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The Advantage Consulting Network
"Profit Oriented Business
Solutions"
TABLE OF CONTENTS
· BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.
· NEWS.
· NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY.
· ARTICLES.
· PREFERRED PRICING FOR OUR
CLIENTS
· POINTS OF CONTACT.
· PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING SCHEDULE.
· NETWORKING CALENDAR.
Link
to February Newsletter; March Link to weekly articles.
The Advantage Consulting Network provides information
on business opportunities, teaming opportunities, events, and services
that may help you in your business development efforts. If you do not
wish to be on our Network, e-mail Debra Giles and we will remove
you from the Network. Advantage Consulting,
Inc. makes no warranties, direct or implied, regarding the accuracy of
the information presented.
_________________________________________________________
Business Target:
Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for
NASA (ODIN) for the Goddard
Space Flight
Center (GDFC) – 04-28-08
1.
If you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FITCUSA911&FLAG=SUMMARY.
This target is only available for a
short period of time.
2.
If you need help designing and executing your capture program or
proposal to win this procurement contact Doug Allston, at dallston@acibiz.com of Advantage
Consulting or call 703-642-5153
___________________________________________________
Full Food
Service at Fort Lewis, WA – 04-14-08
1.
If you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FOMDUSA3293&FLAG=SUMMARY.
This
target is only available for a short period of time.
2.
If you need help designing and executing your capture program or
proposal to win this procurement contact Doug Allston, at dallston@acibiz.com of Advantage
Consulting or call 703-642-5153
___________________________________________________
Navigational
Installation Support Services -
04-07-08
1. If
you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FITDUSA4345&FLAG=SUMMARY. This target is only available for a short period of
time.
2.
If you need help designing and executing your capture program or proposal
to win this procurement contact Doug Allston,
at dallston@acibiz.com of Advantage Consulting or call 703-642-5153
_________________________________________________________
News:
Upcoming Basic Federal Contracting
Workshop – 04-14-08
The
Federal Government procures a wide range of products and services.
To the uninitiated the Federal acquisition process is complicated and
daunting on the surface. But, once understood, it is clear that
there are predictable routes of success for doing business with the
Government.
The
Basic Federal Contracting Workshop, to be presented on Tuesday, April 17
by a recognized expert in the field, provides a professional
understanding on working through the laws, regulations, policies and
procedures that control government contracting and the interpretation of
lawyers, auditors and contracting officials. The present environment in
which the rules of the acquisition changes frequently presents a
challenge to those new to the contracting profession, those who are
returning to the profession, those who are moving to the other side of
the marketplace and even seasoned specialists. The course explains why,
in some instances, contracting officials act the way they do.
This
concentrated, clearly presented course is designed to help those new to
the profession get the “big picture” quickly, as well as a clear
understanding of the key areas for further study and self-development.
Specialists interested in a broader knowledge or an update on the
contracting process get a quick comprehensive fresher. Seasoned
technicians benefit from the brief coverage to fill in gaps in their
understanding of all the ramifications of the Federal Acquisition
process. Come to the class ready to ask questions. A registration form is
available at http://www.acibiz.com/registration.html.
_________________________________________________________
Use Google News Alert As A Tool –
04-07-08
Do
you need to track what is happening in technology…or do you want to see everything that is
in the news about your competitor…or maybe you need to track every time your
name, I mean, your company’s name is in the news. You can let Google
track any of that for you as you work and even as you sleep. Just go to www.google.com/alerts?hl_en
and enter the terms you want to keep track of. I suggest you also set up
a new email address or two to send the alerts to so your primary email
address doesn’t get swamped. Google lets you direct the hits to an email
address you select on a daily, weekly or other basis. This facility is
said to be in Beta test now, but it seems to be working pretty well from
my experience. J.P.Richard, jprichard@acibiz.com.
_________________________________________________________
Networking Opportunity:
Nothing at this time!
_________________________________________________________
Articles:
The Only Two Reasons You Win – 04-28-08
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage
Consulting
There are only two reasons why
a government contractor wins the competition for work. They are low price or
value/relationship. The problem
for most contractors is they often do not actually know why they win or
lose.
