Information Moved
We have recently redesigned our site. The page you requested has moved.
We have tried to display the information you are looking for below, but if we have not satisfied your request, please feel free to use the search function below.
You may also call (888) 661-4094 option 2 to speak to a Fedmarket representative who can assist you in finding what you are looking for.
Federal Sales Training
- Federal Sales 101: Winning Government Business
Fedmarket's most popular course, eight-years in the running. Whether you are new to the marketplace or a seasoned veteran this class will jump start your sales endeavors. - 2-Day Executive Session on Winning Federal Contracts
12 one-hour segments given by experts from the legal and federal contracting community . - Winning Federal IDIQ Contracts
Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) multi-award contracts are the wave of the future . - Managing Federal Contracts for Continued Revenue
Keep your federal revenues rolling in.
Sales Tools
- Federal Official Buyers List
Gain access to contact data for over 29,000 federal buyers; these are the people who "seal the deal," get to know them by name. . - Industry Specific End User List
Reach those who communicate their needs directly to the buyer. . - Email List of Federal, State and Local Buyers
Bring your product/service to the attention of over 75,000 buyers through an email marketing campaign. . - Federal Sales Plan Development Wizard
Develop and maintain a federal sales plan..
Articles
- GSA the World's Biggest Customer
The most confusing aspect of a GSA proposal is the requirement to disclose your discounting practices. GSA uses the disclosures to negotiate a discount equal to or better than the best discount you have extended to your commercial customers... - Why Buyers Like GSA Schedules
In essence, a GSA schedule is a pre-approved price list for use by any federal buyer. Pre-approved (pre-negotiated) pricing is the key. In making a buy, GSA schedules allow: Unprecedented speed and minimal paperwork... - Be Proactive to Win Federal Dollars
Proactive methods have governed sales approaches for products and services since the days of Willy Lowman. The same basic principles remain the keys to success in federal sales... - People Buy, Not Agencies
Contrary to popular belief, people buy in the federal market, not agencies. The only way to make a federal sale is to contact a buyer through a direct sales call... - Selling Risk Aversion
Federal end users hate risk. Commercial end users are risk averse but not to the extent of federal end users. Federal end users are measured differently that end users in the commercial sector... - More Selling Services versus Products
In the products market, end users often are familiar with the products they are buying... - More on Selling Risk Aversion
The previous installment discussed federal end users aversion to risk when selecting a contractor. The fear is particularly acute for rebids of information technology service contracts... - Federal Marketing Activities that Work for Small to Medium Sized Businesses
The previous installment warned that some federal marketing activities can be too expensive for small to medium sized businesses. You probably can't afford to sponsor a golf tournament in Washington, DC... - The Value of Federal Marketing
Some believe that marketing is a critical component to having success in the federal market. Marketing efforts make the public, official buyers and end users aware of your company and your products or services... - Make it Easy for Federal Buyers
Once you've hired the full-time sales person, made the direct sales calls, established a relationship with the end user, and sold your product or service, you figure you're done, right? No... - Importance of Direct Sales
Many companies looking to win federal contracts spend large portions of their annual budgets on marketing, business development, and capture planning... - When the Sale Takes Place
Almost all newcomers to the federal market make the mistake of thinking that a sales opportunity arises when a request for a proposal or bid is published. In reality by the time a bid is published, the sale has probably already been made... - Act Immediately to Add Federal Revenue to Your Company
We have repeatedly stressed in prior newsletters that the federal market is recession proof and an ideal source for additional revenue. Naysayers will although the market may be recession proof, it has a long sales lead time... - Multi-vendor Contracts in the Federal Market
The federal government has put an increasing emphasis on a type of pre-negotiated contract that is awarded to a number of vendors before specific purchasing requirements are known (called a "multi-vendor contract")... - Distinguishing Messages Win in the Federal Market
Everyone thinks their competitors are worthless and that they alone have the best product or service known to man. Federal end users have heard "we are the best" so many times that it makes them scream when they hear it... - Trench Warfare in Federal Sales
People on the outside do not realize what goes on when contracts worth millions to billions of dollars are at stake. Sales efforts can be likened to trench warfare and the meek inherit very little... - Who Sells in the Federal Market?
