4 steps to get buy-in for your GRC solution (includes free survey to send your employees!)

Now you know you need to upgrade your governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management system, it's time to convince others across your business.  

Kate Armitage, Product Quality Assurance Manager at Qualsys has worked in various quality roles for the past 13 years. Kate advises:

You need to use your sales skills when it comes to getting what you need for your GRC system. For this, I use the sales technique "AIDA". AIDA is an acronym which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. It's a simple and effective way to get buy-in across your business.

Below, Kate has summarised some examples of how she has applied the AIDA technique. 

1) Awareness 

Awareness is all about getting your employees to acknowledge that there is an issue. Ask your employees what they like about the existing system, what they dislike, and any ideas they might have.

You may also want to get some quantitative data, such as:

• How would you rate our existing document / risk / issue management system? (out of 10) 
• Can you always find the documents you need? 
• Are you confident your training records are always up to date? 

Here is an example survey we sent on behalf of a multi-site manufacturer who wanted to replace a document management system. 

2) Interest

You now have their attention, so it will be much easier to get their interest. Using social proof is a powerful way to get buy-in for your case. 

Social proof is most powerful for those who feel unfamiliar or unsure in a specific situation and who, consequently, must look outside of themselves for evidence of how best to behave there.

Robert Cialdini - Influence: The Power of Persuasion

Use your survey data for social proof, for example:

• 87% don't feel confident the documents they are accessing is correct 
• 60% aren't sure where to find the latest SOPs
• In the past 12 months, 90% of employees spotted an issue but didn't report it because they didn't know who to tell. 

Here is an example presentation we put together on behalf of a potential customer who wanted to convince their employees they needed a consolidated and integrated GRC solution. If you'd like some free assistance with this, contact us here. 

3) Desire 

Now you have presented the findings, you need to present the solution. We'd recommend using feedback from all your research thoughout this presentation. 

Here is an example presentation template you can use to get buy-in.  If you'd like more help putting together a buy-in presentation, contact us and we'd be delighted to help prepare your presentation or present on your behalf. 

4) Action 

After this, it's important to continually set objectives, measure and report the findings to your employees. Are you on track? What is the bigger picture? How can we improve? 

During your implementation of our GRC solution, your dedicated Service Implementation Manager will help you set up your system to make this natural.

Read more about our best practice implementation service here.

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