How to get stakeholder approval in projects

Let’s say you got your projects done, but you’re concerned about how to get stakeholder approval. If this process is usually hard for your business, don’t worry! There are several solutions you can try to improve your chances of success.

If that stakeholder doesn’t approve your project, all your efforts towards building something worthwhile would have been wasted. No matter what kind of solution you’re working on, you need to know how to get your stakeholder’s approval effectively.

Why is it important to improve the approval process with a stakeholder?

You have worked for months on a project — like an ROI calculator — and now it’s complete. However, your stakeholder doesn’t grasp the actual value of what you created. Is this story familiar? Then, you need to work on improving your strategy.

First, understanding your stakeholder is critical. You want to provide value to these people, so you’ll need them to see the value they’re receiving. Otherwise, no solution will seem effective or relevant. You need to prepare yourself for objections and provide the best presentation you can.

A smooth process is better for everyone. Your business gets to provide the value it is good at and your stakeholder obtains the solution they need. Ideally, everyone should know the values that were exchanged. This is the hallmark of a satisfying approval process.

How to get stakeholder approval in your project?

A long, drawn-out approval in any project can be a productivity killer and terrible for morale. This also makes it harder to provide value to your clients. 

It’s particularly worse when they don’t acknowledge the quality of your deliverables. For that to not be a problem, you need to take action.

Here is everything you need to do to increase your odds of obtaining stakeholder approval in projects.

Identify your stakeholder

This essential step will make all the others possible. Before anything else, you must appropriately identify who your stakeholder is. This is not always easy or intuitive, sometimes requiring the proper analysis and research.

Who are the people you interact with at the client? Is the stakeholder among them or are they serving as buffers? Make sure to know who this person is before continuing.

Get to know your stakeholder

We cannot truly execute a project without knowing who the stakeholder is. By understanding who is directly or indirectly affected by your strategy, you can create something truly effective.

This understanding involves learning what is important to them and their major motivations. If your project aims to affect these people positively, it needs to know how to provide value to them through these lines.

Understand the approval process

Many businesses work with stakeholders that might have varying approval processes. To work more effectively in this context, you must learn how it works.

For that to be possible, you need to visualize how you expose your business’ products to the stakeholder. Then, consider how influential your brand is in that situation and how well it appeals to that stakeholder’s expectations.

Deliver what your stakeholder needs

Now that you know more about your stakeholder and the approval process, the natural next step involves delivering the best result in this dynamic. Your project must generate something that provides value to these people.

This also applies to the level of quality your stakeholder seeks in your project. To convince someone of its value, you must consider what you know about their expectations and work hard to surpass them.

Consider the stakeholder’s stakes

How dependent is your stakeholder on your project? You cannot spell “stakeholder” without “stake”, so an important part of the process involves understanding why your solution is so important to them specifically.

This will help you surpass possible drawn-out approval processes. Those stakes are usually what lead to objections and mismatched views on the project. 

Be prepared for objections

Part of the process of getting your stakeholder’s approval includes being prepared for objections. This will help you make sure that the stakeholder perceives the proper value of your project by using the right arguments.

There is no universal cheat sheet for this. You must consider the most common objections your business usually receives and come up with the correct approach to each of them. Also, make sure to update this list periodically.

Make a relevant presentation

The way you present your project has a definitive impact on your stakeholder. You must make sure it causes the effect you are looking for to provide value to these people.

The keyword, here, is relevance. Your presentation needs to address what your stakeholder needs and make that clear. 

For instance, let’s say your project is a content marketing assessment. An excellent way to do this is to provide results they might get by using your solution.

Use the right tool

Technology can help you improve your processes and achieve more quality in your deliverables. This combination of benefits has a highly positive impact on your stakeholder. You just need to get the right solution.

Visually is the best tool for the job as it has a built-in approval process where your stakeholder can check every step of the project until completion. It also has a talent base of over a thousand creatives to help you reach the level of quality you need.

Knowing how to get stakeholder approval is the first step into a strategic and efficient process in your business. This will help you provide actual value to your clients while strengthening your ability to create even better projects. 

Consider the tips in this article to improve your approvals and increase your chances of success.

Would you like to know more about Visually to make that happen? Tell us about your project and get a quote within one business day.