We’re back with Judy Bradt, CEO of Summit Insight LLC, to talk about her seven steps to success in government contracts. We’ve already covered steps one and two, strategy and focus, and step three, process. Over to you, Judy, welcome back!
Judy: Thanks, Bill. Today I’ll take you through steps four and five, which are competition and teaming.
Success in Government Contracts – Step #4 – Sidelining the Competition to Stand Out
Your competition is already laying an electronic trail that points the way to your next opportunity, if you know how to read the trail. That trail starts at USASpending.gov. That’s where you’ll find the past records of every federal contract transaction worth more than $25,000, going all the way back to 2003.
Take a look there and spend some time exploring. Take a look at my short lesson on researching past contacts, and how you can use this competitive intelligence to find new opportunities a long time before requests for proposals hit the street!
To capture the power of your unique value and sideline your competition, you must know:
- Where to get competitive data
- Who your target agencies buy from today
- What’s your Unique Value Proposition for government
- How to use capability statements, briefings and past performance
Bill: Thanks for sharing that resource with us, Judy. What’s the next step?
Judy: Flip competition over and you get teaming.
Success in Government Contracts – Step #5 – Tactics for Teaming
Many companies will need to team to win their first federal contract. Some companies will always be subcontractors in this market. There’s plenty of business to be had either way. The key misunderstanding most companies have about teaming is this: the big primes don’t bring business to you. You have to bring business to them.
Even when you have strong capabilities and good past performance, the company that gets its call returned first is the one who comes to the door with an opportunity for both partners to generate revenue and win more business together.
The tasks you want to check off in the teaming stage are:
- Make courtship your business!
- Realize what partners want
- Research and court selectively
- Bring business
Bill: That’s the whole premise of this blog, Judy – the fish don’t jump in the boat! So now we’re covered your first five steps to success in government contracts. Will we wrap it up in the next post?
Judy: Sounds good, Bill. We’ll cover step #6, which is about relationships, and step #7, which is about marketing.
Judy Bradt is the CEO of Summit Insight LLC and author of Government Contracts Made Easier. For 25 years, Judy has worked with her clients on business strategies to win government contracts. Judy blogs at http://www.summitinsight.com/blog.
