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Articles
- The Similarities and Differences Between Commercial and Government Sales
Most people outside Washington, D.C., view the federal market as strange and unique. The truth is, it is and it isn't. On the sales side, the federal market is identical to the commercial market... - 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... - Closing a Sale
The manner in which a federal purchase is completed depends on the size of the transaction. Credit card buys under $2,500 can be single sourced by the end user and can be transacted without the contracting officer's involvement... - Public Bids are too Late
Bids funded by stimulus dollars are being posted at agencies web sites by federal state, and local agencies. Some public bids are in an Invitation for Bid (IFB) legal format (fixed price, low bidder wins). IFBs are usually used for construction projects... - Distinguish Your Company for Stimulus Contracting
The press is now reporting that stimulus spending is behind schedule; what a surprise! Did anyone on the inside believe the initial hype anyway? Where is the action in federal contracting so far? Engineering GSA Schedule: the Construction Management, ... - More Selling Services versus Products
In the products market, end users often are familiar with the products they are buying... - Selling Services versus Products
The degree to which a business must develop a relationship with the end user is based on the complexity of a service and its uniqueness... - 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")... - Are Federal Bids Wired?
A common perception about federal public bids is that they are "wired," implying that the bid is set up or rigged to favor a particular company... - 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... - Public Bids as a Closing Procedure
Why would the federal government select a public bid as the closing procedure of choice given the horrendous lead time and cost involved? Federal contracting officers do their very best to avoid them... - How to Close a Federal Sale
Making sales in the commercial sector can be difficult but closing a sale usually isn't... - Selling Services to Federal Agencies
Our newsletters repeatedly emphasize the need to establish a relationship with end users when selling in the federal market... - 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"... - Think of Proposal Writing As the Last Step in a Sale
Our federal sales seminars stress that your sales efforts and proposal-writing process should be one, highly-structured undertaking... - Could Your Proposal Writing Process Be More Structured?
It is not possible to have too much structure in your proposal writing process and even the largest prime federal contractors do not have enough... - 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... - Running into Old Friends in City Procurement While Teaching in Michigan
A funny thing happened to me in Warren, Michigan, during the break of my Winning Government Business class for Detroit at the end of September of 2004... - Do You Want To Win Government Business? Do Not Respond to "Public Request for Proposals"
When I started selling to the government, I thought it made sense to see where all of the opportunities were being posted. I found a great spot online: Fedbizopps.gov. I could simply search by word, agency, procurement type, dollar amount, location... - Turn a Losing "Blind Bid" into a Winning Opportunity
An agency of the US Government may send you a random Request for Proposal, which looks like it is a perfect fit for your organization... - 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... - 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... - Remember Two Simple Concepts and You'll Win Federal Business
1. Follow the Rules The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is the purchasing bible for federal contracting officers and all buying agencies. The rules are very specific about purchasing thresholds and the procedures to be followed... - Selling IT: Agency Focus
In the prior installment on selling IT to governments, we talked about business development, distinguishing "inside" from "outside... - The Realities of the Federal Market
Let’s say you’re a medium-sized information technology company from a Midwestern city and your commercial sales are flat... - 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 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... - The Over $25,000 Public Bid Market
Although public bids are being used less frequently, the over-$25,000 public bid market is still large and important. Annual expenditures in this market average $30-35 billion... - Federal Sales Require Patience, Persistence, and Perseverance
Companies new to the federal market typically do not understand the lead times required to make a federal sale... - The Guidelines for Winning Public Bids
The success of the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule program and the increased reliance by federal agencies on other Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Duration (IDIQ) contracts have reduced the number of public Requests for Proposals (RFPs... - Loss Avoidance as a Sales Tactic
Companies hoping to land large federal sales opportunities quickly discover that bids offered under a public, Request for Proposal (RFP) are often expensive prospects to bid upon... - GSA Schedules and Sales Costs
We have previously discussed that a business may have to invest $25,000 to $75,000 (in terms of sales costs) to obtain a GSA Schedule... - Invitations For Bids
Publicly-advertised fixed price procurements are made using either a sealed Invitation for Bid (IFB) or a Request for Quote (RFQ)... - Publicly-Advertised RFQ Market Segment
Requests for Quotes (RFQs) Since the advent of major procurement reform, the federal government and selected state and local governments are now using requests for quotes (RFQs) to buy commercial products and services... - Publicly-Advertised Negotiated Procurements
The publicly-advertised negotiated procurement market segment is a new world for companies that have not bid on negotiated procurements using requests for proposal (RFP) procedures. Responding to RFPs is unique for several reasons... - Responding to Public Procurements
In previous installments we discussed how to sell in the publicly-advertised IFB, RFQ, and RFP markets. In this installment we discuss how to respond (prepare a bid) to bid requests... - Pricing Government Bids
Pricing your bid correctly (or not) directly affects two fundamentally important areas of your business: (1) whether you win or lose the bid, and (2) whether you gain profit or suffer loss on the contract... - Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Government Contracts
Overview of the Process The General Service Administration's Federal Supply Service (FSS) operates the federal supply schedule program. The program leverages the purchasing power of the U.S... - Why Federal Proposals Exist
Why do proposals even exist? Contrary to popular belief, proposals are not written so federal evaluators can select the best, high-value solution to their problem... - Proposal Writing: The Ugly Step Child of Your Business
I wrote my first proposal in 1967 for Booz, Allen, and Hamilton; that's 40 plus years of proposal writing... - Proposal Writing: Sweet Spot Bidding
Our previous newsletters have stressed that companies should not respond to public bids unless they have a relationship with the customer. While this is generally true, the following are exceptions... - GSA Schedules: The Grandfather of IDIQ Contracts
This newsletter is the fourth in a series of five newsletters about the federal government's increasing reliance on multiple award contracts... - Would You Issue Public Bids If You Were a Federal Buyer?
Absolutely not, if you could avoid it! Why: Public bids are inordinately expensive and the amount of time it takes to acquire the good or service in question is ridiculously long... - The Trend Towards Multiple Award Contracting Escalates
The multiple award contract is becoming a way of life in the federal government. Many large, federal multiple award contracts have been awarded this year; several of them carrying ceilings of more than $1 billion... - Selling in the Federal Marketplace
Up until the actual close of a sale, selling in the federal market is essentially the same as selling in the commercial market... - Squeezing the Procurement Sponge: IDIQ Contracts Limit Competition within the Rules
This in the first in a series of six (6) newsletters about federal Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts and their growing importance in the federal market... - Comparing Bidding Strategies for IDIQs and Public Bids
Our experts have preached for years on end that companies should be exceptionally cautious about bidding on single award, public bids...
