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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 January Newsletter; Link to February 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:
Food Service and Dining Facility
Attendant Service, Fort Riley,
Kansas – 03-31-08
1. If
you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FOMDUSA3358
. 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:
New Contract Searching Tool – 03-31-08
There
is a powerful new source of contracts data out there that let you dig into
Federal Contracts Award information. And it is FREE. If you have been
using a contracts data base for a fee, or have followed our advice and
used www.federalspending.org
, now that site has been relaunched as www.usaspending.gov .You can look
at the contracts data by contractor name, agency and service code as well
as other ways. You can get to the detail of each transaction. I found no
explanation as to why it was relaunched, but I have noticed that USA
spending has the more current data. The data is compiled from the Federal
Procurement Data System (FPDS) data base.
The Fed spending site still
has more information on Federal grants so it is still useful. The USASpending
site contains data on its front contracts page as to how recently the
data was updated so this can be helpful.
I will periodically report on how these are being changed, but the
best source is for you to exercise these sites yourself. If you have
further questions, contact J.P. Richard at jprichard@acibiz.com
______________________________________________________
Marine
Uniform Change Polices - 03-31-08
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Maybe
this is a topic that only a military person cares about? I spent 20
years in the Army and I could not help reading an article in Military.com
about the new Marine Uniform Changes Policy. "Effective
immediately, the Marine Corps seasonal uniform change while in garrison
will occur worldwide in synchronization with the change to, and from
Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the United States," Corps
Commandant Gen. James Conway said in a recent Corps wide message.
This policy is about whether or not a Marine in garrison wears their
woodland green camouflage uniform with the sleeves down or their desert
camouflage uniform with the sleeves rolled up. Of course Commands
in “extreme seasonal conditions” such as Alaska, can apply for waivers.
This
article brought back some of my fondest memories of my Army
service. I remember my family freezing in the fall and spring
because the Army turned the heat off or would not turn the heat on in our
house based on some arbitrary turn on or turn off date. I remember
sweating or freezing because the authorized uniform of the day was
inappropriate for the weather conditions because everyone in the entire
western hemisphere had to wear the exact same uniform. Come on
folks, the weather is not the same at Fort
Drum as it is at Fort Polk on any given day.
Alright, I understand all about discipline. But is discipline developed
when your policies are stupid and purposeless? It is ironic, one of
the most important lessons a young officer better learn is that his second
most important responsibility in the world is to take care of his
soldiers. The first responsibility is to accomplish the
mission. Standing your formation facing the sun on a hot summer day
is the classic leader mistake and career ender. I have to ask
Gen. James Conway if he has his Marines facing the sun and if so for what
reason? Do you believe your local commanders are not smart enough
to make appropriate uniform decisions? Do you believe your Marines
are not smart enough to dress appropriate to the weather forecast for the
day? God forbid that one Marine would wear their woodland green
uniform and another their desert uniform on the same day.
By
the way, if you want a laugh read the article http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,163555,00.html?wh=news
.
Questions
and comments to Doug Allston
at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Upcoming Basic Federal Contracting
Workshop – 03-10-08
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, March 25,
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.
_____________________________________________________________________
ACI -
Customer Service “Brown-Bag” – 03-03-08
Advantage Consulting offers a newly updated
short-form seminar on Customer Service for government contractor’s
technical and administrative staff. This seminar is designed to be
delivered in a 60 to 90 minute time frame, depending on your desire for
group exercises and discussion to be included. The seminar can be used as
a staff meeting, brown-bag lunch or segment of an off-site
conference. The attendees will receive tips and techniques that can
be applied to enhance customer service and communications in a proactive
manner. Public sector customers have a somewhat different set of
expectations than those in the commercial market. The material has been
developed to reflect and address those differences. Each attendee
will receive a workbook that has materials useful for follow up with
their workgroups. To learn more about this seminar contact Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at
703-642-5153.
