Small businesses often have a limited sales budget. For those located outside the Washington metropolitan area, selling inside the Beltway is too expensive and the competition too intense -- even if the sales dollars are available. As we have repeatedly mentioned in the past, most federal business is sold through personal, one-on-one sales contacts and the foregoing is difficult, if not impossible, to do long distance. We therefore suggest that small businesses facing this dilemma follow the approach outlined below.

Identify medium-sized to large federal installations and offices (collectively hereinafter referred to as "installations") located within driving distance of your office. Pick one installation as your focused sales target. Your first goal should be to obtain that installation's organizational chart and telephone directories.

The installation's public relations unit should be able to provide organizational charts and phone directories and possibly even program brochures. Also refer to the local telephone blue pages and the installation's web site to find potential customers. An installation's web site address can be located at the official federal web portal, http://www.firstgov.gov. Also consider using fedmarket.com, located at http://www.fedmarket.com, to use our sales assistance products to help identify federal customers.

Once you have completed your legwork, schedule a face-to-face appointment with the head of the installation's contracting division. Educate the contracting head about your company's capabilities and the products or services you sell. Inquire about those products or services the agency has bought in the past (or will be buying in the future). Ask for the names of the prime contractors currently working with the installation and try to obtain the names of those prime contractors' project managers. Finally and perhaps most importantly, stress that you are a small business and ask for the contracting division's assistance in doing business with the installation. You should also schedule a meeting with the agency's small business representative. When meeting with this individual, follow the same outline you used with the agency's contracting division manager.

Upon completing your meetings with the contracting division and small business representative, sit down and identify the installation's end users you think might buy your product or service. Call and schedule appointments with those individuals. Sell them on your company and close the sale. If you are successful, the end user will then use a GSA schedule, a subcontract with a prime contractor, or a public procurement to buy from you. Closing a sale using a GSA schedule is a 1-2 week process. A close using a subcontract with a prime contractor is usually a 4-8 week process. A public bid can take 6-9 months.

Other possible avenues of approach include calling the prime contractors' project managers to sell your products or services to them as a subcontractor. Also consider calling the prime contractors' national subcontracting coordinators to educate them about your company. Pick a second target installation or federal office and start over if, after time, it becomes apparent that there aren't any customers at your target installation. Companies new to the federal market must accept that it may not see its first federal sale from a targeted agency for a year or more. Federal sales take patience and perseverance.

In conjunction with your federal sales efforts, strongly consider obtaining a GSA schedule contract. A business can prepare a GSA schedule offer on its own or it may hire an outside contractor to prepare one on its behalf.

A GSA schedule is the fastest and easiest way to do federal business.