We are seeing a significant
increase in contracts awarded based solely on price – the low priced
qualified bidder. Part of this is
the budget pressure agencies face while trying to fight three wars. Although the government has always
known that most of the bidders were qualified and probably could do a
good job, the user/operations people always want to pick the contractor
they know and have confidence they could work with when the project
“evolved” as all projects do. In
some cases this has become a luxury they cannot afford. The contracting office has always
wanted to remove this personal/human aspect from the decision
process. If they had their way
everything would be bought on price alone. Bundling of contracts is one of the
ways the contract office breaks down some of that human influence in the
decision.
Our business development
approach has been simplified by some of our critics as “…it is not
important what you know but who you know.” As with most simplifications it misses
the point. I would suggest to you
that very seldom has a contract been awarded a contractor simply because
the government knows the contractor’s people. Think about it folks. Familiarity often breeds contempt. In what contract involving more then a
few people do you not think there are some negative personality
relationships? If simply knowing
the people was the end all then the incumbent would always win.
The company with the
relationship usually wins because they can do the work. But, so can most of the other
bidders. They win because they can
demonstrate in their proposal the application of their solution that
better corresponds to the government’s understanding of the
solutions. This comes from using
those relationships to better understand the government's needs and
wants and by helping the government to better understand their
needs and wants and communicating this in the proposal.
I will suggest to you that the
contractor with the relationship can also win the price driven
procurement if they can force themselves to face the reality their client
is facing. Unfortunately this is
not easy and it is especially not easy for incumbents. The smart incumbent or challenger who
recognizes the government is under extreme budget pressures on the
project needs to sit down with the government (long before the RFP release)
and talk with them about how to reconfigure the project to better fit
their budget. The company that
does that will know what the number has to be and can then bid that
number and solution. You say it is
easy to say this but it can’t happen. I am telling you it is done all the
time by the winners. What
typically happens is the government releases the RFP that fits the old
and more expensive solution. You
who do not have the relationship write to that solution and you, of
course, over bid. In the most
extreme cases this can include such things as bogus labor
categories. I have been involved
in procurements where ten of the eighteen labor categories were
bogus. They were never used on the
contract and the winner bid ridiculously low rates for the unused
categories. The uninitiated bidder
was much higher because they bid real rates for all eighteen. All the loser knew is that they
lost of cost.
Now there is one last element
to consider. The joke goes I have
good news and I have bad news for you.
The good news is we won.
The bad news is we won. I
am hearing about an increase in company’s winning price driven
procurements having major problems performing. Of course the reason they are having
problems performing is the solution they promised does not fit the
government’s budget. This is the
minefield that all low cost bidders face.
Poor performance makes future business growth all but
impossible. This is a death spiral
in two ways. It puts more pressure
on trying to “buy” the next win and it runs off your best and brightest
people who are the very same people the government wants to hire.
Know your client. Listen to your client. Be a partner with your client. Work with your client and you will be
successful.
Questions
and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Brown Bag
Session 8: - “Nibbling” to Grow Your Business – 04-28-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO,
Advantage Consulting, Inc.
There
are several Business Development topics and exercises that make excellent
“Brown Bag” topics during a working lunch with your team. What we call
“organic growth” in the government Contracting business is typically the
accumulation of added-value tasks over a period of time. Many small
pieces of work, or “nibbles”, can add up to a significant growth in
business over the duration of the contract. It is generally the technical
staff people who are in the best position to create this growth. They have
ready access to the client, hear about the problems and know the decision
path. Organic growth, or Nibbling, needs to be a part of a manager’s
performance review and a topic that is discussed with the technical staff
in project meetings. The Business Development team can support
Nibbling efforts, but the technical staff has to be prepared and
encouraged to take the lead in growing contracts. Assemble the team
and ask them to help identify Nibbling opportunities. For more
information of BD training for your managers and technical staff contact
Sid Jaffe at sjaffe@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
In Spite of What You
Might Think, Talk is Not Cheap! – 04-28-08
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President, Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
How
many times have we heard the overused phrase, “Talk is cheap.” And, how many times have we believed
it. In a dictionary, talk is
defined as delivering or expressing an idea or thought in speech. Because it is a conversation, it is
communication between two or more people.
In any conversation there are three parts to a specific
communication: a transmission, which may be just the spoken word; a medium of exchange, the way the idea is transmitted; and a
reception, the way the person receiving, understands the message.
