Grasstops Lobbying: Step 4 Contact
Getting the attention of your high priority prospects—and a favourable response that leads to a meeting—can take a long time, especially with bigger organisations and time-poor community leaders. This is where the four Ps (Polite, Professional, Patient, Persistent) really pay off.
Even though community and business leaders can be very powerful voices in engaging with governments and MPs, it can also be intimidating to begin reaching out to them. It is important to remember there are a lot of similarities in engaging with the Grasstops and engaging with our Members of Parliament, and the same approach needs to be taken.
The long term goal in both areas is developing and maintaining relationships of trust, where we are seen as a ‘trusted adviser’, working on common goals instead of an adversarial organisation.
Preparing the Meeting Request
Use the background research on your prospect to prepare an email or Contact Form message, or talking points for a phone call.
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The Cool Call Email
Here is a suggested outline for your first email to a priority prospect. Your goal is to get a reply that leads to a phone call or face meeting.
Why is it “cool” and not “cold”? You warm it up!
It’s from your mailbox, not from a mass mailing service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact. This is slower for doing large volume mailing, but more likely to get past spam and promotions filters. Use it for companies that you have researched.
Use a descriptive subject line that makes it clear what this is and conveys that you are not a distant mass mailer (e.g. can we meet for coffee, climate conversation in downtown Petaluma?).
You identify yourself as a “volunteer” and neighbour (who lives in their community).
Mention it if you have something you have in common; you are a customer, attended same college, have a mutual friend, attended the same event.
Express appreciation for something about them/their company that you genuinely appreciate. This would be a sentence or two in the second paragraph. If possible, use this to bridge to the ask.
Crisply describe the purpose of the email (e.g. I’d like to meet with you here in your office or favourite café to hear your views about….)
Emphasize listening, not just in the letter, but in the meeting as well.
Tailor the subject to what you’ve learned about your prospect (e.g. if they are more conservative, talk about ‘local energy development’ rather than ‘green jobs’).
Close with your contact information and another thanks.
For a “signature”, keep it short and simple. Avoid image files; for many email apps, they show up as empty boxes and require downloading.
Optional: summary of The Climate Dividend.
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Subject: Meet at Aqus to talk climate and economic development?
Dear Jim:
I’m a Petaluma volunteer for Citizens Climate Lobby. Barry Vessar introduced us at a Business for Clean Energy Breakfast at Labcon last year.
I hope you and your loved ones and your business have fared well over the past few challenging years of the pandemic. As challenging as this has been, the additional and growing burdens of climate change will be even more difficult. We have seen of late the horrible results when experts’ warnings are ignored and remedies delayed. I really appreciate Labcon’s progress with sustainability and clean energy. Your leadership is so important to making progress on climate.
I’d like to meet with you and discuss how businesses are helping to make national progress on climate. You may have heard about the Inflation Reduction Act passing Congress this summer, specifically that it is estimated to cut emissions by 40% by 2050. You may also know that carbon fee and dividend can help us cut another 10% to meet targets set by the IPCC report. You can help move us forward on effective solutions, like carbon pricing.
Please let me know when and where would be a good time to meet. You can Reply to this, and/or call/text me at 123-456-789.
Thanks for your great work at Labcon!
Bruce Hagen
National Program Manager, Grasstops Outreach Program, Citizens’ Climate Lobby
For phone calls, have your talking points, and practice them. Remember, your goal is not to convince them to support our Asks, but to get a meeting to talk about climate action.
Use a shorter version of your email message for ‘Contact Us’ forms (don’t exceed the word/character count).
Making the Meeting Request
Consider when might be the best time to call or email. If emailing, when will they be most likely to see it? If ringing, make sure YOU are feeling good and ready. It can be good to send the email then call. Wait 3 to 5 days to give them a chance to read the email. You can refer to it on the call.
Overcoming Obstacles
What if they don’t respond to your email? This is pretty normal for larger businesses. Remember the 4 Ps. Wait a week or two, then resend your original message. Ideally, include some new information that could be of interest to them (bill cosponsors, new big endorsers, other indications of support for carbon pricing). Avoid resending the same message with “Reminder”.
If they don’t respond to several attempts, you need to decide the boundary between polite persistence and pestering. If possible, consider other routes. For example is someone else on your team willing to step in and break the ice? Are you writing to the wrong person or at the wrong time (they are planning for their IPO or annual fundraiser)?
What If they say “contact our trade group”? Ask them for an introduction! It could be a way of politely saying either “go away” or “I’m interested but don’t have time or permission to work on this”. Assume it’s the latter, and ask them for a quick email introduction to their contact at the trade group.
What if they say “we are a public service and not allowed to take a position on policy” or something similar? This is very common. Don’t give up! You can say something like “we understand that you can’t take a public position on federal legislation. We work with many such organizations. Some choose to approach our information as member education, and leave it to the members to respond as they see fit.” Then offer to do a presentation to their Board or a brown bag for employees/staff, or a blog/newsletter article. You may find that’s all you get, but that’s still great. Even better if your research enabled you to predict this obstacle and tailor your initial email accordingly.
Meet with your team regularly to share your progress and seek assistance with any roadblocks you may be facing.
Further Reading
All the articles in this playbook on Grasstops Lobbying have been extracted from a document titled The Ultimate Guide to Grasstops Engagement. It contains a very comprehensive list of resources to help you become an effective lobbyist and is highly recommended reading. The full version is available to CCL members and on request.