Ten Tactics To Grow Your Federal Business This Year

Situation

You’ve invested time and cash and sweat equity into winning Federal business over the last five years, and you’ve got the wins to prove it. Maybe you want to move up from sub to prime as well as win work in new agencies. Bravo! Maybe you’ve got a GSA Schedule, and/or pursued other contract vehicles, and have activated all the small business certifications that you’re eligible for.  You might be partway through your 8(a) eligibility, or growing strongly in many of your small business NAICS codes as SDVOSB or WOSB. Federal’s been good to you, but you know you could do so much more. 

What you want to know

You want the best resources and tactics you can get to take your Federal wins to the next level…the sooner (and more cost-effectively) the better.

Your best approach to more Federal business

Your easiest wins are right in front of you, and right next door to that: through deepening relationships with the clients and primes you’re working with right now, and in just a handful of agencies whose needs look a whole lot like the ones you’re already serving strongly. 

Focus is your friend. You can figure it out as you go along. But if you want to make a confident choice based on hard data, and have that in your hands in a matter of days, here’s how I can help.

10 tips for growing your Federal business this year

1. Set goals — for your month, your quarter, and your year…and write them down! Harvard Business School research shows that people who have written goals and a plan to reach them achieve TEN TIMES the results of people who have goals but don’t write them down.

    

2. Ask for the business where you are. Get a conversation on the books with your current clients. And don’t come in asking, “How else can we help?” That’s giving them homework. Instead, you do the homework. Arrive with ideas that begin, “How we can help…”
   
   

   Regardless of the answer, ask for referrals! This doesn’t have to feel awkward. Here’s what to say: “My business is growing and we’re looking for new projects. If you were me, who would you be talking to?” If things are going well, they’ll spontaneously offer to introduce you!

3. Know their easy button: Research past Federal contract data to find out which contract vehicles your prospects use most. Make sure they can get to you through those vehicles…whether you prime or partner to do it.

    

4. GSA Schedule: love it or leave it. Concerned about losing your GSA Schedule due to lack of sales? Here are the five steps you need to take. If your target agencies actually don’t use GSA Schedules, then maybe it’s okay to let it go. Either way, decide. Then act.

    

5. Focus on Relationships: Reach your Players at all the Layers in every place you want to win work. See all five in this infographic. When Heather Lacroix did this at Chenega Technical Solutions, she got on track for $25 million in new business. Learn more here.

    

6. Team tactically: you don’t have to be on every contract vehicle your customer uses. Research the vehicles and vendors your customer uses most. Ask your customer a little bit about which ones they like best and why. Which ones would you genuinely like to team with?

    

7. Show your Federal buyers gratitude — including with gifts. You read right! But read the right way to do it, first. The gifts you can give your Federal buyers are very different from what you can give a corporate client. These gifts cost nothing…and their impact can be priceless.

    

8. Celebrate! Research shows that celebration builds resilience, and goodness knows we need that. Find out more about the power of celebration HERE.

    

9. Buff up your win rate:  Research shows the average small GovCon with under ten years’ experience has a 25% win rate. How could you do better? Sometimes, bidding less means winning more. Tighten up your bid/nobid checklist. Get tips on my webinar, “To Bid Or Not To Bid?” and my  complimentary toolkit.
   
   
10. In a new agency or office, start small; be persistent. Your power win might not need any contract vehicle. What could you do for less than $250,000? Become a Simplified Acquisition superstar. Learn more about Simplified Acquisition – Simply Awesome, and Micro-Purchase Strategies for Established GovCons.