We
now have three and, maybe more, ways in which a simple thought might be
“screwed up” or at least, changed in the transmission process. The person transmitting the message
may think of one simple thing and speak the idea. During the transmission, body language
may send a modification to the simple message or noise in the room might
put a new twist on the message.
Finally, the receptor may be concerned about something and hear
the message in a totally different way. The old classic misunderstanding
goes like this. Late Friday
afternoon, your boss tells you to be in his office at 8:30 Monday
morning. It is late on a Friday afternoon and the message comes across as
a firm order and that unsettles you. Over the weekend, your mind, that
knows that there are layoffs planned, imagines the worst. The boss wanted to tell you this on
Friday to insure you would be in there on Monday. This idea festers and by Monday
morning, you have lost sleep, lost the weekend and have mentally cleaned
out your desk. When you walk in
on Monday expecting the axe, you are relieved to find out your boss had
two free tickets to a ball game and he wanted to give them to you.
Shifting
gears and looking at the other side of the communication problem, you are
now the manager of a project who has discovered a problem. You have to tell your customer but
first you need to look at the prospective communication. Who should give the message? To whom should you give it? When and
under what circumstances should the message be transmitted? What will the impact of the message
be? Will you keep the project or
be out on the street? Can you
prepare the communication positively and benefit both the customer and
your company? Or, is this going to
be interpreted as a negative event that could be detrimental to all? By working through the communication
and the cause and effect process, you will be able to present the desired
message clearly and concisely. A
bad event does not necessarily mean the communication will be a bad one
or that you will look bad because of it.
In most cases an early report of a problem with a discussion of
the approach you will use to solve a problem will emphasize the good
points of your company and your management. Always give problem reports as early as
possible even if the communication is an interim report. Want more information on oral
communications or want to discuss a problem you might have, call me at
(703) 405-8912 or contact me by e mail at bhamilton@acibiz.com and let’s
talk.
_____________________________________________________________________
Done Any Networking Lately? – 04-28-08
By Mike Berger, Vice
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
A basic tenet of our business
development process is that you must interact with your customers or
potential customers if you wish to find winnable opportunities.
Networking, as we define it, can mean several things including attending
professional organization meetings where you may meet people with interest
in your products or services; interacting with friends and neighbors in a
civic or community organization; expanding your associations at your
customer site; renewing contacts with old friends from college or the
military; associating with firms who provide goods or services to your
customer, and, of course, developing relationships with other firms who
have potential as teaming partners.
But
there are a few rules. Networking is about listening, not about selling.
Think about what most of the people were doing at the last event you
attended – would it be fair to say they were primarily telling other
people about themselves or their company? If so, that was selling – and
unless you are extremely lucky to find someone with a bag of money to
give you, it’s a waste of time.
Effective
networking (business development if you prefer) is about identifying
needs, wants and requirements of people or organizations then determining
if you or your company can provide the right solutions. However, no
matter how good your company is, if you haven’t established a solid
relationship (which involves those seven “magic” questions we talk about
from time to time) odds are that there will be no work coming. Why,
because one handshake and a brief conversation doesn’t establish a
relationship. If you want the work you must follow up if you want
anything to come from your networking efforts. Be assured that giving out
business cards is important, but odds are potential customers a will NOT
call you, so take the initiative and contact them.
Relationship
building, which will eventually lead to winning opportunities, takes
time. There are no shortcuts worth talking about. I’ll be happy to speak
with you about how to do it right. Give me a call. Mike Berger, mberger@acibiz.com, 703-642-5153,
cell 703-861-0726.
_____________________________________________________________________
Changing Use of Contract Vehicles – 04-21-08
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
In the 11 April edition of
Federal Computer Week there is an article about the slowing use of
GWACs. Of course I reported
that back in December in my article “Contract Vehicles”. The fact that use of these vehicles is
slowing is no where near as important as the why there use is
slowing.
For the past fifteen years we
have witnessed a battle for contract administrative dollars
between agencies. The battle
shaped up as the Agency’s contracting office against GSA and
rogue agencies selling contracting services either through their
GWAC or fee for service contracting office. The basis of this battle has been
service to the project owner – operator.
