Posts Tagged ‘Sales’

Where Do You Get Your Government Contracts Information?

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Aronson’s FedPoint blog fills the requirement for contractors seeking to stay up-to-date with important news and trends.  FedPoint help government contractors keep current through original articles, online resources, reading and research recommendations, statistics, trends and more.  Are there topics you’d like to see more of? Post your comments or send an email to Ask Fedpoint – let our experts know what information you need to have to make informed decisions, increase government sales, and streamline your business for maximum profitability.

Mark Your Calendars – Upcoming GSA Contracting Events

Friday, August 28th, 2009

September 15, 2009-GSA Schedules Training Webinar. The Office of Small Business Utilization conducts monthly training on the process of obtaining a GSA schedules contract. This free webinar is designed to encourage and support small businesses interested in obtaining a GSA Multiple Award Schedules contract. (Online)

September 24, 2009-Telework Exchange Town Hall Meeting. GSA sponsors this educational forum, along with the private sector, for federal government employees to learn about the latest technology and best practices used to implement telework programs. (Washington, DC)

October 22, 2009-Access to Success Small Business Conference. This powerful one-day conference features procurement and marketing workshops and provides an opportunity to meet and network with GSA program managers, building managers, leasing specialists, senior procurement employees, as well as small business advocates from DoD and other federal agencies. Attendees will also meet prime contractors seeking to partner with experienced small businesses to meet or exceed their company’s subcontracting goals. (Washington, DC)

December 1, 2009-Marketing to the Federal Government Webinar. This free webinar is designed for vendors who have already obtained a GSA Multiple Award Schedules contract and provides marketing tips and strategies for vendors with government contracts. Participants will learn techniques and resources to assist them in marketing to federal government agencies. (Online)

GSA IT Schedule Sales Trends – State and Local Growth, Stimulus Spending?

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

While reviewing the  GSA IT Schedule 70 Monthly Sales Report for April (IT Monthly Sales Report – April 2009), I was stuck by two trends. The first was a significant spike in Schedule 70 sales for April as compared to the same time period last year. The second was the continued strong growth of sales to State and Local Governments (STLOC) through the GSA Cooperative Purchasing Program.

Though overall GSA sales continue to increase at a modest rate, sales on the IT Schedule have been slightly decreasing over the past five years. This trend showed no sign of moderating over the first two quarters of FY09, with sales for each month lower than in 2008. In April, however, overall sales increased by 30% from March and surpassed April 2008 sales as well. GSA does not comment on any reason for the sudden spike in sales, but the timing does suggest a relationship to the release of the first stimulus-related funding. It will be interesting to see whether this surge continues into the near future.

Despite the stagnation of the IT Schedule as a whole, Cooperative Purchasing has experienced substantial growth since its inception several years ago. This growth was even more notable in April, with a nearly 30% increase from April 2008. (more…)

Federal Strategic Business Development, A Refresher

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Sometimes we all need reminders to get back on track with business development efforts, even when we think we know everything about what we should be doing. The federal buying cycle can be long and full of false starts, which could easily lead to discouragement or even apathy. Buying season will be here sooner than you know it, so for the federally focused, I have listed a few proven ways that can put you back on track to success if you are marketing to the government, particularly if you are a small businesses:

(more…)

Re-Align the Federal Marketing 5Ps to the Economic Stimulus Package

Friday, February 20th, 2009

President Obama signed the $787 billion recovery package into law this week. Now the 5P’s of government marketing — Price, Product, Positioning, Promotion and Proposals must align with this new stimulus package, as well as with many other government objectives in a market dynamic not seen before. Vendors trying to make it into the government customer’s selection pool need to quickly build their “bridges” directly to decision makers, in an effort to arm the customer with the right solution at the right time. So here are some key facts to consider when selling to the federal government in FY 2009:

• FED FACT#1
  Successful companies will understand the pressure of condensed decision-making on government officials and innovate their sales approach to quickly target core agency missions. Success will come to companies most agile and resilient in their own business models allowing them to adapt quickly to new government business processes.
• FED FACT #2 (more…)

Business Development Show Time – starting…Now!

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

by Mike Berger, Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.

Wow… a new year, a new president, new people at every Federal agency (with a couple of exceptions), and, potentially, an entirely new slate of opportunities. So what to do?

Well, you can take ads in all the trade journals and hope someone reads them, or wait for the announcements in FedBizOpps and see about following up, or hire some new business development professionals and hope and pray they can fill your pipeline – OR – you might take a hard look at your strategic planning and business development processes and determine what’s needed to make them work better.

