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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 November 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.
______________________________________________________
Please Accept our Tongue-In-Cheek Politically Correct Wish for
December Events
"Please
accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an
environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,
non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday,
practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious
persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with
respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others,
or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at
all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling
and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted
calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of
choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make
America great. Not to imply that America
is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western
Hemisphere and without regard to the race, creed or
color. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms.
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely
transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It
implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes
for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and
is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is
warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good
tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent
holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to
replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion
of the wisher."
___________________________________________________
Business Opportunity:
The following opportunity summary has been provided by
epipeline.com, a government contracts database subscription service. The
opportunity is the best available public information and has been
verified within the past few weeks.
Range Safety Analysis for U.S.
Army Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan Test Site
(USAKA/RTS)-3 - 12-10-07
1. If
you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FITDUSA4603.
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
___________________________________________________
Manage, Operate & Maintain a Hotel Type Student Housing
Facility at the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center
(FLETC), Glynco, GA - 12-17-07
1. If
you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FOMCUSA1016.
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:
Army Procurement Issues – 12-10-07
By Doug Allston,
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
In
the November 26, 2007 issue of FCW, Gary Winkler, the new program
executive officer for Defense Department’s Enterprise Information
Systems, sent some very interesting signals to the contractor community (http://www.fcw.com/online/news/150889-1.html). If you are an Army
contractor you had better pay attention.
First,
Winkler says you better know the Army’s needs. The number one
complaint we hear from government employees is that the contractor shows
up and does not even know what we do. That does not mean you need
to tell the government what they already know. It means you need to
ask the questions that both tells the government you understand them and
you want the details, the insight into their needs, wants and
requirements.
In
response to this problem of contractor ignorance, Winkler is going to do
something counter-intuitive. Draft RFP’s will no longer be
used. In other words folks, if you are not already up to speed on
what the Army is doing, the government is not going to help
you. Very clearly that means that only the initiated contractors
need apply for the work.
Finally,
Winkler talked about protests. He stated that he wants them only
used when the Army does something really “stupid.” Over the last few years there
has been a significant increase in protests. I believe in part
because contractors do not see the negative ramifications. They
could win the protest, but at what expense? They would not get much, if
any, future contracts. In the past, the contractor who protested
was unofficially black-balled. I would interpret Mr. Winkler’s comments as
a warning that there could be a price to pay for protesting.
Gary
Winkler’s comments reinforce what Advantage Consulting has been teaching
our successful client contractors. You win business from the
government because you know and understand their needs and requirements.
The reason you know those needs and requirement is because your people
know the government people. It is that simple and that
complex. For fifteen years Advantage Consulting has been helping
and teaching companies how to win business from the federal government.
Questions
and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Networking Opportunity:
Nothing at this time!
_____________________________________________________________________
Articles:
Selling
is Everyone’s Job and Other Myths Part 1 – 12-03-07
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
We
find most companies conflicted over business development. There are
companies where management takes the position that everyone’s job is to
sell. That a persons future in the company is dependent on their
sales success, even technical staff and line management. Of course,
no one mentioned that during the technical person’s or manager’s hiring
interview because everyone knows they would not have accepted the
job. Besides, the threat is worthless anyway and both the technical
person and manager know it. They know you will keep them working as
long as they are billing and as soon as they stop billing they will be
released. Besides, if we make selling everyone’s responsibility
then no one can be held responsible or accountable.
This
myth is further perpetrated by the fact that the company does not provide
any training on what they mean by selling and selling is either not an
element related to performance or if it is no one takes it serious.
Then
there are companies that view business develop as the exclusive
responsibility of the sales or business development staff. The only
problem with this approach is that no one in the government that I have
known or talked with ever awarded a contract to a company because of
their business developer. You win the business because the
government has trust and confidence that your management team can manage
the project and your technical people can do the work.
Advantage
Consulting does help client’s identify and employ their technical and
line management resources to do business development. However, do
not confuse that with the concept that everyone is responsible for
selling. We believe that getting your technical staff and line
management involved in business development can be done and can result in
significant annual growth. It is not unusual for our clients to
grow at 30% annually or more using our methodology. So what is
different between what we teach and the concept that selling is
everyone’s responsibility?
First,
technical staff and line managers are not going to sell. What they
will do is solve customer problems. Business development is just that -solving
customer problems. You cannot solve the customer’s problem if you
do not know what their problem is and you cannot learn what their problem
is unless you talk with the customer. That is how we get your
people talking with the government.
In
future articles I will cover how and why successful business development
incorporates your technical staff and line managers. Questions and
comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Renew Your Contacts During the
Holidays – 12-03-07
By Sid Jaffe, CEO, Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
The Holiday Season is a great
time to renew old contacts and keep in touch with friends and clients.