I do not think that I overstate that the in-house
agency’s contracting office service level is unresponsive,
unhelpful, unconcerned, and uncooperative. GSA and GWAC owners provided friendly
service and most importantly provided the operator with guaranteed
control over the selection of the winner.
One irony of this battle royal always was that the same
agencies that sold contracting service based on the quality of their
service still was lacking when it came to their in-house agency
contracting offices.
Just in case you are ready to
dismiss this war for contracting administrative dollars as a meaningless
exercise let me put it into context.
A few years ago it was estimated that DOD alone spent
$120,000,000.00 in one year for outside contracting services that they
already funded in-house. So there
is some big money involved. But
far more important was the element of control over the government’s
contracting process. The operator
had options. They could go to
their local contracting office, to several vehicles at GSA or to a long
list of GWAC vehicles owned and operated by several other government
agencies. In recent years the cost
for these outside services at about 1% was quite reasonable for the
operator.
What all this is about is a
serious sickness in the contracting community. Instead of complaining about the $120
Million spent outside of DOD for services already available, the senior
contracting people at DOD should have been asking the
question “why”. Operators go
out to other agencies for a reason.
The facts are the operators got terrible service and often
lost control over the selection process when they used their in-house
contract office.
So does that mean with the reduction in the use of
GWAC contracts and GSA schedules the agency contract offices are doing a
better job? I wish that was true.
Unfortunately I see no evidence that the quality or timeliness of agency
contracting has improved. What we
have is old fashion arm twisting to use the in-house contracting
office. Now I will admit that the
agency contracting offices have over the past few years installed
contracting vehicles similar to GWACs and GSA Schedules. However, for the most part these
vehicles are still a long way from being operator friendly.
Who is to blame? I blame the senior operators – the
SESs, Generals, and Admirals. The
fact is that they, not the contracting officer, own the
contracting process. They are
listening to the wrong people and not asking the right
questions. The contracting officer
who comes to you imploring you to make the operators use the in-house
contracting office rather then someone’s GWAC is telling you they are not
doing their job. The operator is
doing their job by seeking the best quality service possible. If your contracting office cannot earn
the business of your program managers then you need a new contracting
officer. Also control of the
contracting process cannot be delegated solely to your contracting
officer. The senior operators have
to be engaged. How effectively and
efficiently your agency procures the services and materials needed to
accomplish the mission are critical to your mission success. You cannot shoot bad guys if you do not
have bullets.
Questions and comments to Doug
Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Brown Bag
Session 7: Delivering a Quality Solution – 04-21-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
There
are several Business Development topics and exercises that make excellent
"Brown Bag" topics during a working lunch with your team.
Focusing on “Quality” is an excellent topic. I once heard business guru
Tom Peters say of quality, "I can’t define it, but I know it when I
see it.” Others have said that the hallmark of a quality company is not
that they do one thing 100% better than the competition, but that they do
100 things 1% better than their competition." The professional
services market, be it in Government or the commercial market is one
where it is extremely difficult to differentiate one company’s quality
solution from another. It would be difficult to meet and exceed a
client’s threshold for quality without establishing their priorities and
setting reasonable expectations at the outset of a project. To have the
ability to agree on reasonable expectations can only happen after a
trusted relationship is established. If your goal is to deliver a quality
product, start with a quality relationship. Discuss with your team what
they feel are the components of a quality relationship and how they as
individuals will contribute to building the relationship. For more
information of BD training for your managers and technical staff contact
Sid Jaffe at sjaffe@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
A Golden Egg? No, Give Me A Golden Time Saver Every
Time! – 04-21-08
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
How many
times during a proposal, have you said, aloud or silently, “There’s got
to be a better way! Why don’t we find it?” How many times did you get an
answer?
Actually,
there is a better way and we have discussed it many times over the past
few months. For some time, Advantage Consulting has been recommending
that companies develop a proposal process that begins long before the RFP
is published. Time saved in the beginning of a proposal development
process is golden. We have never
had a client, or any one else for that matter, disagree or argue with the
point. Ironically, few companies
ever implement a forward thinking process. Those that do are successful and have
thanked us many times for pressing them to begin the process early and to
plan for contingencies. The others
complain they do not have the people available to do that and have more
current problems to solve at the expense of the future problems.
