Want to Win? Think Simple By Tom Basile and Al Pines Part 1 of 3 The federal government marketplace is large, it is complex and it is brutally competitive. The attraction: a buyer with a lot of money to spend who consumes large quantities of almost everything man-made. The risk: if you do not go about it the right way you spend a lot of time and money for very little return. We have had the pleasure of helping many organizations prepare for entrance into the competitive business development arena. Our experience indicates there are three key ingredients: 1. You need to understand the “communities of interest” that will afford you the best opportunity for short-term and long-term growth. Communities of Interest are market segments where personal experience, company capabilities and past performance afford you the best opportunities for growth. These can take the form of specific government agencies, certain groups of people with shared interests, or specific types of government programs with shared needs and missions. 2. You need a plan on how to market, develop and sell into those communities 3. You need to develop the business development processes and skills that are essential to winning competitive government business. To begin the journey it is important to thoroughly understand your history (both successes and failures) and your plans for the future in order to fashion a way forward that will be most effective. F3: Focus, Focus, Focus Every product or service has a place where it fits best, your community of interest. The people, places and/or families of programs that share a common interest in what you offer, and can be defined in a way that allows you to make your presence known in an efficient manner. The idea is to define a market segment where you can leverage resources and experience to increase your rate of expansion. To do this requires an in-depth understanding of your offering. Who buys it and why do they choose you over a competitor? In other words, what is your value proposition and what is your discriminator? While today’s offering is paramount, you also want to understand where you plan to go in the future. Future plans can best be supported by making the right strategic decisions today. With this understanding you can perform the necessary research to establish which communities of interest should be your target; and within that community, which organizations are going to receive the money to make a purchase. Buying Patterns Affect Your Strategy With these targets identified you need to determine how they buy. Every organization has certain buying patterns. These are often specific to the contracting offices they use to procure services or products. Some utilize agency or governmentwide contracting vehicles; others prefer single or multi-award competitive acquisitions; while others are amenable to GSA schedules. To be successful you must tailor your approach to the particular procurement mechanisms the organization favors. When you know where you need to go, you make your presence known and you leverage that presence while preparing for the right set of opportunities. You put the right vehicles and teaming relationships in place based upon your strategy for future growth and you develop a disciplined approach to managing and executing the process - you will begin to simply beat the competition. All winning coaches go into the game with a game plan so why wouldn’t you? In Part 2 we will address the topic: Developing a Go-To-Market Plan. For more information, contact Tom at tbasile@govbusdev.com or visit www.govbusdev.com.