5 Things That Spook Government Contractors
One of the biggest fears is the fear of the unknown! In the dynamically shifting world of government contracting, this fear can get amplified. Several bottlenecks and inherent risks can throw you off the trail while you try to bag contracts successfully. Let’s look at five common fears that plague government contractors:
# 1 Ghost Pipelines: There are opportunities that companies have no real chance of winning, and yet they track them on their growth pipelines. We call these “ghost pipelines.” The fear of missing out directly contributes to these less-than-efficient pipelines. Ghost pipelines offer a false sense of growth to leaders and distract limited Business Development and Capture resources. Streamline your pipeline and, instead of subscribing to multiple lead generators, work with a team of experts that can present qualified leads, justify the pipeline, offer complete decision-making information from the beginning—quality over quantity, and continue to partner with your team to stay focused.
# 2 Fear of Missing Out [FOMO] Effect: It’s easy to fixate on over-analyzing your competitors and wanting to know about every bid in their pipeline. Companies have a false impression that competitors are working a secret deal that you don’t know anything about. There are very few opportunities that are not already announced in the public domain. There are few, if any, ‘secret’ deals. Our expert advice would be to stick to and execute your already planned business growth strategy. You know your target agencies, and you know your niche capabilities. Focus on identifying, qualifying, and building your bid strategy to win contracts where you have a high win probability. Remember, you don’t need to be better than your competitor in everything – you need to be better than them at bidding what you want.
# 3 Insider Connection Myth: Most small businesses fear they do not have enough insider connections and that it’s holding them back. The fear is valid but remember that you are not the only one who is not conversing with the customer. In reality, ‘insider connections’ are neither an advantage nor a disadvantage for most small businesses. For every lead, prepare a call plan and clearly articulate what information you are looking for. Now strategize how you will find that information if the government contacts do not answer your call. Be creative and persistent in finding relevant bid intelligence from multiple sources to differentiate your company’s offer.
# 4 Socio-Economic Status Symbol: Small businesses fear that agencies will not award contracts to them if they don’t amass as many socio-economic set-aside certifications. While there are some advantages to having socio-economic certs, agencies don’t look at socio-economic status to award contracts – they first and foremost look for capabilities and an understanding of their mission and needs. Sell your capabilities and relevant solutions first, not your set-aside status.
# 5 – Large Business Envy: Large companies do have a foothold in government contracting. Government contracting requires the investment of time, money, and resources. A common fear small businesses have is that they won’t be able to outspend the large businesses and, therefore, will not win the bid. Instead of thinking small, you can find innovative and cost-effective ways to compete. Work with industry experts to give you the same type of large company resources without the permanent fixed costs.
Hire the experts! ProposalHelper is the largest employee-only bid and proposal management company supporting contractors in the United States. ProposalHelper helps companies enter, expand, and grow their business in the public and commercial sectors across almost every industry vertical through fixed-price business strategy, business development, and proposal solutions.