3 steps for turning an idea into reality.
Sometimes new projects don’t move beyond the planning phase. Not because the idea is bad or there’s no money available to fund it, but because the person pitching the initiative failed to win over the leadership team.
“When you’re gearing up for a budget meeting, you may want to gather every receipt, every piece of data, to show the worth of your work,” said Johnna Muscente, vice president of communications and PR at real estate brokerage firm The Corcoran Group.
That alone, Muscente explained, is not enough. Rather than focus on numbers to get a new project approved, communicators should concentrate on telling a good story.
“It’s more the narrative, the strategy that you want to tell anyone who may hold the purse strings at your company,” said Muscente.
In a learning module hosted on Ragan Training, Muscente outlines a three-step guide for building a proposal that gets approved.
- The insight: Start with an observation. What are you seeing? What’s gaining traction or generating excitement? While doing your day-to-day work, what’s an opportunity that keeps popping up that could benefit the company if the leadership team decided to dedicate more time and resources to developing it?
- The impact: Next, move to the possible results. If you receive some money, what will change? How will funding transform your idea, prototype or pilot program into something that will scale. How will it drive more revenue or boost the brand’s reputation? Help business leaders envision the outcome once the pitch turns into reality.
- The investment ask: Finally, get specific and be direct. Do your homework. State the amount of money you need to make this initiative happen, while reminding the executive how the investment will ultimately benefit the business in the long run.
Watch the full session, titled “Building Your Budget Blueprint,” on Ragan Training.
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