by Joe Topinka

Getting your company’s BRM capability off the ground takes planning, patience, and perseverance. Successful BRM programs are game-changing for companies that get it right, but planning and preparation are essential to getting your program off to the right start.

Get comfortable with the notion that you will be playing the role of a salesperson’s as you embark on this journey. Be prepared for resistance, disinterest, and competing priorities from around the company. Don’t be afraid to engage the services of a BRM mentor or consultant! With or without external help, the following article will get you started on building your case from the ground up.

Here are four concepts to consider when building your plan:

1. Preparation – These are the pre-conversation planning steps that build the foundation for your BRM business case.
2. Planning the Conversation – Armed with knowledge from the preparation step, plan and organize your conversation with the CEO.
3. Framing the Message – Sharpen your focus and make sure your message is crystal-clear.
4. Pre-Selling Techniques – Practice your pitch before closing the deal.

Preparation

It should come as no surprise that preparation is the key to a successful launch of a BRM capability. Think of this phase of the process as building a solid foundation for the BRM function. It is here that the key external and internal pain points and potential solutions are discovered. Be careful, however, because one size does not fit all. You need to think about what makes your company tick, how your company achieved its current success in the market, and what it takes to succeed in the future.

Successful conversations with the CEO start with acquiring an understanding of how products and services are viewed from the lens of your customers (external customers, of course, because there is no such thing as “internal customers”), internal departments, and from the CEO’s point of view.

1. Convince Yourself – Make sure you are ready for the journey. Be prepared for setbacks and frustration, as BRM concepts are new for most organizations. Executives and employees simply aren’t familiar with the program, its purpose, or its benefits. Know that you will have to repeat yourself many times as you make your way around the organization. However, stick to your game plan and be sure to lean on your BRM colleagues inside the company and across the global BRM community.
2. Determine Organizational Structure – Legitimize the role by working with your manager and human resources team to integrate the BRM function in the company career family structure. Do this by creating a job description, establishing compensation plans, and developing organizational alignment. Laying this groundwork upfront lends creditability to the role, both within your team and around the company. For more in-depth ideas on organizational structures, check out BRM Institute, as well as the book IT Business Partnerships: A Field Guide for job descriptions, organizational structure options, and more.
3. Conduct Field Research – This step is one of the most important steps in the process. I would have listed this first, but getting in the right mindset took precedence. This vital step has two paths:
   1. External Customers – Start by meeting with external customers. The objective is to observe firsthand how customers experience your products and services. Be hyper-aware of issues that influence customer engagement. More often than not, you will discover long-standing issues that allow the company to form a stronger bond with customers when addressed.
   2. Partner Business Units – The second path centers on visiting with internal departments. Spend time in their environments to see their challenges up-close and personal. Take time to understand their specific strategic goals and tactics, as well as how they connect to the company’s overall strategy and goals. Look for pain points that impact customer engagement, because these are the clues that will define the investments that help strategic goals and objectives.

Knowledge of the key pain points for external customers and internal departments forms the basis of your thesis for the BRM capability. This step demonstrates the impact of BRMs on customer engagement and partner business unit performance. Your ability to speak from a position of authority regarding personal observations in the field is powerful and can’t be underestimated. Getting this right is pivotal in making the case for your BRM capability.

4. Know your Company Strategy – As a BRM professional, you must have a natural curiosity about your company’s strategy, competitors, and financials. Become familiar with your company’s value proposition and its strategic goals and objectives. Get educated on the goals and metrics for each partner business unit you work with. Connect pain points from your field research to the strategy and tactics that drive your company, because the tighter the connection, the more compelling the business case. Connecting these dots gives the CEO perspective on how the BRM role impacts the company’s strategic outcomes and bottom-line performance.
5. Understand Strategic Context – Take time to understand how your company got where it is, and what will power growth in the future. Today, we face a marketplace that is constantly changing. For many companies, the unprecedented pace of change means that what brought them success in the past may not bring the same results in the future. Know whether your company is in a stable, predictable growth environment versus one that faces an uncertain future.

If your company is heavily influenced by rapid technology changes, adaptability and speed must be critical components of your investment profile. Choose investments that rely on experimentation and minimum viability. Introduce products rapidly, and consider using the probe-sense-respond method to get customer feedback; this will be your new norm. By contrast, in more predictable strategic circumstances, a research-plan-execute model is more effective.

Develop a Conversation Plan

Now that your foundation is laid, you can formulate your CEO communication plan. Armed with your knowledge of customer pain points, the company strategy, and context around what success looks like in the future, you are ready to plan your CEO conversation.

1. Build a Plan – Your plan should include a list of internal and external stakeholders. Map out a game plan to speak to them prior to your meeting with the CEO. Tailor your messages and goals for each stakeholder. Review your plan with a trusted colleague to ensure you haven’t missed any key stakeholders or critical messages. Schedule time with stakeholders and preview your CEO message. Use feedback from these sessions to refine and sharpen your message. Pay attention to stakeholder questions, they may be the same ones you hear from the CEO. This step will also reveal any naysayers in the group.
2. Develop the Meeting Objectives – This may seem obvious, but this step is often overlooked. Take time to write down the two or three objectives you have prior to your meeting with the CEO. When selling the virtues of a BRM capability, make sure you know what outcomes you hope to gain from your conversation with the CEO. Do you want immediate approval, are you testing the waters with the expectation of returning for another round of conversations, or are you seeking approval for a pilot program?

Keep the objectives simple and clear; this improves your odds of success. Additionally, if your conversation takes a turn away from the objectives, you will be prepared to shift the discussion back in the right direction.