No
company, large or small, has employees with nothing to do but every
company has people who will participate at some time in proposal
development operations. Many
companies fail to realize they have a time management problem. By a
forward planning approach, all we are doing is borrowing hours today for
requirements that will be issued in the future. We have never recommended that all
present time be committed to the future.
We have recommended planning begun early in the process to address
things that are known to have to be done and things that could
happen. With good time allocation,
these “golden time saver” future operations can be done without impacting
current operational requirements.
Examples of these golden time savers are: upgrading resumes;
reviewing corporate history and updating the history; development of
notional statements of work and preparation of responses to them; and the all
important analysis and development of proposal augmentation support
requirements. In this last case, establishing a relationship with a firm
that provides proposal augmentation resources early in the process can
save a great deal of time and facilitate development of a more effective
proposal development team when the need for augmentation arises.
By
implementing the golden time saver approach, you bring the capture team
into the proposal process from the beginning and not as a later
addition. You stimulate
interaction of ideas between the business development and technical parts
of the capture team and the future writers (which in some cases may be
one in the same but, even so, talking with others will help them
formulate better solutions). Administratively, the early determination of
proposal augmentation will save much heartache later in the proposal
development process
Yes,
in times past, finding the goose that laid the golden egg sounded like the
way to happiness. Today, using the
golden time savers can be worth far more than a gilded omelet. They can
build your company’s future. Want
more information or want to know more about the implementation of golden
time savers, contact me at 703-405-8912 or contact me by e mail at bhamilton@acibiz.com and let’s
talk.
_____________________________________________________________________
Bake ‘Em a Pumpkin Pie
– 04-21-08
By Mike Berger, Vice
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Those
of you who have attended my Business Development Workshops know I’m a
strong believer in treating your customers like close friends, and
looking for every opportunity to let them know you care about them.
For example,
I had a conversation with a client about a government senior executive
who seemed a “bit” domineering and was rather hard to “reach.” Turned out
he was a retired military officer who just missed achieving Flag rank and
now, as a member of the SES, was very much “acting the general.” I
suggested that when the appropriate opportunity presented itself, my
client should say something to the effect of, “I’m really glad they
picked you for SES, you would have made a great General.” Flattery? You
bet. Do you think for a nanosecond the man may be offended? Of what?
You’ve just told him he should have been a General. What’s he going to
say? You’ve probably made a friend for life and that’s what business
development is all about.
I
also believe in telling “sea stories” during a workshop or interaction
with a customer – you know, little fictional tales that emphasize a
point, but may, over time, have been modified to fit the situation. They
are usually quite easy to believe and convey a touch of knowledge and experience
to any presentation.
Oh
yes, and there’s the pumpkin pie. During every BD workshop I mention the
importance of doing nice things for your customers like baking and
bringing in to their office a simple pumpkin pie. Why pumpkin? Well, a
fresh baked pie has a very distinct aroma and I guarantee that if you
bake one, bring it in (with paper plates, forks, napkins and a plastic
knife to cut it) you will draw an instant appreciative crowd. When I
describe this to my workshops I ask, “who would be willing to bake a pie
for their customers?” There’s always at least one man or woman who raises
their hand. When they do, I hand one of them a 15 ounce can of pumpkin
pie mix. I did that a couple of weeks ago and got an email from the
fellow describing the reaction. It was great.
Bottom
line, take very good care of your current customers and continue to look
for new ones. Remember, business development is always about people
first, then organizations, and finally about identification of new
winnable opportunities. There’s no other way. Mike Berger, mberger@acibiz.com 703-642-5153,
Cell 703-861-0726.
_____________________________________________________________________
Teach Your On-site Employees to Sell – Not Likely! – 04-14-08
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
When you have been in the
business of helping government contractors “earn” new business from the
federal government as long as we have (16 years) you watch fads come and
go. Sometimes the fad gets it
right and sometimes the fad has little or nothing to do with reality and
sometimes the fad is neither right nor wrong. For example, one of more recent fads is
the emergence of full-time professional capture managers. I think this is a great idea as long as
the person is joined at the hip with people who know the government
people. Another fad, the
centralized proposal team, is neither good nor bad. The centralized proposal team cannot
write the proposal. That still has
to be done by those who know the government or the technologies
involved. They are often a
disappointment to the line people but they can expedite the proposal
process significantly and improve the quality of proposals.
