In politics and advocacy, timing is everything. You can do months of planning and relationship-building, but when opportunity knocks, you have to be ready to move.
Maybe a bill suddenly gains momentum. Maybe a key legislator changes their mind on a whim and stops blocking legislation (this happens all the time). Maybe a side conversation opens a door you thought was locked. These moments don’t come with advance notice. They come with urgency, and if you’re not prepared, you may miss your shot.
That’s why rapid response isn’t just a tactic, it’s a critical part of your plan.
Here’s how to stay ready:
- Know your message. You should always have a clear, concise pitch ready to go. You never know when you’ll get 5 minutes with a decision-maker. If things start moving, you might need to recruit anyone you can.
- Have materials on hand. One-pagers, talking points, digital links. If you need a week to pull it together, you’re behind. At the worst, get collateral to people within a few hours.
- Stay connected. Keep in regular contact with your allies, champions, and lobbyists. You can’t mobilize a coalition overnight.
- Get internal approvals in advance. Nothing kills momentum like waiting for someone to sign off. Define your boundaries and budget early. One tactic we’ve used in the past is urging our clients to have a “rapid response” committee, so if you need a board approval, these people are responsible for a “yea” or “nay” within 12-24 hours.
- Trust your team. In a crunch, second-guessing slows everything down. Build trust now so you can act decisively later. That might be ensuring your government affairs folks have latitude to make decisions fast. Or trust your contract lobbyist to really speak on your behalf (not all businesses give them that latitude).
- Free your team. If you have an internal team working on things part-time, you have to free them up to push hard when the opportunity presents itself. Is advocacy a priority or simply a check-box? Pass off other projects or assignments and re-orient the workload.
Takeaway:
Policy windows open fast and close faster. The groups that succeed aren’t always the biggest or the loudest: They’re the ones who are ready. When opportunity strikes, you need to be the team that moves or spend years waiting for that door to open again. We’re happy to work with you and your team to ensure you have the structure and the policies in place to take advantage of these opportunities.