Growing Your Small Business with Government Contracts - Part 2

 So, what does it take to succeed?
You know, it's about researching. The most successful businesses that I've worked with in this space have really taken the time to digest the information that we're providing  and make some smart business decisions about, okay, who are we going to target? What are we going to sell? What does the target audience look like? And create a plan. Companies that don't do well with this type of how to do business with the government are those that kind of approach the process arbitrarily. It's very streamlined how to do business with the government, so it's really about researching, going to websites, looking at some of your links and figuring out what it is that you'll need to do, okay?

 I recommend, always, and this I do this even in my private business, creating an ideal client profile, thinking about who is your favourite client. What it is that you absolutely love doing? Because there's a strong possibility that this type of work is available in the government's space, so you want to think about what you do best. One of the big mistakes that I've made and that I've seen others make is they try to do too many things. One day, I'm a wellness coach, the next day I do this, I do that, one week I'm doing security, the next week I'm doing something else. The most successful clients are the clients that are laser focused on one thing, they do that one thing really well and then they expand from there as opposed to trying to offer a whole fleet of services to the government or to any client for that matter.

What does it take to succeed? You want to make sure that you have the capacity to meet various needs in the government space, experience, you need to be competitive. There's significant amount of research that's required in order to understand how to price your products and services for the government so that you are competitive because it's a highly competitive marketplace, ensuring that you have the capital required to enter into the marketplace. Because like other business relationships, if you've been working with individual clients it's easy to call up that one client or two clients whatever you have to say, "Okay, I haven't been paid or I need my money," where it's completely different with a government agency and I should say the larger the contracts, the more complex the collection process is, so you want to make sure that you have the capital to do business.

Differentiators, I'm telling you now that in this marketplace, more than ever, one of the great things is that they're really looking for small businesses because we're innovative, we come up with new ideas, we come up with new strategies, we're more sensitive to follow-up in customer service unlike some of the larger firms so I'm seeing a lot of space for creative companies. I'm seeing a lot of space for companies that are willing to differentiate themselves by providing high quality products and services and great customer service. And I should also point out that you don't really need a lot of money to do this, it's about kind of making the commitment to being excellent because I have to share that not everybody is. The other, what does it take to succeed? I can't emphasize the importance of being willing to sub-contract and team and partner with others. If you have identified or you already know somebody that's doing business with the government? That's a great place to get started. Or if you have a colleague that, let's say like in my business I provide training and coaching, but I frequently partner with accounting, construction and security companies to leverage my certification as a woman-owned business because I know that government agencies are looking to increase opportunities for women so I've kind of broadened my scope in that regard through sub-contracting and teaming with others.

It doesn't always have to be black and white, so I have also, and I encourage you to do the same thing, find out who's doing business with the government now and develop a relationship with them. They're typically called prime contractors or tier one suppliers and that information is readily available on a lot of websites. You want to strategically select projects, that's another big thing that I think is really important. I remember when I first started out, I was interested in everything and I've realized with hindsight, that that was a big time-waster. To my earlier point, you want to stay focused if you provide training, if you provide whatever service you provide, you want to stay focused on one thing. And just a couple of weeks ago,the government put out a press release where they were actually increasing, opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses that can demonstrate best value on government contracts so that's another great... That's great news for us because it gives people that are innovative and creative an opportunity to really shine in the government's space. It's not all about being the lowest price.

So, what does it take to succeed? Consistently communicating with buyers. We all know this now that we're living in a world where engagement is the new sales tool. So it's never about selling, government agencies are no different. You want to to create some type of a communication strategy where you will consistently educate, follow-up, market to your target audience. So I think marketing is important, networking is important, a public relations strategy is important, social media is absolutely key. I gave a talk yesterday where I asked the people in the room, how many people are using social media to communicate with government buyers? And this was at a meeting specifically about marketing to the government and not one hand went up.

And I have to share with you that every single government agency, the Federal Government and others, have some type of a social media presence so it's a great way for you to start gently figuring out what their missions are and connecting with buyers online, so I think that's really important.

The other thing I have to just say is that there is, the way that the government works is, it's almost like bringing on a new partner. Before they will sign a contract with you they're going to ask you for your financial history so good credit is important, paying your taxes on time is important, and having a strong system around back office, financial obligations is critical. I have worked with clients in that past that have had issues with credit or issues with not filing the right tax forms and so on and so forth. And I won't say that you can't get a government contract if that's your situation, but whatever's not right needs to be addressed, because the one thing that won't happen is contracts will not be awarded to companies that cannot demonstrate financial responsibility. So if there was a problem and you fixed it, great. If it's an ongoing problem, the likelihood of you being successful with government contracts, it's not really plausible.

Some of the other things that you might need to succeed would include pulling together any of your previous experience or past performance, whether it's been on another job or with clients you're working with right now, even if they're not government clients, starting to have a roster that you can demonstrate that you have the experience. Expertise and training around working in a government contracting environment or corporate supply chain and what I say in that regard is, having somebody that knows, kind of, how the government works or how corporate supply chains work are, is important. There's a lot of free courses out there through the small business administration and what's called Procurement Technical Assistance Centers that can help you if you're looking for training and expertise around what is the process.

I think it's also important to have some knowledge and expertise about preparing bids and cost proposals, cash flow projections, cost estimates and understanding that, like I said, the training or whatever product or service that you're supplying is never all about that product and service. It's always about everything else, so quality assurance and sustainability is also some of the new things that I'm seeing that's being required on government contracts.

So getting started, just to kind of summarize what are some of the things that you're going to need to consider if you've never worked with a government agency before my strongest recommendation is to start local. Go to your local library, Chamber of Commerce, those types of organizations and see what kind of opportunities, where are they buying their goods from, where are they getting their supplies from, what other women are they working with? You'll be surprised. They'll probably be a tremendous resource for you.

The second thing I would recommend is now that you have some of the information, to start thinking about some targets. Who would you like to work with? Is it directly with the government? Would you like to be a subcontractor? Are you looking to work with corporations?

Think about your capacity. When you start thinking about working with a government agency, what size of projects, what types of projects are you ready to do? That's really important. And consider that if the largest project you've ever done is five million naira then that's the largest project the government is ever going to award to you. That's important to know. Bringing in additional resources, whether it's virtual staff, financial resources, resources that will help you paint the picture that you have the capacity to do the work that's being required.

You'll definitely need to make a commitment to marketing. Most people, again I was at a talk yesterday. Not one hand went up when I talked about who's actively marketing. The people who are actively marketing, it's like the 80-20 rule. People who are actively marketing are the people that are getting a lot of the government contracts. And then you want to have a system to measure results. If you are starting to engage in this marketing yourself to the government you want to create a game plan, a business plan where you can measure the results after a couple of months and adjust accordingly.

I've also included as part of the program just a couple of benefits of doing business with the government. And again, you know I can speak from my own experience. Published reports indicate that small firms that have been awarded government contracts typically grow a 100% or more so it's about job creation, financial stability. For me, it was also about cash flow because once there was no more chasing around all these small clients everywhere. Once I got my first government contract, they typically last for five years so it's one year with four option periods so I can now focus on doing the work that I want to do and bringing on more strategic clients, as opposed to working with a lot of very small clients.

Jean Kritensen is a government contractor who has provided security guard services to government and is now a consultant on government contracts.