How to secure your compliance budget: 3 tactical strategies

Tactic 1: Personalise your pitch for each leader

Your existing strategy is to tell a strategic story that links to company goals, which is a crucial first step. The insider tactic is to go one level deeper and personalise that story for each individual in the room.

Your board is made up of individuals with different priorities. A one-size-fits-all pitch, even if strategically sound, will resonate differently with each of them. To be truly effective, speak their language.

How to do it:

• For your head of sales or managing partner: They care about efficiency and revenue. Frame your pitch around time saved and a smoother deal flow.

  • Try saying: "This tool will save each fee earner three hours a week on admin, freeing them up to focus on what they do best: building client relationships and driving business."

• For your CFO or Head of risk: They care about mitigating financial and regulatory exposure.

  • Try saying: "This investment directly addresses the specific risks highlighted in the SRA's latest report, significantly strengthening our defences against potential fines and audits."

This personalised approach shows you’re thinking not just about compliance, but about the specific pressures and goals of each area of the business.

Tactic 2: Master your timing with external events

Our previous guide, The Compliance Playbook, already covers the importance of making the risk real. The insider tactic is to use external events to create a powerful sense of urgency. As many compliance leaders will tell you, timing is everything.

How to do it:

Keep a close eye on industry news and regulatory updates. The moment a high-profile competitor is fined for an issue, or a regulator releases a new thematic review that highlights a specific risk, is the perfect time to present your solution. You can stay up-to-date by subscribing to our newsletter at the end of this article.

This transforms your proposal from a proactive "what if" scenario into a reactive and urgent necessity. It’s no longer just about a potential risk; it's about a real, present danger that has just affected a firm down the road. This creates a powerful catalyst for immediate action.

Tactic 3: Sell the commercial benefit, not just the risk

Talking about risk is essential, but it’s only half the story. The most successful compliance leaders also frame their requests around positive commercial outcomes. Instead of focusing solely on the fines and reputational damage, highlight the commercial benefits to show how you could make the business more efficient and profitable.

How to do it:

Explain how robust compliance isn't just a defensive measure; it’s a commercial advantage.

• Smoother transactions: Show how the right tools and processes at the start of a transaction prevent last-minute delays, which helps deals complete faster.

• Improved profitability: Good compliance isn't just a cost; it's a direct enabler of revenue. When transactions are smooth and secure from the start, they are far more likely to complete successfully. Smoother, more certain completions mean more reliable revenue.

By focusing on the positive commercial impact, you reframe compliance from a necessary cost to a strategic enabler of business success.

From cost centre to strategic partner

These tactics all point to one powerful shift: reframing compliance from a necessary cost to a strategic partner.

When you can connect your proposal to commercial goals like saving fee-earner time or securing revenue faster, the conversation changes. This is where having the right tools makes the case for you. Demonstrating how a platform like Thirdfort turns onboarding from a client bottleneck into a simple and secure experience is the perfect proof point.

It’s how you show, not just tell, that investing in good compliance is simply good business.