If that sounds like a plan, when are you going to start? Next quarter, this summer, “some day,” or how about RIGHT NOW. If there’s anything guaranteed in this world other than death and taxes, we can say for sure that the longer you wait to build an effective program the longer you are going to wait to see any significant results.

You didn’t think of that – OK, most people don’t – but now that you have, it’s time to assess. What are the corporate skills, capabilities, goals and strategies? What contacts do you have and which ones do you need to win? What have you been doing right and, equally important, what’s on the “don’t ever do that again” list? Is your staff involved (it is their company too you know), if not, why not, and how are you going to get them to participate?

Yeah, this is a tall order for any company but you can’t make money sitting on your butt. Need help? Call me. Mike Berger, 703-642-5153, cell 703-861-0726, or send me an email at mberger@acibiz.com. And, by the way, Happy New Year!

Priming for Success

Friday, February 13th, 2009

With so many firms vying for attention to get government work, upfront knowledge of government agencies and large prime contractors time limitations goes a long way in shaping sustainable marketing efforts. Many talented firms with affordable solutions lose interest after seeing mixed results from initial marketing efforts,  leaving the field disenchanted. Some shy away after sizing up the effort required to learn to market to the government, and some get discouraged from the long sales cycle.

But when your marketing efforts do result in government clients, you need to have a contracting vehicle for them to buy your products. Priming yourself with this understanding early helps leverage the value of timely relationships when you create them, helping sustain your success in the government. Primed companies don’t lose interest in selling to the government, because they benefit from reduced learning curves, shorter sales cycles, and increased efficiency, all positively affecting their bottom line and competitive strengths!

Eagerness to sell is not a human folly, but not understanding the government’s process of weighing the best possible choice of available solutions is definitely a killer. Consider the following statistics:

These hard numbers tell the story –  over 50% of all contracts are awarded on IDV contracts. So get your GSA Schedule and have it handy when you need it! For more information concerning this analysis, email amehan@fedmine.us or visit www.fedmine.us for more information.

Federal Business Opportunities Hidden In Plain Sight – Part II

Friday, January 30th, 2009

In Part I last week I discussed how your company can augment federal business development efforts responding to solicitations from FedBizOpps by pursuing teaming and subcontracting opportunities with established prime contractors. In this article we will learn to leverage successful subcontracting and teaming relationships to respond to opportunities. You may have heard the adage that federal agencies are looking for companies specializing in core areas, but many solicitations call for solutions that span across various competencies and multiple NAICS Codes.

These opportunities get embedded under “combined solicitations“, requiring bidders to partner with another company to create a complete solution. The key is to only bid on opportunities for which your team can provide a complete and responsive proposal. A quality proposal will not go unnoticed and even if your team is not selected, you will likely fall within the “competitive range” established by the agency for the bid. This designation qualifies you to request a debriefing with the contracting officer to uncover reasons why you weren’t selected.

Debriefings help you understand agency needs, identify decision makers, get valuable face time with potential customers, see how their organization is structured, and uncover immediate opportunities within the agency. (more…)

Resolution #6: We Will Embrace Federal Opportunities (Nurture Your Network!)

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Now is the time to embrace selling opportunities within the Federal government.  Spending in the commercial sector will be weak in 2009, so additional effort should be made to increase sales to the Federal Government, one of few sectors that will spend more in 2009. The Federal government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world so if you’re looking for growth, you’re looking in the right direction. Contractors who wait for Requests For Proposals (RFPs) to be issued or the bidding process to begin before executing a business development strategy will find they have wasted hundreds of hours bidding on blind RFPs and will win very little business.

To sell to government successfully, you need to pro-actively develop relationships. (more…)

Drive a hole through the competition by Promoting Your GSA Schedule

Friday, December 26th, 2008

Driving to work the other day, a truck for an electrical company caught my eye.  It was just another work truck – except for the prominent  display of the GSA Schedule Contract number on the side.

Because I work in the government contracting industry, that caught my attention.  Many GSA contractors fail even to display their GSA contract numbers on their webpages – but this company’s advertising and promotion went far beyond that!

How are you promoting your GSA Schedule contract?  Is your contract prominently displayed on your webpage – and linked to your GSA Advantage pricelist for easy ordering?  Are you using GSA eBuy to respond to Request for Quotes – and using the opportunity (win or lose) to interact with customers and promote your services?

So… what ideas are you using to get your services and products in front of your customers?   Maybe truck ads aren’t for you … but are you finding and doing what is?

If you are interested in identifying your company’s federal market sales potential and additional sales opportunities, Aronson & Company’s Federal Market Assessment provides a comprehensive look at the Federal marketplace and Agencies buying habits. Contact Vanessa Payne to learn more at vpayne@aronsoncompany.com or 301.231.6200.