There are lots of tasks to finding where you fit in the federal arena. Once you have made that determination you need to get in front of your federal customers, but some vendors are lost at how to do that . In order to boost agency response businesses use some of the traditional ways such as; contacting the point of contacts on request for quotations and request for proposals, connecting at social events and conferences, or basic word of mouth. If you are anything like me, I am a think out of the box kind of lady and I will find other options that will produce results by working smarter and not harder.
There is another way of locating federal customers that many are not aware of and that is through a federal government directory. This directory is a list of all federal government departments and agencies and the reason why I love it so much is because many of the agencies list up to date telephone numbers and email addresses. It can be found on the USA.gov website at http://www.usa.gov/directory/federal/index.shtml. This site is a good site for vendors once you have conducted your market intelligence and you are looking to let agencies know more about your business.
Using the directory is definitely not an excuse of getting out from behind the desk or laptop and meeting your potential customer. You are going to have to speak face to face at some point and build a more solid business relationship, if you want to know more about networking read this. The directory should be used as a way of opening doors by introducing yourself to the contracting personnel via email or telephone.
When you do introduce yourself have a two minute elevator pitch prepared that speaks solely on what your business does and how you are different from the others. Be sure to ask for an email address if it is not listed in the directory so that you can follow up via email. In the email you should quickly touch on what you spoke about previously and provide a short list of your product or service. Include your NAICS code, cage code, contract number(s) (if any), point of contact, address, and telephone number.
As it goes for any business contacting the agency personnel does not guarantee a government contract, but there is a possibility of opening doors for future business relationships.
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