The person who sells products and services in the federal market depends on the type of product or service being sold, the size of the company, and the dollar value of the procurement... - Federal Sales and Self Interest, the Small Business Specialist (Advocate)
The previous installment discussed the motivation of contracting officers in the federal purchasing process. This installment looks at the motivation of small business specialists (advocates)... - Federal Sales and Self Interest, the Contracting Officer
The previous installment discussed the motivation of end users in the federal purchasing process. This installment looks at the motivation of contracting officers... - Federal Sales and Self Interest, the Federal End User
The next four installments discuss how self interest impacts people involved in the federal buying process. Buyers in the commercial and federal sectors behave in the same manner... - The Role of Best Value in Federal Purchasing
What does the term "Best Value" mean to a sales person selling in the federal market? In short, it means that federal buyers do not have to select the vendor with the lowest price... - Guidelines for Companies New to Government Contracting
Sales people take note. You are free to meet with and sell federal end users. Federal purchasing rules not only allow it but encourage it... - Get Out in Front to Win
The book of rules governing federal purchases is called the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) which can be found at http://www.acqnet.gov/far/... - Pre-selling and Competition
In buying services and solutions federal buyers need to meet with vendors to determine the intangible aspects of what they are buying including feature, benefit, and risks... - Who Makes a Federal Sale?
A general perception of companies outside the federal market is that the market is unique or special because the public's money is being spent... - People Buy Not Agencies
Contrary to popular belief, people buy in the federal market, not agencies. The only way to make a federal sale is to contact a buyer through a direct sales call... - Playing the Federal Sales Game
The federal market can be an alien and confusing world. Many would-be contractors firmly believe that federal bureaucracies are governed by strange and convoluted procurement rules designed to confuse and even intimidate... - Should We or Shouldn't We
Should you join the parade to grab some of endless flow of federal contracting opportunities? The federal government has always been an extremely lucrative market; world events are just making it more visible... - Who Will Assist Me in Making a Federal Sale?
A general misconception is that the federal market is unique or special because taxpayer dollars are being spent... - Finding Federal Buyers
A huge problem that newcomers face when trying to enter the federal market place is that it is enormously difficult to find end users... - Let the Light Shine In
A huge problem that newcomers face when trying to enter the federal market place is that it is enormously difficult to find end users (the person with money who needs what a company is selling)... - Small Businesses and the Federal Market
Knowing your customers is the key to sales success. This is true whether you're selling to public or private organizations... - Provide a Solution, Not a Sales Pitch
The process of arranging meetings with federal procurement officials (end users) is not an easy one. End users are busy and vendors from countries all around the world are trying to sell the end users their wares... - Shoot the Messenger
Fedmarket's Federal Sales Academy was prominently featured in the April 15, 2006 issue of Government Executive Magazine in an article entitled, "Contracting 101" by Kimberly Palmer... - Developing a Federal Sales Plan
How early should you identify a sales opportunity in the federal market? The answer is that an opportunity must be identified before anyone, including the customer, knows that an opportunity exists... - Insights on Closing a Federal Sales
The commercial and federal markets are basically identical in that you have to make one-on-one sales calls to end users in order to sell your product or service... - Entering the Federal Market
You are a small to medium sized business located outside the Washington, DC area and you have decided that you want to enter the federal market. What should you do? 1... - Multiple Award Contracts: The Wave of the Future
Multiple Award Contracts (MACs) have the following characteristics. Awards are made to a number of vendors and the winning vendors compete among themselves for business... - Small Businesses and Federal Sales
The following question often surfaces at our seminars, "What procedures should be followed by small businesses eager to participate in the federal market?" The answer to this question is that a small business should implement an aggressive federal s... - Can Your Congressperson Help?
Making direct sales calls, particularly cold calls, is a chore for most people. Only the exceptionally extroverted sales person says, "Give me some names and numbers - I thrive on rejection... - Selling Services to Federal Agencies
Our newsletters repeatedly emphasize the need to establish a relationship with end users when selling in the federal market... - Keys to Success in Federal Sales
Attendees at our federal sales seminars frequently ask us to summarize the keys to success in federal sales. Successful federal contractors all possess the following traits: * A willingness to invest in direct sales (i.e... - Does a Relationship with the Customer Guarantee a Win?
