EDGE360 recently published a piece highlighting five tips that every government contractor should be aware of during the final days of the federal FY17. In this second part of the series, our editors have pulled together the last five pieces of advice that our federal expert contributors have shared with our EDGE360 audience. While we suspect our federal reseller audience is heads down during these final days of federal buying season, we hope that you spend some time with these final tips and advice to ensure that you do not leave any opportunity untouched. Read below for our final countdown:
5. Select your business partners and new opportunities carefully. During this time of year, there are many deals that are brought to the table. Larry Allen, President of Allen Federal Partners, warns our readers that most deals that seem too good to be true, probably are. His key takeaway? Trust your gut and experience.
4. Maintain a relentless focus. Jeff Smith, a strategic consultant in the public sector, and partner of Comstor Federal, says that while “others react to the demand like a sail to winds, companies need to focus on optimizing this time of the year when revenue opportunity is the highest. The more focused your sales efforts are, the more successful you will be. Don’t sit back and react to demand. Attack your customer base to create more demand. Be more focused than your competitors on the market opportunity.”
3. Understand the opportunity and when to strike. “Every single day between now and the last day of September should crescendo into a volume and pace that we have not seen in over five years,” Smith tells our readers. If you are a contractor or reseller, the days should be long, the collaboration should be frequent and intense, and the alignment of work should be carefully coordinated. Don’t let the pace of these final days overcome your ability to execute, Smith warns.
2. Communicate, communicate, and over communicate. Nate Clyker, Regional Manager, Federal Sales for Comstor says, “While it may be tough to get the ear of your agency customer right now, it’s more important than ever to be persistent, and keep all lines of communication open. Right now, resellers have the opportunity to help agency customers navigate through complex budgets and requirements to set the stage for programs to come in FY18.” Listen to Nate’s full podcast on EDGE360 here.
1. Continue the hunt. It may seem that it is too late to strike up any new business opportunities. Yet, the last thing a contracting officer wants to do is to leave money on the table. Now is the time to stay in constant contact, understanding the agency’s needs, and demonstrating how you can help. According to Jeff Smith, now is the time to “set a goal to find new and incremental funding pockets from each of your key customers over the final week to ensure that you are in a position to win as year-end unallocated funding opportunities surface.”
We wish each and every federal reseller and government contractor the best of success during these final days and hope that these tips help you drive that last bit of business through the door.