3. Keep the Agenda Focused – The shorter, the better. You only have a few minutes to get the CEO’s attention. You will likely be interrupted by their assistant, another executive, or a phone call. It isn’t uncommon for the CEO to arrive late (or not at all)—in this situation, work with the CEO’s assistant to reschedule as soon as possible. Don’t let these circumstances shake you.

Outline what you want to cover with the CEO, and be sure to share the outline with the CEO at the outset. It increases the odds of holding their attention if they know what’s coming and how long you plan to talk. Don’t apologize for asking for a meeting, and don’t begin the conversation with, “I know you’re busy…” Not only does this undermine your position, but you are bringing an important message and meeting with the CEO is relevant and strategically important. Don’t minimize what you are presenting by starting the conversation from a position of self-imposed weakness.

4. Use Storytelling – Storytelling is an impactful and effective way to communicate your message. Stories create powerful mental images that last longer than the conversation itself. Focus on the pain points you discovered during your field research. Talk about the issues you witnessed firsthand that impact external customers or about process improvements that help drive partner business unit goals. Share potential solutions that when funded, overcome the challenges you described.Then, take your story one step further. Tell it again, but set it in the future, post-investment. Make the future seem real and attainable. Share the positive business impact that drives customer engagement and meaningful results.
5. Connect the Dots – Frame the BRM function as a new strategic role within the company. Describe how the innovative role is responsible for understanding the connection between company strategy, customer pain points, and business technology. Share how you will use your bilingual functional knowledge (IT, HR, etc.) and business skills to drive investments that improve top-line or bottom-line results and drive customer engagement. Explain how the new role ensures that the investment portfolio answers the question of how IT helps the company move forward strategically.
6. Develop Success Metrics – Develop BRM success metrics. Share how the BRM function drives the investment intake process. Share how demand is shaped and investments will be vetted using strategic fit, operational fit, ROI, and risk decision criteria to determine investment priority. Describe how the BRM function improves the business savviness of traditional operating units by helping them frame more business-centric investment requests. Describe how this sharpened business focus, led by BRMs, delivers measurable business benefits. Highlight the fact that every new investment candidate will have success metrics that are developed ahead of the investment.

Framing the Message

Getting the message right will make or break your CEO’s support of the program. Take a page from entrepreneurs that are seeking funding for seed money. Keep your message short and focused. Frame your message around the following three areas:

1. Describe the Opportunity
   1. What problem are you solving?
   2. How will you solve it?
   3. Why does it matter?
2. Describe What the Role Does for the Company
   1. Highlight the skills and competencies of the new role
   2. Detail what makes the role different
   3. Explain why the CEO should care
3. What Does Success Look Like?
   1. Improved focus and investment ROI
   2. Improved likelihood of achieving revenue and profit targets
   3. Describe the cost of the program and accountabilities of the program going forward

Practice, Practice, Practice

Before you schedule your CEO session, find active listeners and practice delivering your message. Just like professional athletes, rehearsing your message helps you become familiar with the material. When you know it well enough, you will be able to adapt and adjust to any variables that surface during the conversation—and they will come up. When rehearsing, keep the following practice goals in mind:

1. Shop the Ideas – Practice with key stakeholders and colleagues. Refine and hone your message based on the feedback you get from these sessions. Questions come from all angles and perspectives and the practice helps you think more clearly about what you hope to gain from your meeting with the CEO.
2. Look for Allies – When you rehearse, you discover your allies and your detractors ahead of time. This preparation is crucial, because you can proactively talk to your CEO about who is on board and who isn’t. You can also prepare counterarguments to combat the naysayers and help garner CEO support. Don’t hide from the detractors—take their issues and concerns head-on.
3. Seek Support and Buy-In – Lean on your allies for support. You will need them when you ask for funding to launch the BRM capability.
4. Leverage Mentors and Consultants – Take one final run-through with your BRM coach or mentor.

Summary

Getting organizational buy-in for your BRM capability takes planning and preparation. Remember that you will encounter speed bumps and naysayers along the way. Stay focused on the facts. Remind executives that the business results from BRM programs are real. Be sure and do all of the prep work outlined above prior to meeting with your executive team to make your pitch. Take special care to get HR plugged in early and get the role legitimized. Make sure you conduct field research and develop a deep understanding of your company strategy. Ensure that your presentation is tight and to the point. Practice delivering your message, share it ahead of time with key stakeholders, and seek help from mentors.

This is your big shot: take the time to plan and pave the way for improved business technology results in your company. Don’t forget to share your stories with the BRM and IT Business Partners in your circles of influence. Just in case your CEO asks “Who will be my BRM?” you will be prepared with your answer! Good luck on your journey!

Joe Topinka is a recognized game-changing career CIO, published author, and BRM executive coach. His IT Business Partner Program™ drives exponential business results consistently across industries by bridging the chasm between business stakeholders and IT organizations. He is founder of CIO Mentor, LLC and Vice Chair of the Business Relationship Management Institute (BRM Institute) Executive Council. Visit ciomentor.com for more information.

STAGE 1	PREPARATION
	·   Convince Yourself	·   Determine the Organizational Structure	·   Conduct Field Research	·   Know the Company Strategy	·   Understand Strategic Context

 

STAGE 2	PLAN THE CONVERSATION
	·  Build a Plan	·  Develop Meeting Objectives	·  Keep the Agenda Focused	·  Use Storytelling	·  Connect the Dots	·  Develop Success Metrics

 

STAGE 3	FRAME THE MESSAGE
	·  Describe the Opportunity	·  Describe the BRM Role	·  Define What Success Look Like

 

STAGE 4	PACTICE   AND PRE-SELLING
	·  Shop the Ideas	·  Look for Allies	·  Seek Support and Buy-in	·  Leverage Mentors

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^{© 2015 CIO Mentor, LLC – Published for Use by BRM Institute}