_____________________________________________________________________
Job Fair - Corporate Gray – 03-03-08
April 11 - 10 AM to 2 PM -
Corporate Gray "Military Friendly" Job Fair, Martin's
Crosswinds, 7400 Greenway
Center Drive, Greenbelt, MD. Event is free to all job
seekers. Especially good for transitioning military personnel. Civilian job seekers are also
welcome. Firms seek people with
experience in Information Technology, Homeland Defense, Engineering,
Logistics, Military Intelligence, Telecommunications, Law Enforcement,
Training and Education, Administration, Human Resources, etc. Job seekers and employers need to
register at www.corporategray.com/
_____________________________________________________________________
Industry News - VA IT Reorganization
– 03-03-08
The
other day we saw the reorganization chart for the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Information and
Technology. It is really impressive, business-like and efficient, and
full of words like, “business requirements,” “risk management”, “enterprise
strategy,” “business continuity,” and “capital planning and investment.”
The chart talks about “understanding the business” (health, benefits, National Cemeteries, Central Office, etc.)
and then shows who provides oversight, who manages the plan, who manages
the resources, who manages what is built, and who controls and improves
operations. But the question is, does it work? The chart gives the
impression that someone has merged military-like efficiency with a
corporate-like sense of order and attempted to drop it into a sprawling
government bureaucracy. The military part is interesting - the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs is a retired Army Lieutenant General, the
Undersecretary for Health is a retired Army Brigadier, the Undersecretary
for Benefits is a retired Navy Vice-Admiral, and the Assistant Secretary
for Information and Technology is a retired Army Major General. Certainly
all good people, but do they know how to get a couple of hundred thousand
Federal employees to work together? Do the people who have to do the work
understand the relationships depicted in the chart; know what to do to
accomplish their missions, who to see when they have a problem or what
the procedures are when they want to buy something? In other words, is
this latest reorganization, which has been going on for about a year,
real? We guess time will tell. Mike
Berger, mberger@acibiz.com
_____________________________________________________________________
Networking Opportunity:
Nothing at this time!
_____________________________________________________________________
Articles:
How to
Help Your Business Developer Be More Successful, Part 3 – The Business
Plan Explained – 03-31-08
By Doug Allston,
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
In my last installment about how to make your
BD professional more successful and therefore your company or business
unit more successful, I mentioned the business plan your BD person should
have. I have had several inquires about this plan. Coincidentally,
I had lunch with an old BD friend and the same topic came up. So in
this installment I will expand on what should be in the plan.
Target Organization: The plan should have
a list of government organizations, as far down the hierarchy as possible
– branches if possible, etc. These are your strategic target
organizations and they are selected because you have people who know
people in these organizations. These organizations are where you
should focus your hunt for business.
Customer Service
Team or Exploratory Team:
For each target organization a team of people who have contacts
should be listed as either a
Customer Service Team or Exploratory Team. (Customer Service if you
already do business there or Exploratory Team if you do not.) The
people on these teams are the people in your company or business unit who
know people. This is your intelligence network. Their job is
to “own” the organization and to identify upcoming business
opportunities. Each team should have a BD professional working with
them (if you have them) and each team is owned and the responsibility of
a VP level operational manager in your company or business unit.
“OAK” Trees: An OAK Tree is a
known contract whose work will be competed sometime in the distant future
– plus 1 year. You may or may not end up pursuing these work/contracts but the OAK Tree gives you and
your people something intelligent and of interest to talk to the
government employees about. These lead to learning about the
upcoming opportunities before they are public and these Oak Trees often
lead to work.
Business Target: Within each of these target
organizations, you would list potential business opportunities and the
capture team pursuing these actual business targets. These maybe
former Oak Trees that you have decided to pursue or other business
opportunities that you become aware of through talking with government
employees.
Capture Team: For each Business Target
you must have a Capture Team and the Capture Team must consist of at
least a Team Leader (usually an operational person who knows the
government people the best), a VP (to talk with senior people and who
owns this team and is responsible for the team), a line manager
(ultimately the person who will be your project manager for this work), a
number of technical people (based on the technical requirements), and a
BD professional who supports this Capture Team.
Note:
A current trend is to have BD professionals manage Capture Teams.
This is a great idea if you have the money and resources. However,
you still must have that operational person who knows the government
people.
The
Customer Service Team or Exploratory Team feed their intelligence
gathering to the Capture Teams in their organizations.
Example
Strategic
Organization: XYZ Office of NAVSEA
Organization Team:
Customer Service Team with Mary, Martha, Bill and Tom (Customer
Service Team because we already have work here. Exploratory Team if
you do not have work in the organization.)
