BEYOND THE FRIES: Why Top-Tier Lobbyists Never "Upsell" (And What They Do Instead)
Every business school graduate knows the story of the McDonald’s cash register. “Would you like fries with that?” is taught as the holy grail of cross-selling—a simple, low-friction prompt that turned a cheap hamburger into billions in high-margin revenue.
It’s a great story for a 17-year-old running a drive-thru.
It is a terrible mindset for a government relations practice.
If you are managing statehouse strategy, navigating complex regulatory bodies, procurement issues, or protecting a multi-million-dollar client asset, you are not an order taker behind a counter. Clients do not walk into a lobbyist’s office or sit down at Harry Browne’s asking, "I wonder what he'll give me for free today?" They arrive because they have a high-stakes problem, they lack the access or expertise to solve it themselves, and they fully expect to write a substantial retainer check to make it go away.
When you treat your services like a fast-food menu—offering a baseline monitoring agreement and trying to tack on grassroots campaigns, digital advocacy, or executive agency coverage mid-stream—you demote yourself from strategic partner to vendor.
Here is how top-tier GR professionals structure their positioning from the top down.
