of listening to you, or use it as an excuse to cut the meeting short since they already have all the information they need. Wait until the end of the meeting to leave it with them.
tip sheet
Working with Congress
Lobbyists from Drinker Biddle — including Ilisa Halpern Paul, Julie Scott Allen and Erin Will Morton — share some of their tips for how business owners can most effectively lobby members of Congress and their staff.
Do:
3Learn the acronyms of congressional staffers you’ll be meeting with: COS is chief of staff, LD is legislative director, LA is legislative assistant, LC is legislative correspondent.
3 Treat all staffers with the same respect. “Today’s staff assistant could be tomorrow’s chief of staff,” Paul said. “Even if you [meet with] a junior staffer, don’t treat that person any differently than you would a more senior staffer.”
3 Prepare an elevator speech with a concise summary of where you’re from, what your business is, what community you serve, how many employees you have and how proposed cuts will impact your company in specific terms — such as layoffs or cutbacks in services to customers.
3 Prepare a personal anecdote or two about your business or employees. “Tell a story they can remember,” Morton said.
3 Be prepared to meet in a hallway, cafeteria or some place other than an office. Space is limited and many other meetings are going on around you.
3 Ask for business cards, phone numbers and staffers’ preferred mode of communication so you can follow up.
Don’t:
3 Threaten a member of Congress by saying they should support your position because you voted for them or contributed to their campaign.
3 Bring sharp objects to Capitol Hill buildings — like airports, they make you go through security lines.
3 Give staffers or lawmakers any informational packets right away. They’ll read it instead of listening to you, or use it as an excuse to cut the meeting short since they already have all the information they need. Wait until the end of the meeting to leave it with them.
— C.H.
Loading...
Comments