Oak Tree:
Northrop Grumman XYZ contract is the Oak Tree, recompete @ 3rd
Quarter 2010
Business Target:
SAIC ABC contract is our business target, Subcontract role, competed Nov
2008
Capture Team:
Bill (leader), with Jim (VP), Margaret (line Manager), Julie (senior
tech), Sid (BD).
Winning business from the federal government
is a team sport. The number one reason why a company wins is that
they have access to the
government employees and they obtained that access early. When you
drive your business development efforts down to these teams and focus on
what are your company’s strengths you are gong to win a lot more work and
a lot more $!!!
Questions
and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Brown Bag
Session 4: Knowing Your Contract Vehicles – 03-31-08
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 your people to list the contracts, GWACS and
schedules that are available for them to use in serving their existing
clients and potential clients. They should understand the Statement of
Work for each of the vehicles, what agencies can use the
vehicle and how to assist a potential customer in accessing the
vehicle through your firm. Acquisition Contracts Schedules
are tools that can often be utilized to expand work with your
clients. Frequently it is the contractor who can help the customer
get the contract and funds approved that will get the resulting work.
Your firms Contracts Managers should be a resource to your Project and
Task Managers to assist them in understanding what vehicles you have
available to you. For more information of BD training for your Contract
Managers and Technical Staff contact Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153.
___________________________________________________________________
Cut To The Chase; Its
All About People - 03-31-08
By Bill Hamilton. Vice President, Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
In recent days, the Army has been
particularly clear about their interest in having well qualified
contractors who “understand Army needs and priorities.” Mr. Gary Winkler,
the Program Executive Officer, Enterprise Information Systems, stated
that most clearly in two separate AFCEA chapter meetings this
winter.
These
statements should not surprise any experienced government contractor
because that has been a major tenet in government business since colonial
days. Unfortunately some
contractors, large and small, fail to accept that or choose to ignore it
to their detriment.
Early
stage or young companies are not immune.
They often look to major integrator they might know to lead them
by the hand through the wilderness but that does not work either. The one thing that will set your
company (or your division or your organization) apart from the many
people in business development is well developed, in-depth knowledge of
your customer.
Before
you make any sort of a call on a potential new client you need to spend
sufficient time studying and analyzing your target agency (or
organization) until you really do know what they want to do, and
understand their needs but, most importantly, understand why those needs
are important to the agency and its employees. If you are starting cold, begin your
search at the department level in such books as the U.S. Government
Manual and then drill down in research of the components and finally
the people that comprise the potential target agency. .
As you perform basic research, verify your information and sources
as many times as you can.
Remember, plans policies and procedures are frequently changed and
the agency of 2005 may not be the agency of today. In general, Government
components, often considered by many to be pieces of a solid
never-changing monolith, change gradually on an almost continuing
basis.
As
you develop your understanding of the target organization, you will
develop an understanding of the people and their skills comprising the
organization. As you get to know
and understand these people, collectively think about their skills,
interests and possible related areas such as their hobbies. What organizations do they join? What
do they do on weekends? Do they
like the Redskins? You may want to
try to join the same organizations they join to get to know these
potential professional friends or you may find that you have common
interests that can lead to better relationships with them in the future.
The
successful business development thrust is based on one thing,
understanding of, and working with, people who are your professional
friends, whom you know and respect, and who know and respect you. Successful business development is a
win-win situation. By beginning your
effort by a thorough program to learn about your target agency until you
understand their needs and goals and priorities, you will place yourself
heads and shoulders above the others.
Want
more information or just want to talk about your needs and priorities,
call Bill Hamilton at
703-405-8912 or send me an e mail at bhamilton@acibiz.com
and let’s talk.
_____________________________________________________________________
Selling is
Everyone’s Job and Other Myths - Part 2 – 03-17-08
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Previously
I wrote about the myth that everyone’s job is selling. I pointed
out that companies tend to be conflicted. They embrace either the concept
that selling is everyone’s responsibility or that 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 enforce this 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 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. If you do not believe
me ask a government technical person or manager.
Of
course the concept that selling is everyone’s responsibility does make
the assumption that we should be selling 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.
Business development should be focused on the government employee.
