As many of you are aware Advantage Consulting has the privilege of serving many charitable organizations. We would like to highlight this years Annandale Lions Club Charities efforts for sight and hearing conservation, youth activities, community service and other charitable projects. The Annandale Lions Club Charities, Inc. is selling the Official 2008 White House Ornament at the same price as the foundation sells it for to retail customers, $17.00. This years Ornament honors the administration of President Benjamin Harrison (1822-1901), the twenty-third president of the United States. Inspired by the Harrison family's Victorian Christmas tree, this 24 karat gold finished ornament interprets the first recorded tree to decorate the White House.

The ornament's cost is $17.00 each, plus $3.00 shipping (while quantities last). For multiple orders the shipping will be adjusted based on quantity. The ornaments can be picked up at Advantage Consulting offices to eliminate shipping cost.

For more information or to place orders call John Landers 703-354-9227 or jlanders@cox.net or email to ornaments@annandalelions.org or order direct at http://www.annandalelions.org/ornaments.htm

The Annandale Lions Club Charities, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information on the Annandale Lions Club please contact Sid Jaffe at 703-642-5153.

Networking Opportunity

Articles:

Business Development

Business Development and Capture Processes, Part One
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.

The Capture process has been given increased emphasis over the past few years. We find, for example, that most large companies have full-time capture managers who each manage three to five major capture efforts. If you can afford staff on full-time overhead to manage your capture efforts, that is great. However, if, like most of our clients, you cannot afford full-time staff, you still need to have people trained to manage your capture efforts if you expect to compete in today's government marketplace.

As important as Capture is, it is only one of the successful activities that contribute to winning contracts from the federal government, and is one part of the overall classic business development process:

1. Find qualified buyers

2. Indentify business

3. Capture the business

4. Write the Proposal

Seventeen years ago, Sid Jaffe and I realized "capture" was the weak link in this process. Back in the days of real contracts and real work associated with those contracts, most companies had business targets. We knew they wrote acceptable proposals but win rates were only about 12 percent. Because of this we began putting emphasis on the Capture portion of the process when working with our clients. At the same time we recognized there were other reasons for the dismal win rates so we re-examined the process. From that we re-defined the business development process as follows:

1. Identify your Strategic Organizations

2. Find qualified buyers

3. Identify business opportunities you can win

4. Capture the business

5. Write the "right" proposal

6. Get the repeat business

Over the next couple of weeks I will discuss each of these phases of the business development process and explain how they are inter-dependent.

Questions and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com or call me at 703-627-5820.

A Hunting We Will Go
By Mike Berger, Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.

How many times have you sat around your conference table to discuss the corporate business development plan? Assuming your targets are in the Federal marketplace, how do you find opportunities or targets and how do you select those you wish to pursue?

Over the years I've met with many companies who remind me of little kids at a banquet table in the sense that "their eyes exceed the capacity of their stomachs." I recall a firm of about 100 people that was trying to target 11 new agencies, and another about twice that size that had put together a list of more than 200 potential government and commercial targets. Aside from being unrealistic, they had made up their lists on the basis of what they did rather than any real potential for obtaining actual work.

When helping clients define their targets one of my first questions is always, "Who do you know?" I ask that because the people you already know in the marketplace define your strategic targets, and business opportunities come from the strategic organizations where you already have relationships. Why is that?

The answer is simple. Odds are you wouldn't buy a new business suit from a sidewalk vendor on K Street in Washington, DC for the obvious reason that no matter what the price, you are likely to be less than satisfied with the result. However, if you buy a new suit at Brooks Brothers or Nordstroms you make that purchase with built in confidence as to quality, style, fit and so forth.

The government is exactly the same. They buy from people they know and trust and generally know before they publish an RFP who they are willing to deal with. Those decisions sometimes suggest pre-selection or bias, but truth is they just can't afford to take a flyer and risk failure working with people or firms they don't know.

If you've been chasing too many "bluebirds" and need assistance in getting your business development process in order, now's the time to call. Mike Berger, mberger@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153, cell 703-861-0726.

Capture

Training the Capture Team
By Sid Jaffe, CEO, Advantage Consulting, Inc.

The requisite capture activity for a recompete is too often taken for granted by incumbent companies and their project teams. We frequently learn about contractors whose project teams are simply "waiting" for the recompete to come out without doing any preliminary work; the same work that won them the project years before, the work their competitors are doing to unseat the incumbent. The participants on Source Selection Boards generally change on recompetes as people leave the Government or move to different positions. The change in people doing RFP evaluation means there is a need to re-establish your team's value proposition and confirm the win themes and "dreams" for the coming years. Consider have Advantage Consulting train your team in Capture techniques, using specific strategies for the opportunity your team is pursuing. Also consider tuning up your teams oral and written Proposal skills where appropriate. To learn more about how we can support this important effort contact Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153.

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