How many times have you heard the phrase “failing to plan, is planning to fail”?  This happens every day in the B2G marketplace. Companies don’t take the time to fully understand what is required to enter, compete, and grow a successful government practice. Many companies fail to understand how to develop and expand their business within the public sector, so we’ve put together a list of the five things every company needs to know to become successful contractor and grow government sales.

1) Get Educated – If you’re going to commit to entering the public sector, you must commit to educating yourself first.  What is great about the public sector is that the data you need to effectively market and sell to your prospects is publicly available. No other marketplace makes it this easy to find targets to market and effectively sell to.

2) Create a plan and stick to it – Just as you would in the commercial marketplace, you need to create a sales and marketing plan and stick to it. If there is one major challenge in selling into the public sector, it’s that it takes time. Sales cycles often take much longer compared to commercial sales cycles. Therefore, you must create a plan and commit to sticking to it for at least 18 to 24 months.

3) Team for Success – teaming with an existing government contractor is often the easiest and most effective way to enter the public sector. In fact, large businesses are encouraged (and in some cases required) to team with small businesses to capture business. Find out who you can complement and who they support.

4) Get to know your competition – Again, the data is out there. It’s quite simple to find your competitors and who their customers are. You just need to know where to look.

5) Network with Key Influencers & Decision Makers – Taking the initiative to find the right person to connect with can make a world of difference.  Use networking sites such as LinkedIn or GovEvents to find out who you need to get in front of to close the deal.

Okay, I admit these may seem a little oversimplified and easier said than done… However, if you take the time to educate yourself first, these become second nature.  To help you get started, we created an Introduction to Federal Sales and Procurement certificate.  This is a Beginner-level Certificate to provide you a concise overview of what is required, and how to get started growing your Federal Sales. Once completed you will understand how to identify key federal government programs, how to identify federal government buyers, how to develop teaming relationships, and how to identify the contract vehicles that will help you grow in government sales.

Like