Business development is based on relationships and the success of our
government employee is our first concern. It then says OK, you have
a problem let me help you figure out the best possible way to solve your
problem and for this my company will get paid. 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.
Your
technical staff and line managers are often working side-by-side on the
customer’s site or they have frequent opportunities to interface with
your existing customers. They have relationships with the
government and they understand what the government is trying to do.
They also often know and understand the government employee’s
problems. The company never invited them to participate in the
business development process or if they did never helped them understand
how to participate.
We
find that some companies try to “motivate” the selling culture with money
– bonuses, stock options, awards, etc. The question is how much
money does it take 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 to solve
problems and/or 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.
_____________________________________________________________________
Brown Bag
Session 3: Telling Your Company Story – 03-17-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO,
Advantage Consulting, Inc.
There
are several Business Development topics and exercises that make excellent
"Brown Bag" topics during a working session with your team. One
of the exercises is for people to share their knowledge about your company
and learn from each other, as well as their manager additional details
about your firm’s capabilities. Ask the group to discuss the
following four questions and then fill in the bullet points that the
group uncovers. The first question is to describe the company and create
a sentence or two that provides a general overview of your firm. In the
second question have them describe the solutions that your firm provides,
in a bullet point format. The third question is to discuss what is
compelling or unique about your products and services; that is, the
things you are known for within certain client groups. The final question
is to discuss how does your group should refine and use the
information you have created in the first three questions with
people they meet. What you are building is an “elevator speech” or the 45
second introduction that informally describes your firm, and is
personalized in your employee’s words. It isn’t a sales pitch, it isn’t a
briefing; it is information about your firm presented in a clear and
concise manner. For information of BD training and techniques like this
one for your managers and technical staff contact Sid
Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153.
____________________________________________________________________
A New Order Of Things – 03-17-08
By Mike Berger, Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
In 1513 (yes, 1513), Machiavelli
in The Prince, noted there is
nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor
more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. In the past few weeks I’ve had
conversations with several corporate executives who have struggled with
lukewarm reactions when trying to get others (sometimes senior personnel,
sometimes PMs, sometimes technical staff) to understand their view of the
business development process, capture, proposal writing, and so forth.
As
Machiavelli noted, this lukewarmness arises partly from the incredulity
of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had
actual experience of it. Well, that might be a bit of an overstatement
when it comes to business development; however, it is clear that introducing
any new process or system can be a struggle.
So
what to do? Years ago, when I worked for Department of the Army, each of
the services had a program identical to the one I ran for DA. We all
found lots of resistance to any changes, so it became our practice to
sometimes bring in an “outsider” (e.g., Air Force would brief my Army
leadership, and vice versa) when we had a major change that required more
money or people. It usually worked, and you might consider the same thing
if you need to get a new methodology, such as the Advantage
Consulting BD or Capture model, implemented in your
firm. All of us on staff are more than happy to spend a bit of time with
you and your leadership to listen to your firm’s needs and requirements,
and help you move forward with your new ideas.
We
also offer a new short-form seminar on Customer Service for government
contractor’s technical and administrative staff. This 60-90 minute
seminar may be presented as part of a staff meeting, brown-bag lunch or during
an off-site conference. The session focuses on tips and techniques
that can enhance customer service and communications in a proactive
manner, and, with the handouts we provide, each attendee will have
materials useful for follow up. If you are a believer in the Advantage Consulting processes, this seminar
will help you get your views across.
If
I’ve brought up a problem that’s been biting at you for a while, call me
for more information. Mike Berger,
mberger@acibiz.com at
703-642-5153, cell 703-861-0726.
_____________________________________________________________________
So You Are Going To California! –
03-17-08
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
So
you are going to California
next month. I’ll bet you have
pulled out bags. Identified clothing, cleaned up the golf clubs and
mapped out your itinerary! Many
people tell me they pride themselves on detailed planning for long trips
far ahead of the day they leave. These people tell me longer range
planning cuts down on amount of luggage they need, the number of clothes
to pack and even their expenses.
Right on!
Why
is it that many of the same people who plan trips in excruciating detail,
will began a proposal development effort with only marginal thought,
generally consisting of how they think they will win this hot project,
and absolutely no regard for the resources they will need to write the
proposal and get it out the door.
