Selling The Project
Concept
One of the major things that has to be sold is the project
concept. Recall from Chapter 2 that this is a predecessor to the project plan. It
is where you obtain management support to create the plan and move ahead. Many
good project ideas flounder here. People can misunderstand the purpose or scope
of the project, for example.
It is necessary and valuable to employ an outline template and
structured approach for the project concept. Before making any formal
presentation including this one, you should meet with key members of the
audience that will hear the project concept and make decisions. This seems
unnecessary if they are going to be in the meeting. However, it is essential for
a number of reasons:
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When you talk to someone about the project concept
individually, you can explain the project to them in their own terms. As an
example, how you would discuss a project at headquarters is different than at a
specific field location.
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You want to give the person an opportunity to voice concerns
and to give input to the final presentation. They become active participants and
supporters, not just passive spectators.
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You will collect some ideas to improve the presentation.
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You can discuss political factors. They can alert you to the
people in the audience who do not like the project idea. They may see it as a
threat. They may see it as taking away their scarce resources.
You will not be able in most cases to reach all of the audience so
you should concentrate on people who will make decisions and who are tuned into
the politics in the specific location. Don’t spend too much time with managers
who already support the project. Use the reliability structure of K out of N. If any K
components of N work, then the system works. It is the
same with communications.
Now let’s turn to the structure of the presentation. In a
traditional approach you would present the background of the project and lead
into the purpose, scope, schedule, cost, etc. This is too boring and the wrong
type of presentation. You must be more dynamic in your presentation. Here is an
outline:
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State the purpose of the project from a technical, business,
and political perspective. This will indicate to the audience that you are
sensitive to politics.
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Go into both the benefits of the project as well as what
will happen if the project is not undertaken or if it is deferred. Many projects
are approved because of the negative consequences of doing nothing. Capitalize
on the fear factor. This is what happens in television commercials. Your car
will fall apart if you don’t have the brakes replaced or repaired.
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Discuss the scope of the project and potential issues.
Issues seem to be negative. They are not here. You are warning management long
in advance of some of the potential problems that lie ahead. Everyone likes to
be warned in advance. You also show your qualifications and experience as well
as demonstrating that you are aware of the issues and have thought about these.
Get management and the audience in general to participate in the meeting to
discuss how issues will be addressed in general by using one issue as an
example.
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Talk about how the business will change after the project is
completed. Here you can give sample transactions or examples of how work will be
performed. This will get the audience excited since you are moving beyond the
project work. You are showing how the benefits will be realized. This is also a
positive point in the presentation to offset the negative tone of issues.
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Discuss the cost, resources, and schedule for the project.
Notice that there is a break between the benefits and costs. This is by intent.
The benefits get them excited. The issues and scope discussion got their
involvement. Now you have some discussion of the schedule. By combining the
schedule and resources with the costs, you are combining negative things (costs)
with positive ideas of how long it will take and what resources are needed.
People will tend to discuss the positive part more.
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Close the presentation with a list of specific actions that
need to be taken to develop the plan, line up resources, etc. Notice that you
are closing with specific small actions for them to approve. You are not asking
for the moon. You will come back later with the project plan for their final
approval. By breaking this up, you will be more politically successful in
getting the concept of the project approved. Momentum will be gained so that it
will be hard for people later to turn down the plan if it follows the concept.
Look at these bullets again. What do they look like? A 30-second
commercial— one of the most successful advertising inventions in the past
century.
How do you determine if you are successful? Well, did your
action items get approved? However, you also want to follow up by going back to
some of the audience and getting their reactions and thoughts. They will pick up
tones, nuances, feelings, etc., that you missed because you were concentrating
on the presentation
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