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GSA Schedules

Federal Sales Training

Sales Tools


Articles

  • The downside of GSA Schedules
    GSA schedule contracts are an ideal vehicle for selling products and services to federal vendors. This is particularly true for small- to medium-sized businesses that cannot afford to obtain more than one multiple award schedule contract...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • Rules of the Road for GSA Schedules
    The rules governing GSA schedules are set out in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 8.4. They can be accessed at: http://www.arnet.gov/far/farqueryframe...
  • Closing a Sale Part Two
    Companies holding multi-vendor contracts minimize the amount of competition they face since a public bid isn't necessary...
  • Obama and Federal Sales
    Your crystal ball is as good as mine. Mine says the following will happen to federal contracting under the new Obama administration. War spending will go down, slightly impacting DOD contractors negatively...
  • 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...
  • Learn to Play the Federal Sales Game Like an Insider
    How do you play a game where the rules are stacked in favor of insiders? Learn to stack the deck for yourself or don't play. Playing in the federal market is a game in the same sense that selling in the commercial market is a game...
  • Turn Apprehension About the Economy Into Positive Action
    Anyone who reads the business news knows that the economy is slowing down and the probability of a recession is increasing. While we all hope that an economic downturn will not occur, smart business owners should position their companies in case one does...
  • Federal Sales and Self Interest, Prime Contractors
    The previous installment discussed the motivation of politicians in the federal purchasing process. This installment looks at the motivation of prime contractors. The motivation of prime contractors is simple; their bottom line...
  • Federal Sales and Self Interest, Members of Congress and the White House
    The previous installment discussed the motivation of small business specialists in the federal purchasing process. This installment looks at members of congress and the White House...
  • 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)...
  • Can Others Help You Win Contracts?
    Winning federal contracts is an expensive and arduous process. It helps if you can find someone to pave the way. The best candidate would be someone, such as a business partner or personal friend, who has a federal customer...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • The Best Closing Mechanism
    GSA Schedule contracts are the best closing mechanisms for small and medium-sized businesses that cannot afford to hold several multi-vendor contracts...
  • How to Close a Federal Sale
    Making sales in the commercial sector can be difficult but closing a sale usually isn't...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • Don't Get Stuck as a Subcontractor
    Small businesses need to get their first federal contract to become part of the club of insiders - those companies with contracts - that the federal government favors when it buys products and services...
  • Get a GSA Schedule Contract or Stay Away
    In our previous installments, we have repeatedly stated that small- to medium- sized businesses must have a GSA Schedule (pre-approved price list) to sell in the federal market...
  • The Eagle Has Landed
    Multiple Award Schedule Contracts (MAS) are master contracts that allow the companies which receive an award of such a contract to compete for task orders over the term of the contract...
  • GSA Schedules and Small Businesses
    As reported in earlier installments, the federal government's use of multi-vendor contracts to buy products and services is steadily increasing...
  • Get Your GSA Schedule Now Before it is too Late
    In previous installments we stated that GSA Schedules are the sales closing mechanism of choice for small businesses. They are always open for bid and they cover all major industries; two critical characteristics unique to GSA schedules...
  • 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...
  • GSA: It's All in the Details
    GSA Schedule solicitations are unique in that they are always open and a vendor may submit a proposal at any time. Normally, federal solicitations for products and services have a closing date for proposal submittal...
  • GSA: The Rules Governing GSA Schedules
    The rules governing GSA Schedules are set out in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 8.4. Hopefully, this newsletter will keep you from having to read Subpart 8.4...
  • 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...
  • GSA VETS GWAC To Open Opportunities For Service-Disabled Veteran Businesses
    Note from the Author, Eileen Kent: In past "On the Sales Firing Line" articles, Fedmarket.com revealed that veteran groups have been asking for more contracting dollars since DOD has awarded $514 million a year, or only 0...
  • 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...
  • 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 ...
  • 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...
  • Getting Embedded in Government Sales Circle
    One of the keys to success in the government is to develop a strong relationship at an agency. My contention is to take it another step: you need to become not just an insider, but embedded...
  • Now's the Time To Sell To the Government, Now's The Time to "Get Real"
    Some people sell with enthusiasm, others are more laid back. The best sales technique is to be yourself - a human being looking to help government employees by making their job easier and following the rules...
  • OMB reports over use of "Name Brands" in Specifications
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports over use of "Name Brands" in Specifications from the Sales Firing Line, Eileen Kent Says, "Surprise, Surprise!"Challenge to Government Contracting Officers: "Don't Use Name Brands in RFPs" A memo was sen...
  • 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...
  • Formula for Government Sales Success Depends On Many Factors, But The Number of "Impressions" Each Week is The Manager's Key
    Business owners are constantly challenged with the issue of what to expect from their government sales executives in terms of time management, goals and actual results...
  • 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...
  • How Can You Kick Out the Incumbent?
    Companies with Key Relationships on the Inside Are Winning Government Business. How Can You Kick Out the Incumbent? Understand Your Customers and Solve Their Problems...
  • Small Business Goals Missed
    In an article published in Federal Computer Week, October, 2005, Michael Hardy reports that a report card was released showing federal agencies missed their goals for small-business contracts...
  • Disaster Response and Recovery: Is There an Opportunity for You to Help?
