7 effective steps to securing a stakeholder buy-in

When trying to drive innovation in an organization, change makers often face apathetic stakeholders who shoot down their ideas. To persuade them, it's essential to activate their sensory imagination and break down logical barriers. Concrete data is key to making abstract ideas seem real to stakeholders. Opportunity cost analysis can be an effective way to pitch your idea by pointing out the benefits that competitors could reap if your organization fails to implement it. Planning for failure is also important to address stakeholder concerns, and presenting worst-case-scenarios helps demonstrate that any potential setbacks are manageable. Identifying challenges and designing a controlled-environment test can also help make your pitch more convincing. Finally, breaking down the buy-in process into smaller steps can make stakeholders more likely to give lots of small yeses, which can add up to a big yes.