The 5 Hidden Perks of Hiring a Political Consultant
If you’re running for office, especially as a first-time candidate, you may ask yourself “Do I really need a campaign consultant?”. Well, here are five hidden perks of having a political consultant on your team, regardless of campaign size.
Templates
One of the most helpful things a consultant can provide is the time and effort savings of campaign templates. Here at A&A, we provide templates for common campaign activities like a Finance Tracker to plan the campaign’s budget and track fundraising toward the campaign’s goals. We offer templates for best practices for running events, sample language for weekly volunteer recruitment emails, template letters to the editor for supporters to write, pledge chase emails for donor prospects, and more. A consultant can save the campaign time—the one thing you don’t get more of during a political race.
Pre-existing vendor relationships
I’ve seen lots of campaigns spend time getting quotes from different printers, or trying to find a program to manage volunteer activities. When you have a seasoned professional on your side, they can make sure you’re using the right print shops for the best prices, and implementing the correct tools for your field needs right away. Need a pollster? T-shirt printed? Website? Texting program? A good consultant keeps abreast of the best tools that make the most efficient use of resources for the campaign so you can avoid wasting time on trial and error.
Mindset training
Running for public office is a challenging and rewarding experience that will help you grow as a person. You'll learn new skills and be faced with many new experiences that may be frightening or uneasy at first. A campaign consultant can be an incredible coach to encourage the candidate and campaign team to improve by dispelling negative beliefs, strengthening positive behaviors, and encouraging new thought patterns. A good consultant can frame problems in ways that reveal opportunities for the campaign to advance towards victory.
The expertise when shit hits the fan
Did someone write a negative letter to the editor? Did a serious issue present itself weeks before election day? Unexpected elements present themselves in every campaign. After decades on campaigns, our team has seen natural disasters, candidate injuries that prevent them from campaigning, staff quitting, last-minute endorsements, opponents getting slapped with criminal charges, recounts…you name it. Whatever storms might come, a consultant can help steer the ship in the right direction when things get rough. With experience, a consultant will guide a campaign to respond to any challenge with strength.
Fine Tuning
Even incumbent elected officials who have run successful campaigns before will acknowledge that they could have done things better. Consultants are professional problem solvers who will look at the big picture of the campaign and identify opportunities to fine-tune even things that are going well. Having a strategist analyzing your fundraising, field, communications, digital, and operations with a shrewd eye will mean you’ll be able to find opportunities for improvement and efficiency. Even Olympians—people who are the very best in the world at what they do—have coaches, and this is why.