Follow up the contacts you make at holiday gatherings with phone calls
and greeting cards. Take a minute to generate a visit, phone call or note
to an old friend. A quick e-mail with your thoughts for the holidays will
be appreciated.
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Retired Generals Can Be
A Nugget Of Gold! – 12-03-07
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President,
Advantage Consulting, Inc.
We
are frequently asked by companies for advice in ways to most effectively
use the services of retired flags or former members of the Senior
Executive Service in growing business. Many of these people, though
retired, would like to stay active and use skills and knowledge gained by
experience in the Federal Government.
If you are fortunate enough to have access to these services they
can be a significant benefit to business growth efforts. Unfortunately, some companies believe
they can grow business or make good contacts by just using a retired flag
or general officer, retired SES or even a professional consultant, just
to get them in the door. By this
approach they are missing the whole point of communicating with and
better understanding their potential client.
The
most significant benefit a retired flag can provide you is their
knowledge and understanding of the agency you are working to
penetrate. These benefits are best
seen in their support for strategy development, identification of and
information on potential key contacts and on agency concerns, goals and
objectives.
When
you identify an agency target, you begin by learning all you can about
the agency. As you get to know people, you create business acquaintances
and make new friends. Your retired flag contact can help you with
this effort. You learn agency
concerns and their agency problems and you will be able to relate solving
those problems to your skills and capabilities. The retired flag can
assist you in interpreting and understanding agency concerns. By providing the agency with concepts
of potential solutions, you demonstrate interest in them and what they
do. Your retired flag can help you refine your suggested solutions
to more accurately meet the agency needs.
By presentations and meetings with them the agency learns about
your skills and begins to know and trust you. As the effort develops, you
may want to use the retired flag to assist in obtaining meetings with key
people. If you do this, plan the
proposed meetings in detail to insure all of your representatives at the
meeting know what their role is to be and what is expected of them. By using the retired flag as an
integral part of your business development planning and execution, you
will benefit far more than just using that person to get a meeting.
As
the agency develops solid requirements that migrate into procurements,
your retired flag assistance has given you information and
interpretations of that information that will significantly aide you.
Though the procurement is still a contest between contractors, you are
competing as a more agency knowledgeable contractor offering a solution
the agency can understand and appreciate.
If
you are fortunate to have strong contacts with retired flags, or others
of similar experience, seek their advice and wise counsel. You can learn
a great deal. Want to discuss ways to build relationships in
agencies, contact Bill Hamilton, bhamilton@acibiz.com
at 703-405-8912 and let’s talk.
_____________________________________________________________________
Selling Is Everyone’s Job And Other Myths Part 2 – 12-10-07
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting,
Inc.
In
our last article, I started to write about the myth that everyone’s job
is selling. I pointed out that
companies tend to be conflicted.
They embrace the cool-aid that selling is everyone’s
responsibility or it is exclusive to the professionals. I then pointed out the fact that you
can go around saying selling is everyone’s responsibility but everyone
also knows no one is going to follow through with the technical staff or
line managers. In this article we
will look at some of the other aspects of this myth.
The
simple fact is that the government would rather talk with your engineer
then with either your senior management or VP for Business
Development. The government knows
they cannot solve anything. Heck,
they probably can’t even understand the problem. Of course the concept
that selling is everyone’s responsibility does make the assumption that
we should be and our customer wants us selling. The problem with selling is that the
government employee views selling as focused on their money, trying to “sell”
the company’s solution or product that may or may not solve the
government employee’s problem and the government employee’s success is of
little concern.
But
business development is first and foremost focused on relationships and
the success of the government employee.
It identifies a problem and works to formulate the best
possible solution. The government
does not want anyone, including your professional sales staff selling to
them. The vast majority of
technical staff and line managers will not sell anyway. They have no problem with doing
business development as I have defined it and the government has no
problem with business development as defined.
We
find that some companies try to “motivate” the selling culture with money
– bonuses, stock options, awards, etc.
The problem is determining how much money it takes to motivate
someone to do something they think is distasteful, unseemly, and “not
their job”. What do you think –
10% of their salary, 30% of their salary, what? The fact is you would have to
significantly impact their standard of living. What we have found is that money does
not work as a motivator. People
will do business development because it is the right thing to do as a
problem solver and they find doing it fun and interesting. Now that does not mean the company
shouldn’t recognize the extra effort and time put in by these
people. We like “reward
programs”. They do help to
institutionalize the culture of problem solving. But you are not going to “motivate”
your technical staff or line managers to sell with a few bucks.