In our previous proposal writing installments we have stated over and over that building a customer relationship is the key to a successful proposal... - The Customer is the Key to Winning Proposals
Most successful federal contractors understand relationship sales and sell the customer before writing customer driven, defensive proposals. Yet we hear over and over: "we are new and they won't meet with us"... - Proposal Writing Is Not Going to Go Away
Most owners of small and medium-sized federal contracting companies wish that writing proposals was not a requirement of doing business with the federal government... - Full & Open? No, More like Limited Or Closed
At Fedmarket we sometimes call federal competition for professional services and high technology products "Limited and Closed" as opposed to "Full and Open", which is the public posture of the federal government... - Procurement Problems and GSA Schedules
Federal procurement is being attacked from all directions. The General Services Administration (GSA) was recently called to task by federal auditors and Congress for alleged "scope of work" violations... - GSA Schedule Competition in Real Life
For political reasons the federal government takes the position that competition for federal contracts is 'full and open"... - Is Your GSA schedule Contract in Danger of Cancellation?
The following clause is contained in every GSA Schedule contract in one form or another: A contract will not be awarded unless anticipated sales are expected to exceed at least $25,000 within the first 24 months following contract award, and are e... - Full and Open Competition
Public bids under the federal government's "full and open competition rules" are horrendously inefficient. End-users and official buyers do not like to use public bids... - Selling to the Feds
Federal end-users, such as human resource program managers, engineers, or facility managers, make most purchasing decisions. As the term implies, the end-user is the person who will actually use the service... - New Women Owned-Small Business Posts $2.5 Million!
United MedEvac Solutions, Inc., (UMS), was formed in April 2005 as a Women-Owned Small Business by Danielle "DeDe" Wilson (President) and Larry W. Case (Vice President) as a result of an immediate need for Ft. Hood's on base air medical coverage... - Report from the GSA Expo, San Antonio, TX 2006
GSA Schedule holders, GSA employees, government buyers and end users descended upon San Antonio, TX the week of May 14, 2006 for the GSA Expo... - Base Closings Open Opportunities for Contractors
MAY, 2005: BASE CLOSINGS AND REALIGNMENTS ANNOUNCED According to recent GovExec... - The Government Buys Everything
It is now August 2005 and the federal government will be closing its accounting books in September 2005. Your business contacts are just finding out now how much money they have to "use or lose... - Four Cold Calling Tactics
Many readers of "On the Firing Line" have asked about my thoughts on whether it is possible, in the post-September 11th world, to make personal cold calls on federal buyers... - The Key To Successful Federal Sales
The most difficult person to find in the federal government is your potential end user. If you do not have a directory of an agency, it is always difficult to get started... - Jump into Your Customer's Shoes -- What Would You Do If You Encountered a Stranger in the Federal Building?
Jump into Your Customer's Shoes -- What Would You Do If You Encountered a Stranger in the Federal Building?by Eileen KentConsider for a moment that you are an employee for the federal government... - Small Businesses, Take Note...
While 2005 is starting to 'ramp up' to be a successful year for savvy federal contractors and prime vendors, we all know that we need to continue to fill the pipeline through brand identity and face time in front of our potential federal buyers and ... - Using Freedom of Information Act to Obtain End User Information
Whenever we read a paper or hear the cable news networks use the acronym FOIA it always seems to be about information the media is trying to uncover... - The Only Way To Uncover Government Business is to Focus, Focus, Focus!
How did you feel when you first considered selling to the government? I always thought I was looking into the face of the "Great and Powerful Oz." It seemed overwhelming and a little frightening... - Department of Homeland Security - Relationships with GSA Schedules Win Business
When I took my first Fedmarket.com class in mid-2002 called "Selling to the Department of Homeland Security," there were over 70 people in the room drooling for business... - Agency Uncovered
When I taught "Winning Government Business" and "Selling to the Government" this week, I found there was an interesting trend in the attendees... - Cold Caller Adventure: State of Colorado
During the week of August 15, 2004, I was teaching a "Winning Government Business" at the Burnsley Hotel at Grant and 10th Street... - Top Ten Mistakes, Relationship Killers and Wastes of Time
Should your company try one of the approaches outlined below while trying to do business with the government, you will end up at a dead end and will have a seriously demoralized federal sales team. My Top Ten List of Mistakes is as follows: 1... - Read Between the Headlines
The Federal Government Needs Your Help! The media hype can overwhelm us just by turning on the television, but as a potential government contractor, I want you to read and view the news in a whole new way... - Goal for 2006 - Focus, Focus, Focus
How did you feel when you first considered selling to the government? I always thought I was looking into the face of the "Great and Powerful Oz." The process seemed overwhelming and a little frightening... - Help The Government Solve Problems
Although the federal government is made up of hundreds of agencies, the few that we seem to hear about in the news are the Department of Homeland Security, the military and the Intelligence Community... - Interviewing Your Potential Federal Client is Much Easier Than Selling to Your Client
Sales executives tend to rush into the offices of federal end users and contracting officers and start performing the dog and pony show... - FEMA States It is "Ready for Hurricane Season 2006." Are You Ready to Help Them?