In the planning cycle, they specifically ignore the additional or
augmentation resources they know will need but don’t want to
address. They subliminally believe
the requirements will go away and not bother them. In many cases, these requirements do
not go away, they grow significantly as time disappears.
Just
as in trip planning, there is a better way and it is not expensive. When
you plan a trip, you list the things you know you will have to do to
prepare for your trip. So why not
start your proposal development planning early as well. Before the RFP appears, there are
things you can do to get ready for it.
There are things that are not going to change. Define the solicitation and its
purpose; Assign the capture manager and team, Conduct
preliminary assessment of proposed winning themes and strategies,
Identify prospective key
personnel; Identify key capture and proposal production support resources; to name a few. I recommend developing a notional
schedule based on known and projected or estimated events and
requirements, that will include identified resources and identified but
unfilled resource requirements.
Creation of a notional schedule will enable you to easily adapt a
developmental schedule as the situation changes.
Once
you have your notional schedule, you can work with components of your
company to allocate resources logically.
This planning will, hopefully permit you to reduce the double
workloads so common in companies.
Remember you want to use your key players and writers but you do
not want to burn them out. You
will appoint three principal managers:
the ultimate Program Manager; the Capture Manager and the Proposal
Manager. All three positions are
critical and they should be three different managers.
These
three managers, and the marketing manager for the solicitation, should
meet frequently and review over and over the developed check list and
program requirements. Capture and
proposal development are iterative processes and will assume lives of
their own. From the very
beginning, the Proposal Manager should review the notional schedule and
map out production needs and requirements and then get commitments from
management for each person filling a need. Identified needs, not filled
by name, should be considered as open and the subject of a search for a
solution. These production requirements are either needed or not a
requirement. Otherwise you are
kidding yourself.
The
more detailed planning your company can complete before the RFP is
promulgated, the better the chance you will have of preparing a thorough
winning proposal. And that’s what
it is all about. Want more
information on proposal development and possible augmentation
support? Give me a call. Bill Hamilton,
bhamilton@acibiz.com at
703-405-8912 and let’s talk.
_____________________________________________________________________
Traffic
and Home Office Rant – 03-10-08
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
If
you are currently in a state of consciousness, which you have to be in
order to read this rant, then you know about our lovely DC metro
traffic. The simple fact of life is there are far too many people
on the roads and there are no solutions that will work which will not
cause bigger problems. We do not have either the money or space to
rebuild the highway system to keep up with the growth and increased
traffic. Stopping growth is not an adequate answer because a metro
area recession or depression only causes more problems. We are now
starting to face a second problem and that is the cost of gasoline.
Not only do we have too many people driving our roads but it is starting
to cost them a lot of money and that means they will stop going out for
dinner, do less entertaining, stop going to the Mall, stop going to the
National’s Games, etc. which will result in a local economic
down-turn. Yes the end result will be fewer cars on the road but I
will bet you traffic will still be bad. Oh, I love the traffic
expert solutions like high speed toll roads like Maryland’s
Inter-county
Connector that will
cost and arm and a leg to use and all you end up doing is getting into
the traffic bottle neck faster. High speed to the bottle neck is
still in the bottle neck.
There
is only one answer to the traffic problem that does not create either
more problems or worse problems and that is to incentivize people to
drive less and that means to stop people going to and from work. We
want people going to the Mall and the National’s Games. Having
worked mostly from home for the last four years I am here to tell you it
is the only way to work in this community. I probably go to the
office on average once a week. With high speed internet, VPN, and
cell phones there is nothing I can do in the office that I cannot do from
my home office. I traded a 10 minute commute for a 50 minute
commute four years ago to be closer to our grandchildren. So
instead of driving a total of 100 minutes a week to get to and from work
every day, I now drive about 100 minutes a week to get back and forth
from work once a week and I get to see my grandchildren much more
often. As far as I am concerned it was a good trade-off.
I
know a lot of people do work from home now but I would bet with a little
imagination and the right tax incentives we could take half the people who
drove to work this morning off the road and make them more productive and
improve the quality of their lives. I would also bet that the cost
to do that would be a lot less then any of the major traffic solutions
being kicked around that will probably never happen in my life time and
probable solve nothing. We need to give businesses and government
reasons to have their people work from home. With webcams and
internet conferencing services we can literally do anything we do now in
the office from home to include face-to-face meetings. So maybe I
do have to put on a clean shirt and a tie this morning to have a webcam
meeting with my boss from my home office but that would be a lot better
for my old and fragile nervous system than driving an hour for the same
meeting. All we need to solve the traffic problem is a little
imagination and creativity. The solution already exists!