In
future articles I will continue to cover how and why successful business
development incorporates your technical staff and line managers. Questions and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Wish Book – 12-10-07
By Sid Jaffe, CEO,
Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Do you remember each year at
the Holiday Season the major companies, especially Sears, sent out a
catalog? They called it their "Wish Book". It was filled
with pictures and descriptive captions for the “things and toys we
wanted” and presented them in a compelling manner. In other words, they
showed them in a way that had us asking our parents for them. I recall my
children excitedly looking at the pages noting all the things that
interested them. There was a "WOW" factor to the book. Today, I
look at client briefing documents and presentations and frequently do not
see the compelling story; the "WOW" factor. A
"Red-Team" review focused on the compelling story within your
presentations can be a simple and valuable exercise that results in a
more engaged and enthusiastic client, one who becomes your champion or
advocate because they have seen something in your "Wish Book"
that they want. To discuss our firm’s Red-Teaming support focused on your
"WOW" factor, contact Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com
at 703-642-5153.
_____________________________________________________________________
Santa Clause Is Coming
To Town--To Network! – 12-10-07
By Bill Hamilton,
Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
A
recent article in The Washington Post addressed the subject of the
importance of networking during the holiday season. The article encouraged job seekers to
continue networking and even increase it during this time.
We as
people looking to increase our business opportunities should follow that
advice as well. There area more opportunities
to network, people are frequently more relaxed and a new calendar year is
just around the corner. There is a
lot to talk about and there are people who would like to talk to you and
get your ideas as well as give you theirs.
All
too often, there are changes in procurement schedules that are developed
during this time. By keeping your
network active, you will have better opportunities to uncover those
changes. You may even uncover an
early warning of the ever-popular Christmas Eve RFP in time to mobilize
your team to more effectively address it and still salvage holiday
revelry.
If
your company gets a large number of invitations, I suggest you might want
to coordinate your attendance at business functions so you can cover the
maximum number of events. After
the events are over, schedule an after action report meeting to compare
notes and potential leads.
Incidentally,
don’t forget the Christmas or Holiday Cards. Corporate cards are a good way to keep
your identity visible to clients you might not actually see during the
holiday season. The best way is
to prepare them early and write short personal messages in the card. Keep these messages short, professional,
friendly and sincere. This is a
time to reinforce your professional friendships. It is not a good idea to
attempt to send gifts to Government clients. They usually can’t accept them. They will, however, remember your
thoughts and good wishes long after the holidays.
When
you attend the holiday receptions, set a goal to meet at least one new
person and build the start of a relationship with them. Many times, people attend these events
without knowing many of the “regulars” and they would welcome meeting
someone interested in them. You
can spot these people as you walk through the crowd. They are the ones who may be standing
alone or are not really involved with other people. All that will change when you stick out
your hand, introduce yourself, and ask about their work. This person’s reaction will go
“positive” as though someone just threw a switch. With luck, you will want to continue
your discussions at a subsequent meeting.
That second meeting could lead to new business but at any rate you
have meet a new person and that is worth a great deal.
So
pick your events carefully, plan for them and go and have fun. The holiday time is festive and offers
better networking opportunities than most other times of the year. “Mix and mingle” “grip and grin” or
whatever you want to call it, this is a great time to interact and learn
about people and about new business opportunities.
Want
to discuss networking or get more information, call Bill Hamilton, bhamilton@acibiz.com at 703-
405-8912. and let’s talk.
_____________________________________________________________________
“I Hear You Knocking, But You Can’t
Come In” – 12-10-07
By Mike Berger, Vice
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Back
in the 50s, Fats Domino sang that song and, oddly, those lyrics popped
into my head when I was thinking about what to write for our newsletter.
Most
of you out there are into the Federal marketplace or would like very much
to be there or be more into it if you can. When you read FedBizOpps or
check out other opportunity data bases it all seems easy. Lots of
opportunities, lots of potential business, all for companies that look
just like YOU.
But
it really isn’t that easy. As we remind our readers from time-to-time, in
about 85 percent of the instances, when the Federal government announces
a requirement, they know in advance the company they would like to work
with, and, in about 80 percent of the 85 percent, there’s only one
company they want to look at.
So,
how do you get “inside?” One of the most important things to learn or
understand is that doing business with the Fed is first and foremost
about the relationships you establish with people in the agencies, then
it has to do with your overall relationship with the agency, and finally,
it has to do with your specific ability to fulfill the requirements being
discussed.
Getting
in the door takes time. We hear stories about the firm who found a
FedBizOpps RFP, bid it and won. The firm claims it was all serendipity –
analysis usually shows otherwise – they had relationships, they worked
their contacts, they built their reputation over time, and, lo and
behold, one day they bid and won.