The current fad is to teach
on-site people how to sell. That will just not work. Why?? Because
most if not all of your technical staff and line managers are not going
to sell no matter how much you spend training them. We have followed sales training dozens
of times for our clients and the feedback has been consistent. The employees liked the training. Sales training is probably the highest
form of selling itself. The
instructor is always an excellent sales person. They found it interesting, especially
the exercises; but nothing happened.
Even if a few of your people
do embrace the sales approach do not be surprised if you are contacted by
the government and told to back-off or worse. The government just does not like or
want to be sold.
The facts are that selling
does not work. Developing business
by focusing on the relationships your people have to help the
government to solve their problems does work. Your on-site people are both able and
willing to work with the government employee on solving problems and
government employees see this problem solving capability as your company
strength. This is hard work and
that is why we say contractors “earn” the business. Winning has very little to do with your
success.
Questions
and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_______________________________________________________________
Brown Bag
Session 6: Expanding the Work and Client Solutions – 04-14-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
There
are several Business Development topics and exercises that make excellent
"Brown Bag" topics during a working lunch with your team. A
worthwhile discussion for your team is to review the contract you are
working and consider the possibility of providing additional solutions
beyond your current scope of work. Necessarily you will want to consider
other resources from within your firm, other contracting vehicles that
can be used to contract the work and how you can assist the client in
finding the funds to pay for your solution. When the Government
has problems or challenges to be solved, it is the creative
company with a strong relationship that can often get the work. For more
information of BD training for your managers and technical staff contact
Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153.
_______________________________________________________________
A New Journey Begins with
a Step or Maybe a Phone Call! – 04-14-08
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President, Advantage
Consulting Inc.
The
phone rang. The caller asked a few
questions but it was only after a few minutes that the real reason for
the call became apparent. The
caller represented a company that was rolling in orders and growing very
rapidly. Even though orders were
flowing in, company management knew that they needed help in improving
their business development structure and processes. In the meeting that followed, the
client described their current processes and asked many questions about
possible ways to do things better.
Out of this meeting came a plan for improvement that could be
supported by the client culture and finances.
It is
always exciting to get a call like that.
Here we had a company that was successful but knew that their
efforts could be more productive and make the company more
successful. The company management
wanted to explore ways to improve their company success rate. They had a clear chain of command and
definition of responsibilities.
They identified problem areas and prioritized them. Discussions
with us were open and candid and in a short time the company had
determined clear objectives and had formulated initial plans to meet
them.
Two
additional things were apparent.
There was a company team approach and a company team commitment to
growing the company. You could feel the electricity!
Many
companies need help to break out of the pack or even just to get
started. Unfortunately, many
companies forget to think beyond just keeping the lights on, or they will
dreamingly look for the tooth fairy to throw that next bluebird over the
transom. Good business
development is an all-hands team sport and, to be most effective,
requires the participation of nearly everyone in the company. Each person can contribute something
to the effort but they have to want to contribute something and each
person’s contribution is distinct and different from every other
person. In spite of what some
entrepreneurs say they believe, no one is going to hand your company the
success it wants. The company has
to earn it. The more people in the company that do participate will
enhance your chances for success.
This client company took a big step in identifying their needs for
growth enhancement. Your company
can too. Want to learn more or
want to talk, call Bill Hamilton
at 703-405-8912 or send an e mail to bhamilton@acibiz.com and let’s
talk.
_______________________________________________________________
Winning the Business – 04-14-08
By Mike Berger, Vice
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Far
too many companies truly believe that the Requests for Proposals (RFPs)
they find in FedBizOpps are really invitations to bid. While the
government has done its best to include in the RFP all the basic
information you theoretically need to win (assuming you are qualified to
do the work), fact is that if you are seeing the opportunity for the
first time in FedBizOpps, your odds of winning are essentially no better
than 5 percent.
The
government knows two things about every procurement: first that most of
the companies that will bid can probably do the work, second, that the
project will not go as planned. This being said, the government needs to
be sure that the company it selects can provide the right solution, and,
more importantly, that they have the ability to overcome the obstacles
when they arise.
While
there’s never a guarantee of success, the best way for the government to
overcome any concern over failure or risk is to hire in companies they’ve
worked with before. In fact, 85 percent of the time when an RFP is issued
the government has a favorite company in mind to do the work, and in the
vast majority of instances there’s only one company they really want.