Questions
and comments to Doug Allston
at dallston@acibiz.com.
_____________________________________________________________________
Brown Bag
Session 2: Knowing Your Statement-of-Work – 03-10-08
By Sid Jaffe, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
A short
“Brown Bag” or training session with your team can be an opportunity to
provide some tactical planning and direction that will result in stronger
relationships with your clients and contacts. On a regular basis it is
worthwhile to conduct a review of your Statement-of-Work for each of your
customers and their contracts. Make sure your team knows the range of
solutions they can provide, as contrasted with what they may be providing
currently, on each contract. There may be opportunities to
provide value-based solutions that you are missing because your team is
unaware they product or service is allowed under the contract. Your team
should be familiar with and understand how to apply other applicable
vehicles and schedules your company holds and the scope-of-work available
on them. Often work your client wants your people to perform that may be
outside your contract can be provided using a different vehicle or
schedule. For more information on these and other techniques contact
Sid Jaffe at sjaffe@acibiz.com
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The Most Important
Person in Your Life is your Customer – 03-10-08
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President, Advantage Consulting Inc.
A
customer is a person who buys goods or services if you did not have customers you
would not have a reason for existing as a company. While, a seller in one case is going to
be a buyer in another, we all buy and sell something every day. .
We all buy for the same reason.
We have a need to be filled.
Sometimes the need is filled by acquisition of a tangible product
like a car or a house, but in many cases, the need is filled by
acquisition of a service. Most
often, our buyer is a government agency that has a problem in “selling”
its services to its customer, the American taxpayer, and is seeking help.
The
source of that help is a contractor base with skills the government
agency needs. The best source of resources the agency has is a contractor
that knows the agency mission, its people, its problems, its difficulties
and has full understanding of what has to be done. These successful contractors have
developed their understanding and communication skills to enable them to
“Think customer,” an ability to intensely relate to the agency mission,
problems and potential solutions that could be provided by the
company. Think customer is a mind
shift based process that puts the customer needs first in terms of
“cause” and the company’s capabilities second in terms of “effect.” This process is not a “sales
opportunity” it is a “solution development opportunity.” And a good
customer service process makes it happen.
Frequently,
the customer perception of good quality customer service is based on two
things, the tangible positive results of a successful contract, coupled
with the continuing positive pro-customer communications that reinforces
the feeling that the contractor is an integral dependable part of the
customer team. This latter point
is achieved by the company actively using a think customer approach in
all parts of the company. Without
this approach, you could deliver a sound technically qualified service
and still lose the re-competition because of customer perception that
someone else out there is better than you are. All too frequently, contracts are won
and lost on perception and not production. It every case of a perception loss, the
loss could have been prevented by the company following a better “think
customer” approach.
To
expand our support of clients’ customer service efforts, Advantage Consulting recently announced a
newly updated short-form seminar on Customer Service for government
contractor’s technical and administrative staff. This seminar is
designed to be delivered in a 60 to 90 minute time frame, and can be used
as a short staff meeting workshop, a brown-bag lunch or a segment of an
off-site conference. The seminar augments our workshop series at very
nominal cost and has received very high praise in its short life. Want to learn more about the seminar or
discuss other ways you can improve customer service in your company
contact me at (703) 405-8912 or at bhamilton@acibiz.com
and let’s talk.
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The Wind in the Willows - 03-10-08
By Mike Berger, Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Kenneth
Grahame’s somewhat satirical 1908 children’s novel about a group of
animals carried an underlying message that wealthy people were lazy
buffoons, endlessly amusing themselves but best kept around to pay for
things. Whether that was accurate or not when the stories were written,
we know today that becoming wealthy takes hard work and dedication, both
in terms of finding the tasks to accomplish then accomplishing the tasks
we find.
And
so it is with virtually every aspect of the business development process.
