July 3, 2008 -- Two excellent blogs, China Law Blog and bizCult, have posted in recent days on how to lobby the Chinese Government. While both posts cover the topic well they leave out an important aspect of successful lobbying that I have learned from time as an advisor to senior politicians in Australia and from periods involved in lobbying politicians from local governments to the big wigs in Canberra, Washington D.C. and Beijing.

My key learning over 20 odd years of lobbying both successfully and, sometimes, unsuccessfully across three countries are that politicians the world over are all the same. If you want them to support your cause you need to figure out what's in it for them and offer a deal they can't refuse. I'm not talking about delivering brown paper bags stuffed with cash or other bribes.

Getting in the door is the easy part

I'm talking about offering the government officials a winning political proposition.

When I worked for politicians the most despicable of lobbying companies and industry associations were the ones that darkened our doors with a request for help with their problem but no solution to the myriad issues we were facing. Before you approach a politician for help you need to (with apologies to John F. Kennedy) ask not what your government can do for you but rather what you can do for your government. This is the same in China as in rest of the world – I have case studies aplenty to prove it.

In other words, you need think strategically before approaching the government for help.

A strategic approach means coming up with an out-of-the box creative, sustainable solution to a real problem faced by the government bureau, department, ministry or minister that you need help from. Do some research and find out what challenges are keeping the bureaucrats awake at night that you might be able to help with. Come up with a solution that will make the stakeholder look good in front of its relevant constituency and you will have won the support of that key government player. Then, you can table your request for government assistance.

You can also create opportunities for the stakeholder to become involved in a program you run to promote something that is important to the government. For example, if you do something in science you can always link it to education by partnering with the stakeholder to deliver something relevant to school children or higher educational development. Government folks love that. So integrate your CSR program with your lobbying effort – that's being strategic with both.

Finally, get the media involved in the program. The Government loves that because media coverage about programs they are involved in make them look good to their constituencies. I've never met a politician that is camera-shy or averse to publicity.

Lobbying in China, as every where in the world, is about providing win-win solutions to government officials and ministers. It's never just about asking for a favor.

Alistair Nicholas is the president and CEO of AC Capital Strategic Public Relations, a corporate communications consultancy with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. Alistair has more than 25 years experience covering journalism, public relations and lobbying, including the past eight in China. This article originally appeared on the company's blog, Off The Record.