Does that mean FedBizOpps is useless – not at all. It remains an
important source of information about what the Fed is doing and looking
for – information vital to your company’s long-range (strategic) business
development planning program.
So,
how do you find new winnable opportunities? Simple answer – through the
people you already know. As we’ve been saying for years, your focus
must always be on people first, then organizations, and only then on
specific opportunities. If you continue to attend more debriefings than
project kick-offs you really need to give us a call. We can help get you
on the right track to success. Give me a call. Mike Berger, mberger@acibiz.com, 703-642-5153,
cell 703-861-0726.
_______________________________________________________________
Brown Bag
Session 5: Client Decision Factors – 04-07-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
There
are several Business Development topics and exercises that make excellent
"Brown Bag" topics during a working lunch with your team. One
of the exercises is for people to discuss the client’s
"likes/dislikes, priorities and the pressures under which they are
working." These are factors in decision making that are never
presented in an RFP or request for services. As an incumbent your people
are exposed to the client regularly and should have a solid understanding
of these factors. This insight gives you the ability to deliver your
proposals and presentations in a manner that addresses all of the clients
concerns and issues. For more information on Relationship, Customer
Service and BD training for your managers and technical staff
contact Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153.
_______________________________________________________________
Cost Plus What! Or How I
Learned To Stop Worrying And To Love The FAR! – 04-07-08
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President, Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
In any
field there are acronyms and phrases that frequently confound the
uninitiated or the new explorer. In any field, there are ways to do
things and ways not to do things. And in any field there are always
changes to the way things are done and not done. The world of Federal contracting is no
different in that respect.
There
are differences though between the Federal contracting and commercial
contracting. The laws are
different and the processes are more strictly managed. The downside is that punishments for
not following procedures can be more severe than in the commercial
world.
Advantage Consulting offers a workshop that is
designed to introduce Federal Contracting procedures and to provide a
refresher for specialists already working in the profession. The course is offered monthly and
provides a total view of the Federal contracting environment. In one session, the origins of the
procedures will be explained and the processes used by the Federal
Government will become crystal clear.
Whether you are a novice or have 20 years Federal contracting, you
will end the session more confident of your abilities and your role in the
Federal acquisition process. You
will know the subtleties inherent in the Federal ethical requirements and
will have a better understanding of our Federal customer and how they
think and process information.
Every
time I attend this course, it opens up new avenues of thought and
upgrades my professional capabilities and knowledge of contracting. Federal Contracting is a moving target
and things can change very quickly. The present environment in which the
rules of the acquisition change frequently, presents a challenge to those
new to the contracting profession, those who are returning to the
profession, those who are moving to a different side of the marketplace and even
seasoned specialists. The course explains why contracting officials act
the way they do. Our business development course addresses program
managers and their problems but we must also address contracting officers
and their problems. Theses two
points are two sides of the same coin and a successful company must
address the concerns and requirements of both. Want more information on Federal
Contracting or information on the course, call me at 703-405-8912 or
contact me by email at bhamilton@acibiz.com
and let’s talk. _________________________________________________________
“BD’s Just Not What I Do” – 04-07-08
Mike Berger, Vice
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
We
heard something like that at a recent Business Development Professional
Development Workshop. The person speaking wasn’t against the BD process
per se; she simply didn’t see it as part of what was expected of her in
the corporate scheme of things.
Whether
or not attending the workshop changed her mind isn’t significant, but
what was clear at the end of the 8-hour session was that virtually all
those in attendance left with a much clearer understanding of what the
process of planning for, positioning, finding, capturing, bidding and
growing new opportunities is all about. The best part was that just about
all of them were confident they could “do it” assuming, of course, that
they received the continuing corporate encouragement and support vital
for maintenance of an effective process.
Once
the average corporate staff member realizes BD isn’t about “selling” but
rather about “listening” for customer needs, wants and requirements then
working with that person to solve his or her problems, the traditional
impression of the process goes away
and is replaced by a willingness to participate.
While
it takes time to get the program rolling, the “start up” investment is
minimal compared to the potential ROI. Need more information? Give me a
call. Mike Berger, mberger@acibiz.com,
703-642-5153, cell 703-861-0726.
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