While there’s plenty of work “out there”, finding the opportunities your
company can actually win (vs. all the work you could certainly perform
but don’t have a chance of winning), then completing the actions (we call
them “capture’) to convince the potential customer to hire you, then
writing the winning proposal, all take inordinate knowledge and skill,
and most of that has to be learned, it doesn’t come naturally.
Which
brings us to staff Professional Development (“training” if you prefer). When
money gets tight, and some think that’s the situation right now, we see
firms pulling back on training so they can concentrate their resources on
“business development.” And there lies the paradox. Those same firms
either do not know or have forgotten that their rank and file (the
technical staff and line managers) are absolutely the best source of
information regarding new winnable opportunities, but for them to be
successful, they must understand how they fit into the Business
Development process, and even better, they need to understand how they
can be part of the process without “selling” – the one thing in the
workplace they almost universally refuse to do. For the past sixteen
years, Advantage Consulting
has built its consulting and training reputation on the premise that the
best way to find, capture and win new opportunities is with the willing
participation of the entire staff. But the only way to do that is to
provide them the training they need to do it well. Whether or not times
are tough for you, there’s no better time than right now to involve more
of your people in the process. Please call for more information. Mike Berger, mberger@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153
or cell 703-861-0726.
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Opportunity Management and Increasing Business – 03-10-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO,
Advantage Consulting, Inc.
A
recurring theme in the meetings I attend every week is that people
working programs often learn of requirements that become opportunities
but don’t recognize the process for moving this information through the
organization. As important, there is not generally a process and
system to continuously build and amplify the information as an
opportunity progresses and matures. A potential solution to that dilemma
is a product focused on opportunity tracking and management. One of
the most mature and effectively priced of that category of products is
WinAward, available form Advantage Consulting.
The software, which can be web or server based, starts at a cost of under
$5,000 installed and is suited to organizations tracking multiple
opportunities that have been self-generated or identified in one of the
commercially available opportunity databases.
When
the system is combined with Advantage
Consulting’s methodology for business development and
capture it becomes a robust tool to support your organic and new business
growth efforts. To learn more about WinAward and the implementation
that supports it, contact
Sid Jaffe at 703-642-5153 or sjaffe@acibiz.com.
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How to
Help Your Business Developer be More Successful, Part 2 (The Business
Plan) – 03-03-08
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Several
weeks ago I started a series about how to help your Business Developer be
more successful. In that first article I dealt with the appropriate title. Your BD professional
should be a VP and they should not carry a title related to the
words business development, marketing or sales. In this article I
will deal with the business developer’s plan.
A few
years ago I was meeting with an old friend who was an outstanding professional
business developer. He was working in a small company which was a
change for him. He was complaining about his boss. His boss
would come to him regularly with a FedBizOps opportunity and suggest the
company write a proposal. He would argue against the action since
in all cases they did not know the client or government
organization. It was work they could do but they had no one who
wanted them to win the work. My response to his complaint surprised
him. I asked him if he had a business development plan and he said
no. I told him that until he had one he would continue to get
harassed by his boss. Nature abhors a vacuum and it will always try
to fill the vacuum. That was what his boss was trying to do.
The
plan that professional business developers must have is one that is validated and verified and the
business target list must be one that is working. Ok, you say you have one; heck
everyone has a target list. No, I did not write a target
list. I wrote a validated and verified and working business target list. There is
a difference.
First,
the target list has to be validated and verified. Has the target
been checked to be sure it is “real”, that it is likely to be a
procurement – task order or contract? There are lots of people in
the government who need help and have lots of requirements but they are
not very good at getting money to fund their projects. Has the
opportunity been checked to see if we have people in the company with
access to the government organization in question? If we cannot get
access to the influencers and decision makers then we cannot win this
business. Has the information in INPUT, FEDSOURCE or epipeline been
checked against primary sources? As good as these database services
are, when you get serious about pursuing the opportunity you should be
using primary sources from the government.
