*** SELLING TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ***
Welcome to our new "back to basics" series called "SELLING TO
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT." In some cases we touch on issues already
addressed in our popular series "DOING BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENT," but
with new angles and insights.
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Winning Government Business
Seattle, Washington
June 18 at the Hotel Andra
"Winning Government Business" has evolved into a very exciting class with one
specific goal in mind: To keep you from wasting your time spinning your wheels
and bidding on opportunities which are already written for someone else. We
have all heard the objection: "I already have someone who supplies me with your
product/service." Our speaker will help you interpret that objection and find
a way to work around it. We will then help you SELL to these individuals and
build strong relationships on the local and national level.
For more information and other seminar dates and locations visit
http://www.fedmarket.com/productTour/seminar/index.php
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Installment 51 - Writing Winning Proposals
In order to win federal contracts, your company will have to write proposals
in response to those Requests for Proposals (RFP's) in which it has an interest.
The proposal-writing process is laborious, tiring, and expensive. Proposals are
what some might call a "necessary evil" in the government market. You may have
the best service organization in your industry or sell the very best product
but the quality of your product or service means very little if your proposals
aren't of the highest quality. Unfortunately, many businesses don't put the
proper emphasis on the proposal's preparation and the end result is often a
quite shoddy product.
Keys to Proposal Writing
The keys to success are simplistic and are as follows:
" Try to avoid writing proposals. In order to do so, obtain a GSA
schedule contract and close your deals using your schedule contract.
" Write as few as possible. To achieve this goal, focus on writing
proposals on only those bid opportunities you have pre-sold in advance.
" Win as many as you write. To improve your success rate, put great
emphasis on producing the very best proposal possible. Assign the
project to your best personnel and consider increasing the allocation
of your resources to this process.
Some Important Considerations
" Avoid negotiated procurements (those with the requirement that
applicants provide a technical proposal) unless your company is
prepared to make a total commitment to proposal writing.
" In choosing those RFP's you intend to bid upon, make bid decisions
only after careful and prolonged deliberation. Bid on only those
opportunities your company has a realistic chance of winning.
Corporate management frequently takes a shotgun approach to proposal writing.
Upon finding a possible bid opportunity, management often makes a hasty decision
that "this RFP is made for us" and it assigns the task to the proposal-writing
department and then disappears. Management should have instead considered some
of the following factors:
" Is our company the right one for the project? If it is, are we capable
of preparing a thorough, responsive and highly professional proposal?
" Did our sales staff pre-sell the opportunity? If it did not, don't
waste your time on preparing a proposal.
" Did we devote sufficient resources and time to deciding on whether to
bid on the proposal? It is far less costly to spend the time and money
up front than spending it on losing proposals.
" Do we have sufficient experience and background information to prepare
the proposal? Consider creating "proposal libraries" which include
templates and other forms that document your corporate resumes,
experience, capabilities, etc. Don't wait until proposal crunch time
to create such documents.
" Do we sufficiently and completely understand the customer's needs and
requirements? An important part of your research should include
instructing your sales staff to gain an intimate understanding of the
customer's expectations. During this process, the sales staff may also
sell the customer on your company and its capabilities.
Winning proposals are written from the customer's perspective. Your proffered
proposal must demonstrate, among other things, the following:
" Your business truly understands the customer's needs.
" Your company can provide the solution the customer is looking
for - not necessarily the one you think is best.
" Your business is uniquely qualified to provide those benefits that
the customer is expecting.
Learn How to Write Winning Proposals:
http://www.fedmarket.com/productTour/seminar/writingProposals.php
Learn How GSA Schedules Can Be Used to Avoid Expensive Proposals:
http://www.fedmarket.com/productTour/seminar/GSA.php
/-------------------------advertisement---------------------------
Winning Government Business
Seattle, Washington
June 18 at the Hotel Andra
"Winning Government Business" has evolved into a very exciting class with one
specific goal in mind: To keep you from wasting your time spinning your wheels
and bidding on opportunities which are already written for someone else. We
have all heard the objection: "I already have someone who supplies me with your
product/service." Our speaker will help you interpret that objection and find
a way to work around it. We will then help you SELL to these individuals and
build strong relationships on the local and national level.
For more information and other seminar dates and locations visit
http://www.fedmarket.com/productTour/seminar/index.php
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Thanks for reading and, as always, best of luck in your business.
Feel free to contact me with thoughts or suggestions. If you need help
with product sales, call or write as follows: (888) 661-4094 x8,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Regards,
Richard White, President
Fedmarket.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(208) 726-5553 X18
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