Making the budget case to somebody who resents it

Two objections, and only one is about money

The first: this costs a lot and produces nothing we can sell. True as stated, and the answer is that it protects revenue rather than creating it.

The second, usually unsaid: we have been fine for twenty years and this is somebody's paperwork. This is the real objection and arguing about the first one does not touch it.

Eligibility, not security

The argument that persuades a sceptical owner is contractual rather than technical. Without the certification the contracts requiring it cannot be awarded to you, and the share of your revenue that depends on them is a number you can calculate this afternoon.

Put that number in the first line of the paper. Everything else is detail.

Three arguments that do not land

Fear. A generic warning about breaches has been heard, discounted and is not specific to this decision.

Best practice. An owner who has run a profitable business for two decades has a considered view about consultants and best practice, and it is not favourable.

The fine. Enforcement discussion invites an argument about probability, which you will lose because the probability is low. Eligibility is not probabilistic: the clause is either in the contract or it is not.

One page, four numbers

Revenue at risk. Cost of the programme over three years. Cost of losing the contracts. And the date by which the requirement bites, taken from the contract rather than from a headline.

A page with those four is read. A twenty-page assessment of control maturity is not, and producing one is a common way of losing an argument you had already won.

Ask for the first quarter, not the year

The boundary definition and the gap analysis cost a fraction of the programme and produce the numbers the rest of the case needs. Asking for that much is a much easier decision, and it converts an argument about a large figure into a small commitment that generates evidence.

It also protects you: if the gap turns out to be smaller than feared, you have not committed to a programme sized for the fear.

Not the technical person, if there is a choice

The case is commercial. Presented by whoever owns customer relationships, it is a conversation about contracts; presented by whoever owns systems, it becomes a conversation about systems and the first objection returns.

The technical person should be in the room and should answer the second question rather than open with it.

Ask when a contract is in front of them

The case is easiest to make when a specific opportunity carries the clause, because the abstract argument becomes a named piece of revenue with a date on it.

Waiting for that moment is reasonable. Waiting past it is not: the programme takes long enough that a supplier learning about the requirement from a bid has already lost that bid.

Do not promise a date you were given by a vendor

Committing your board to a certification date derived from a sales timeline is how a compliance owner loses credibility in month eight.

Promise the first quarter's outputs, which you control, and commit to a date once the gap analysis exists.

What to do with a refusal

Write down what was asked, what was declined, and what the consequence is, and send it. Not as a threat: as a record, because the decision will be revisited when a bid is lost and the reconstruction should not depend on memory.

Then do the free things in the entry on small budgets, because they cost nothing and they shorten the programme that will eventually be approved.

Use it carefully

Pointing out that competitors are certifying is effective and it invites the reply that they are wasting money. It works better as a fact about the buyer than about the competitor: the customer will have a shorter list, and you are either on it or not.

Report against the four numbers

The same four that made the case: revenue at risk, programme cost, progress, and the date. Reporting on control counts to somebody who approved a commercial argument loses the thread and makes the next request harder.

Find out who actually decides

In owner-managed manufacturers it is frequently the owner and not the board, and the paper should be written for that person rather than for a committee that will never see it.

Ask whoever handles the finances who signs for a sum of this size. The answer takes a minute and changes the document.

Avoid the word compliance in the first paragraph

It arrives loaded. Eligibility, contracts and revenue do not, and they describe the same thing more accurately for the person deciding.

Come back with the gap analysis, not with a reminder

A second request identical to the first is easy to decline again. A second request carrying findings, a shortened list and a smaller number is a different conversation.

Elsewhere in buying and budgeting

• What compliance actually costs, itemisedWhat compliance actually costs, itemised. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Reading a proposal that quotes a certificateReading a proposal that quotes a certificate. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• What to build and what to buyWhat to build and what to buy. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• The costs that arrive after the purchase orderThe costs that arrive after the purchase order. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Doing this with almost no moneyDoing this with almost no money. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Who owns compliance, and why it cannot be nobodyWho owns compliance, and why it cannot be nobody. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Running it as a project rather than as a documentRunning it as a project rather than as a document. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Reporting to a board that wants one numberReporting to a board that wants one number. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• When the date slips, which it willWhen the date slips, which it will. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Staying compliant after the assessmentStaying compliant after the assessment. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Working to two standards at onceWorking to two standards at once. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Training that changes what people doTraining that changes what people do. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• How a control looks from the machineHow a control looks from the machine. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Contractors, temps and the visiting engineerContractors, temps and the visiting engineer. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Hiring for a role most suppliers have never filledHiring for a role most suppliers have never filled. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Giving people a way to say a control is unworkableGiving people a way to say a control is unworkable. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• What staff are told about monitoringWhat staff are told about monitoring. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• What counts as an incidentWhat counts as an incident. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Reporting obligations and their clocksReporting obligations and their clocks. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Being able to answer afterwardsBeing able to answer afterwards. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• The first hour, and who decidesThe first hour, and who decides. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Telling a customer something happenedTelling a customer something happened. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• What changes afterwards, and what shouldWhat changes afterwards, and what should. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• The other frameworks you have also metThe other frameworks you have also met. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Export control, named and not advised onExport control, named and not advised on. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Your own suppliers, and what to ask themYour own suppliers, and what to ask them. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Suppliers outside the United StatesSuppliers outside the United States. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• Where the data physically sitsWhere the data physically sits. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.
• What is changing, and how to tellWhat is changing, and how to tell. What it costs, who decides, and what usually goes wrong.