The
sad part is hearing from firms who tell us how much they learned from the
debriefings they attended. In fact, the only real thing you learn is that
you lost. Finding and winning opportunities takes time and it takes
getting a lot of people in your firm involved in the process. It is quite
amazing how your staff can help you if, first, you ask them to
participate, second, provide them the professional development training
they need to do it right, third, provide the top level support and
encouragement they will need to forget about “selling” and “marketing”
and focus on their real strength – “listening” to their friends and
customers and bringing home the needs, wants and requirements you can
turn into the information you need to win. Money is tight in Federal land
– we’re more than happy to help you get your share. Call me. Mike Berger,
mberger@acibiz.com, 703-642-5153,
cell 703-861-0726
_____________________________________________________________________
Selling Is
Everyone’s Job And Other Myths Part 3 – 12-17-07
By Doug Allston,
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
In
our last two articles, I wrote about the myth that everyone’s job is
selling. Basically I pointed out that the government does not want
anyone to sell to them, and that includes your professional sales
staff. This actually works to your advantage because you will never
convince your technical staff and line managers to sell anyway.
Another
related myth is that your technical staff will not help to generate
business. I once had a VP in a very large company tell me that his
people would not help generate business. I asked him if he did any
task order business. He said yes. I asked him who generated
most of the task order business – his line managers and technical staff
or his business development staff. He said he could not afford to have
his business development staff chasing anything but the largest task
orders. I then said, so, in other words, your line managers and
technical staff do help you generate business. His response was
that his technical staff and line managers would not do what we
recommended. At this point of the conversation I knew any advice I
could give would be futile.
The
fact is that in most companies, task order business is almost always the
sole responsibility of the technical staff and line managers.
Probably no one in your company understands better the importance of
relationships in winning then your line managers and technical
staff. That may also account for their reluctance to spend their
nights and weekends working on proposals where no one in the company
knows anyone in the client organization.
Your
technical staff and line managers often have a better handle on the
reality of business development then senior management or the
professional business development staff and the reason is very
simple. It is their time that is involved. It is their nights
and weekends that are required
to write the proposal. People who have their personal time in the
game tend to be a little more sensitive about wasting that time on things
that are unproductive.
Questions
and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Social And Holiday Greetings
And Client Relations – 12-17-07
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. Calling
contacts with a simple social or holiday greetings is a good way to
initiate a discussion with your customer. Point out to your staff the
opportunities available during the year for informal networking
with your customer and how your firm and staff can best extend greetings.
There is a need for both you and your client to be comfortable in a
social setting. A discussion with your team will set the right tone for
the conversations they will generate and establish some suggestions as to
frequency of the contacts. For more information of BD training for your
managers and technical staff contact Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com
at 703-642-5153.
_____________________________________________________________________
“When I Call You, What Really Happens?” – 12-17-07
By
Bill Hamilton, Vice President Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
It
was early on a Friday afternoon and right on schedule the call came in
from a client asking for help in locating a senior technologist to
support a forthcoming proposal. Operational timing was good in that
the solicitation would not be out for several months but planning timing could
have been better because the client wanted to start work the following
week
This
happens all the time; short fuse requirements are a problem all proposal
support augmentation companies have to face. Frequently, mitigating
circumstances such as an unexpected personnel problem or a change of
solicitation schedules occur and we, as a consulting resource, do our
best to accommodate the client regardless of when the request is
received. I thought it would be useful to tell potential clients
what does happen when the call is received.
We
begin by asking several basic questions: When do you need the
consultant? How long will the project last? What is your
budget for the consultant? What is the solicitation and for what
agency? And finally, what specific capabilities do you need; are
there specific problems we should know? This initial discussion
provides more information and the more we have, the better our
identification of a consultant will be.
Once
we have the basic information, we develop a summary of the
requirements. We then match the requirements with consultants in
our extensive data base. When candidates are identified, we contact the
consultant and discuss the effort with them to determine their depth in
the specific areas needed.
When we
identify the candidate(s) we believe would do the best job for the
client, we formally nominate them to the client. We attempt to
nominate two or more candidates for a consulting position if
possible. Once the client formally accepts a nomination we complete
the processing and the consultant begins work in accordance with the
client’s desires.
Problems
areas in the search include clarity of definition of the client’s needs
and desires; the availability of a qualified consultant; clear definition
of working hours and location and negotiation of client budget versus
consultant fees. The major problem is the time of search and necessary
negotiations. Longer range planning reduces the chances of error
and can result in more efficient and more productive identification of
the best consultant to provide the needed service. This is why Advantage Consulting recommends a client
discuss proposal support augmentation needs and requirements as early in
the development process as possible and encourages a client to use us as
part of their proposal development planning team. Want more
information or want to discuss your specific requirements call me at
(703) 405-8912 or contact me by e mail at bhamilton@acibiz.com and
let’s talk.
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