Next, it’s time to build or refresh your contact list for your fiscal 2015 federal effort. Successful federal contractors build many relationships inside each federal agency for every major sale. Whether your business is large or small, you’ll also need another deep set of diverse contacts among other contractors to support the teaming that has become essential for growth.
Good news! Your market intelligence is the foundation for that effort. Of course, your star contacts are your current clients. The next tier: the people they recommend to you.
Once you get beyond personal contacts, start digging deeply into your target agency’s web site for contact lists. Include in your search: small business specialists, program staff, and officials who are listed on special agency task forces that are setting standards or program direction.
Go back to the Small Business / “Doing Business…” pages of your target agencies and the acquisition forecasts. Add the points of contact from forecast acquisitions that fit your company. And add the Small Business Specialists in each target agency.
FedBizOpps is useful in a way you might not have expected. Go back through the past year of contract award notices on FedBizOpps(link is external) for products or services like yours. Scroll down to the bottom of each one, pick up those points of contact, and add them to your contact database for calls, too! Typically that’s the Contracting Officer; it might be the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative.
All those people can open doors for you…or stand in your way. Want some tips on how to get them on your side? Find out more in our paper, “The Five People You Need to Meet” – right here.