If you haven't visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) web site lately, it has been updated (see http://www.fema.gov/)... - State and Local Governments Have Their Rules Too!
Although Fedmarket's installments and newsletters tend to focus on the federal government, I would like to take the time to address state and local government business. Many companies have approached me with questions about this marketplace... - Selling IT: Introduction to the Government IT Sector
Governments at all levels are becoming citizen-centric in delivering services, e.g., developing Internet portals that provide single points of entry for citizens and businesses... - Selling IT: Sales and Marketing Basics
Company managers new to government sales often view governments as bureaucratic bodies from another world, imbued with strange and mysterious procurement rules, rules designed to confuse and even intimidate... - Selling IT: Agency Focus
In the prior installment on selling IT to governments, we talked about business development, distinguishing "inside" from "outside... - GSA Schedule BPAs
A BPA is a simplified method of filling anticipated repetitive needs for supplies or services by establishing charge accounts with qualified vendors... - Business Development - The Key To Federal Sales
In an earlier installment we said that you will chase your tail if you lack a laser-like focus in the federal market. Business development is the process used to identify potential buyers (end-users and official buyers) for your product or service... - Business Development -- Start with the Internet
Firstgov.gov, is a search engine that organizes and centralizes federal agency information. It searches over 30 million web pages. It takes some rudimentary experience in web searching to use it properly... - Public Bids as a Source For Bussiness Development Information
Does this sound familiar? "I do not have time to look at the public bids at FedBizOpps every day because we seldom respond to them unless we have ‘pre-sold’ the opportunity... - GSA Schedule Teaming
The General Services Administration (GSA) has become a sales and marketing machine. The thrust of its pitch is that the agency makes things "easy" for everyone,especially government buyers and end-users... - Federal Proposals and Debriefings
Used judiciously, proposals and debriefings can be a source of sales opportunity information... - GSA Schedules from the Viewpoint of the Buyer
Imagine that you’re an overworked official federal buyer, and an end-user requests your services in making a buy... - GSA Schedules and the Over $25,000 Market
The over $25,000 market used to be thought of as the "public market", but GSA Schedules have changed that. Now buyers think of the public market as a place to be avoided... - Use of GSA Schedules for Selling Services
GSA schedules are very powerful tools for selling services. In recently adding services to the list of available GSA schedules, the federal government recognized the reality of how services are purchased... - People and the Federal Sales Process
As we have mentioned repeatedly in this series, people drive the federal sales process. The very lowest level in the proverbial food chain is you (the commission-hungry, federal salesperson and your revenue-starved boss)... - Modify Your Business Development Strategy as Your Company Grows
Business development is a difficult task for companies new to the federal market. This is particularly true for a company with no federal experience or contacts... - Selling Products Directly Using GSA Schedules
Expensive and complex (for example, technology-based) products are ideal items to sell directly to the federal government. In fact, use your own sales force to make such sales... - Using the GSA Schedule Program to Develop Your Multiple
A frequent reader of our installment series has no doubt surmised that we highly recommend getting on the GSA schedule as a potentially lucrative sales vehicle... - Doing Business with Prime Contractors
We are frequently asked by small or medium-sized businesses whether they should attempt to sell directly to federal end users or sell to prime contractors through subcontracts... - The Reality of Direct Sales to Government
In our monthly federal sales seminars, some attendees openly rebel against the suggestion that they should be making direct sales calls. Those disbelievers say to the speaker, "there must be a better way... - Entry by Small Businesses into the Federal Market
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... - Comparing the Commercial and Federal Markets
The commercial and federal markets are more similar than some would think. In both the federal and commercial sectors, people buy products and services. Many tend to think of the government as a faceless behemoth... - Locating Those Who Make Purchasing Decisions
To the surprise of many, purchasing decisions are made the same in both the federal and commercial markets. In the commercial sector, end users generally decide on the product or service that best meets their needs...
