Business Issues: I Have a GSA Schedule—Now What? By Tom Basile Seneca Creek Consulting (Part 2 of 4) In the last issue we discussed the first of three essential steps—Discovery, Planning and Execution—that form the foundation of virtually any successful effort in government sales. Two key questions in the Discovery stage were addressed: “How is the government buying the solutions we are selling?” and “Where are my competitors focused?” For this article we will discuss the final question in Discovery: “Who is buying what we are selling?” How do you determine what agencies to focus your limited resources on and why? This is no easy task. It takes a lot of research of both past and forecasted buying to narrow the target agencies. For the most part, every agency in the federal government is theoretically a customer. However, based on your service or product offerings there are some ways to narrow down the field. First, do your comprehensive research. If you are selling IT-related services, virtually all agencies are your target market. However, you should try to match your past performance to agencies that are performing similar types of services. For example, if you have experience in implementing SAP Financials, then you would search for agencies using the SAP platform and, within this group, search further for those who have “Financials” as one of their requirements. If you are in the health care business, then your logical target civilian departments are probably Health and Human Services and its member agencies, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs. If construction management is your specialty, then organizations like the Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment and GSA Public Buildings Service may be the place to start. If you are a small business, look for agencies that are committed to set-asides. Look at the grades each agency has received based on meeting their small business goals. Often, agencies identify mandatory small business participation in major acquisition programs. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) Program is an upcoming multiple award contract vehicle to provide a comprehensive, world-wide, IT solutions to support both VA and non-VA customers. The VA has mandated that 30% of all contract dollars go to small business. In summary, do your homework, focus and narrow down your targets. In Part 3 we will address the second step in the sales effort: Planning. This is where you develop a game plan based on the research conducted in the Discovery step. For more information, visit www.SenecaCreekConsulting.com.