What
do I mean by the business target list that is working? There are
three types of targets that can be on the company target list. They
are “organizational targets” without actual work. These are
organizations in which your company has identified internal access and in
which you are developing that access in order to be positioned to
identify actual work in the future. The second type of work is
“non-work contract vehicles”. These are GWAC, GSA Schedules, and
sometimes organizational contract vehicles like multiple award IDIQ
omnibus type contracts. These are contract vehicles that you have
to process paperwork or write proposals for in order to win the vehicle. But winning does not
automatically result in business and revenues. Last, you
should have real business opportunities, either contracts or task orders
that you are pursuing. When I say the business targets list that is
working I mean that people are assigned to each target and they have a
plan of actions or activities laid out to accomplish their objectives,
either getting the contract vehicles or winning the contract or task
order. Each of these groups of people is a “Capture Team” and each
team should have outlined
a set of actions or activities needed to be successful.
In
many companies (I am
sure you are the exception) I find they have a target list but I see the
same few names as the capture leader on many of the targets. When I
see that I almost always find there is no plan in place. If the
capture team has no plan then how do they know what to do? If you
have no plan then how do you know what you are giving up when you take
those side trips that waste resources and time?
The Business
Developer needs to know the plan for each target and he needs to monitor
each of those plans to be sure they are moving to an appropriate
conclusion. If you are the boss, you have a right to have the BD
person brief you on the plan. If your BD professional does not have
a plan, require one and if they cannot give it to you it is time to find
a new Business Developer.
A way
to gage the progress of your business developer is by the complaints you
get from your operational managers. If the operational managers
complain about your Business Developers because they see no benefit from
him or her then they are not doing their job. If you are getting
complaints from the operational managers about how the Business Developer
is always harassing them about seeing this person and about doing that
briefing and about the demonstrations they have to do, then your BD
person is doing their job. Good Business Developers are respected
but they are almost never liked by their peers in the company and the
reason is that good Business Developers are a pain in the neck making
people work their plan.
Next
time I will write about the how your Business Developer develops the
respect of their peers in the company. Questions and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
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Knowing
the Client’s Dream – 03-03-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO,
Advantage Consulting, Inc.
There are four types of proposals
and responses to RFPs. Bad Proposals lose because they are generally not
compliant, and probably never should have been written. Good
Proposals may be compliant, but lack distinction and rarely win. Outstanding
Proposals have the distinction of being compliant as well as compelling;
yet they too often lose. It is the Right Proposal that wins.
The Right Proposal is not only compliant, and compelling, but also
contains in it the Client's Dream. It reads to the decision maker
as if they wrote it. They relate to it. They want it.
You cannot write to the client's dream if you have not established a
trusted relationship with the client so they will share the dream with
you. They have to want you to know their dream. You won't
read the dream in the FedBizOpps or hear it at a bidder's
conference. You earn the right to hear the dream by developing a
position with the client over time. In coming weeks we will present a
series of “Brown Bag” discussion topics that are fundamental to the
training we have delivered to more than 16,000 Government Contractor
professionals to assist them in ultimately delivering the winning
proposal. To learn more about the training contact Sid Jaffe at sjaffe@acibiz.com.
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Brown Bag
Session 1: The
Organization Chart Exercise – 03-03-08
By Sid Jaffe, CEO,
Advantage Consulting, Inc.
A
Brown Bag Session with your “on-site” project team is an opportunity to
provide tactical planning and direction to them. It is the starting
point in developing stronger relationships with your clients and
contacts that leads to task order growth. In some instances “on-site”
Brown Bag meetings for your team can be difficult to arrange based on the
work and availability of conference rooms. The exercise of holding
regular Brown Bags (Staff Training) may require going “off-site” at lunch
hour or after work for a pizza, but the effort to discuss better ways to
serve your customer is always worthwhile. We will present over the
coming months a variety of Brown Bag / Training topics focused on
Customer Service that leads to task order growth. An interesting
initial conversation with your staff revolves around their client’s
“organization chart.” Discuss with your team who they have regular
contact with, socially as well professionally. Determine who the
client perceives as their points-of-contact in your firm and if the
customer makes regular use of the relationship. Look at the
organization chart to determine that you in fact have relationships at
the top, middle and technical levels of the organization, utilizing all
of your on-site staff. When you find people in the customer organization
that your people do not know well you have likely also determined a
customer who you haven’t listened to about their needs, problems
and helped to educate them on your potential solutions. You
need to decide how your people will make the contact with this person and
then follow-up to build a value-based relationship. For more
information on relationship building tools, tactics and
techniques for your staff contact Sid
Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153.
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“Networking for Fun and
Profit” – 03-03-08
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