    While the politicians and department directors argue over what went wrong during the Katrina disaster, savvy contractors are becoming more and more embedded in the agencies...
  • In Government Sales, Don't Believe Everything You're Told or You'll Lose
    The government is made up of influential people - - some of whom make million dollar decisions every day. However, the active word here is that they're "people...
  • 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...
  • 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: Business Development
    In our newsletters, we talk a lot about the importance of advanced knowledge -- knowing about an agency, its people, its nuances and, most importantly, its program goals...
  • Finding and Selling to End-Users in the Government
    In past installments, we talked about finding the "right" agencies, namely the ones that are interested in buying your company's products or services...
  • Selling IT: Marketing IT to the Government
    In this article, we define marketing as activities to make the public, official buyers and end-users aware of your company and your products or services...
  • 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...
  • Selling IT: Teaming to Win Government IT Sales
    Government buyers often look for "complete solutions" off of multiple award schedule contracts, such as the General Service Administration's Federal Supply Schedules (FSS)...
  • 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...
  • Commitment and Focus in Federal Contracting
    In the last installment you learned about some of the realities of federal sales. In this installment you will learn about the need for commitment and focus to overcome the inherent barriers to entry. First, you must commitment to the market...
  • Making the Sales Call to Federal Government Agency
    Companies new to the market ask us, "How do I find potential buyers to call on." Finding potential buyers can be difficult and will be the subject of the next several installments in this series...
  • 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...
  • Federal Proposals and Debriefings
    Used judiciously, proposals and debriefings can be a source of sales opportunity information...
  • GSA Schedules and the $2,500-$25,000 Small Purchase Market
    The $2,500-$25,000 small purchase market is large and important from a volume of transaction viewpoint. In this market buyers make the bulk of the basic purchases required to operate federal programs...
  • 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)...
  • 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...
  • Government Contract Vehicles
    A "contract vehicle" is a broad term meaning different things to different people. We define the term in its broadest sense -it is a method under which a company may pursue and close a sale...
  • Yet Another Contracting Vehicle
    In a previous installment, we discussed the wide range of contracting vehicles used to close federal sales. We define the term in its broadest sense; a contract vehicle is a method under which a company may pursue and close a sale...
  • 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...
  • Entry into the Federal Market
    Our readers frequently inquire about the difficulties associated with entering the federal sales market...
  • Selling to Government Cardholders
    A number of important changes came out of the federal Procurement Reform Era of the mid 1990s. Perhaps the most significant of these was the emergence of widespread government credit card purchasing...
  • Small Purchase Government Market Segment
    In this installment we talk about small purchases, defined here as government buys in the $2,500 to $25,000 range. We've touched on this subject in past installments. This time we devote an entire installment to it, and get into a bit more detail...
  • Focus and Commitment Necessary in Doing Business with Government
    Throughout the series we've talked here and there about "focus" and "commitment", a couple of words that are easy to toss around: "You've got to be focused." "You must be committed...
  • 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...
  • Debriefings and Protests in Governement Proposals
    In this installment we discuss the rules regarding debriefings and protests using the federal acquisition regulations as a model...
  • 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...
  • Teaming for Large Government Contracts
    Government contracts are getting bigger. Requirements that were once performed under, say, six to ten contracts might now be performed under only one...
  • Overall Government Contract Evaluation Process - Past Performances
    In selecting winning vendors, federal, state, and local governments have typically looked at past contract performance information as part of their overall evaluation processes...
  • Women-Owned Business Contracting
    Congress has established a 5-percent government-wide goal for awards to women-owned small businesses (WOSBs). Yet year after year, federal agencies fail to meet this goal. In fact, in 2001, the government awarded just 2...
  • Minority-Owned Business Contracting
    In the prior installment, we talked about women-owned business contracting. This week, we discuss the 8(a) Business Development Program and the Small Disadvantaged Business Certification (SDB) Program...
  • Letters of Supply and Commercial Sales Practice
    For a variety of reasons, product vendors may choose to become suppliers to another company that holds a GSA Schedule contract...
  • Countering the "World's Biggest Customer" Argument
    The problem most companies face when trying to argue that GSA's prices should be higher than your Most Favored Customer is that GSA will almost always say: "We are the world's biggest customer, and we should have better than your best price even if ...
  • Feeling Restricted by the Number of Labor Categories That GSA will Award?
    Small companies are often handcuffed by GSA's requirement that a labor category cannot be offered to GSA until such time as it has been sold and you have an invoice to document the sale...
  • Does the "M" in the new 8(M) Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program Mean Money?
    Answer: Yes and then some...
  • The Next Two Years in Federal Contracting
    The Next Two Years in Federal Contracting: Some Uncertainties and Business as Usual The next two years in federal contracting will be uncertain in the information technology and defense system sectors and business as usual in others...
  • 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...
  • Advanced Proposal Writing: Wisely Choosing Which Opportunities
    Making poor choices about which RFPs to respond to is the number one mistake small businesses make in the federal contracting arena...
  • Advanced Proposal Writing: Pursuing IDIQ Contracts
    Program Management a Must for Small Businesses Pursuing IDIQ ContractsGovernment agencies releasing IDIQs are looking for prime contractors they can rely on to do more than just manage individual projects well...