To Hire a Lobbyist or To Not Hire a Lobbyist?

You don't have to read the entire quote below to get the gist of this post, just read from top to just past the bullet list.  I included the rest of the source just for those curious about the rest .

*** Federal Sales *** Welcome to a new series called "Federal Sales." This newsletter is the second installment in a series of email newsletters about current topics relating to Federal Sales. This series joins our other popular newsletters; "Proposal Writing" and "GSA Schedules" in a weekly rotation. Installment 2 - Top Down or Bottom Up Many attendees at our Federal Sales Academy seminars ask: "We have something truly unique that the federal government just has to have. Should we hire a lobbyist or go to our congressman or a high level administration official to help us sell it?" You are wasting your valuable time and money unless: You have contributed so much money that the congressman actually knows your name. You are so active in the congressman's political party that you are newsworthy. You are a connected Texan. You are connected to a pork project or a highly visible local initiative. Not only is a top down approach to sales expensive it can lull you into believing that something is happening and divert you from what you really should be doing. Further, pressure from the top can alienate the mid-level procurement decision makers. Well if top down isn't going to work, how about bottom up. Most federal sales are made from the bottom up or better yet from the middle up. You must search out that particular end user with both pain and the money. The person you are seeking is usually somewhere in the middle and probably is either hiding from you or already has a favorite vendor. The person will need your products and services in achieving their job and what you provide will probably have an impact on the individual's performance, salary, and/or promotion. Make my pain go away really means help me do my job better. The person you are looking for can be an engineer, technical specialist, program specialist, branch chief, division head, program manger or Chief Information office. It depends on the circumstances. Finding them and then getting through the glass wall (resistance to sales calls) is not easy but that is what you have to do. Leave the top down approach for the multi-billion dollar deals. [Oct 16, 2005   Fedmarket.com]

I thought that this was an interesting email.  Fedmarket.com has a very informative series of write-ups about how to sell to various sections of the government.  Most of the pieces are boring, but some of them, like this one, have some scary insight.

These people make money telling you how to run your operation.  The fact that they think

Big money == Active in politics == Pork project == Texan

is kinda revealing.  Again, this email is not from a politically tinted organization.  They are just trying to make a buck.

I wonder if being a "connected Texan" stays true for other administrations?  It seems a lobbyist would only help you with Congress, which isn't the domain of the Executive branch of government.  So does this axiom always hold true?

I don't have answers, but I do have questions.