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1:47 PM

Marketing Technology to Government

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Marketing Technology to Government

I have seen a number of sellers and marketers crash and burn trying to market their technology products to government agencies. Often, the problem is a failure on the part of the seller or marketer to realize quickly enough that he or she and the agency rep are or should be on the same side of the table.

All too often, the seller or the marketer will approach the agency rep antagonistically because of pricing. The seller’s job is to sell his company’s products or services at the greatest possible margin. The agency’s rep’s job is to secure the seller’s wares at the best possible value. This value is a combination of price and technology.

So, if your technology is not the freshest on the market don’t be surprised if the buyer asked you to take a haircut as the buyer is willing to trade a newer technological iteration for some cost savings.

Once you both move past the money issues both parties should be working toward the same goal, a sale.

Both sides need to recognize that the agency has a problem to solve and that the seller may very well have the solution to that problem. Since the seller is proposing the solution, it is incumbent on him or her to avoid a stand-off or shouting match in order to get the deal done. Prideful reluctance to give in to the buyer should not stand in the way of a good deal.

The technical aspects of the produce being sold and bought may present another barrier since the agency rep may not be versed in the nuances of the product. Similarly, the seller may not be familiar with how government agencies operate and how decisions are made.

If a seller approached the sale as if the agency’s problem is his own and recognizes that he and his counterpart are playing on the same team to solve the same problem, the sale will be made at a price that is fair to both teammates.
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11:36 AM

Getting Started Contracting with Government

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Getting Started Contracting with Government 

By one estimate, there are 80,000 government agencies, federal, state and local, that purchase a variety of goods and services from the private sector. The aggregate value of these purchases is in the billions of dollars.

Your first move in the government sector should be to settle on exactly which of your many goods or services you plan on selling to government. At this point, you should become familiar with the NIGP, or the National Institute of Government Purchasing index. This is a listing of all the goods and services that government agencies typically buy. This will be your first indication if there is a government market for your company’s offering. You should also visit the website of any agency to which you wish to sell and click on the procurement tab to find what things that particular agency buys. This will tell you if that potential buyer needs your company’s offering.

You also need to determine where you wish to sell: nationally, regionally, only in the state in which your company is domiciled, or locally. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these. for example, selling nationally opens up a huge market for you but could entail a great deal of travel the expense that will cut into your margin. If your company doesn't already have regional operations you could actually realize more profit selling locally. 

You next should locate specific bidding opportunities. 

There are several ways to go about this. One way is to contract with an aggregator. This is a company that will report to you periodically on which agencies have issued tenders for the goods or services that your company supplies. The drawback to this approach is expense. These reports are costly and most bidding companies will not have the bandwidth to respond to more that a fraction of the opportunities in the report. In addition, much of the information is repeated from report to report to report. So, you will be paying repeatedly for the same data and you will be paying for information that your can’t use or which is stale. 

An alternative to an aggregation service is to retain a consultant. Make sure your consultant has hand-on experience selling to government not just other contractors. Experience selling in your vertical would be a bonus. This is a much more personal approach than using an aggregator. In the interest of full discloser, Chaddsford Planning provides this service.

A  third approach, if you have the time and/or resources is to go it alone and contact thousands of government agencies yourself to determine if they purchase what you are selling and then to continue dialing for dollars until you find the right person who has purchasing authority and can buy from you.

The next step is to identify the requirement of the job. in order to for your potential customer to do business with you you will be required to submit a formal written proposal that accomplishes three things. 1) specifies exactly what you are offering, 2) specifies exactly what you expect in return, 3) shows precisely how your offer solves the agency’s problem.

It is a lot of work, but there is a lot of reward.
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