Conversations & Opportunities (Podcast Transcript)

                         [01:13] Ricky Howard, Lt Col (Ret): Hey, Ricky here with the government sales momentum podcast. Thanks everyone for listening, tuning in today. Wanted to talk a little bit about conversations today, and reason for that is just some experience I had. So I'm of course actively selling products and services to the government and working with my clients to do so. I just want to talk a little bit about how conversations for me over the past week have led to efforts that we'll be working on with the government. So it's really important. And you've listened to the podcast. You listen to more than one or two episodes. You know how much I value identifying opportunities before they become solicitation, and there's lots of ways to find opportunities and to build your pipeline. But at the end of the day, talking to people and having conversations is absolutely going to be the best way forward and there's a lot of ways to establish relationships with people. But a couple of things I wanted to bring up is how you could go about doing that, how it's worked for me just over the past week while it's fresh in my mind, maybe give you some insights and some ideas and maybe something that you've done but haven't done in a while and you can kind of kick back into gear on.

                         So first, is relationships that you already have. So this could be government relationships that you have for this particular example. Doesn't need to necessarily be anyone that you've sold to. But as you are building your pipeline and doing your business development, you're doing things like pitching various people in the government on your ideas. You're setting up meetings to discuss opportunities. You're going to conferences, you're building those relationships. So after you've been doing this for a little bit, you're going to start having some of those relationships. So recently I was at right, pat Air Force Base and I had some very specific client meetings I was there for, but since I was traveling and this is something I advise you to do as well, think about where you're going and who else you could be talking to there. So I had some relationships that already existed there. If you don't, you may find a couple of opportunities at a location that you're going to be at where maybe you can contact a small business office and set up some meetings or contact a program manager or contracting officer and set something up. But take advantage of where you are in person because that can really have a big impact on an opportunity that you might not be aware of.

                         [03:40] Ricky Howard, Lt Col (Ret): In this case, for me, it was exactly that. So I had a couple of meetings that I scheduled that I was traveling for, but then I thought, hey, I know a few other people that are here because I have talked to them or briefed them in the past, let's see if they have some availability. And I had a couple of weeks head start so I was able to secure some times. And in both cases I had two particular conversations where the office calls were basically just to catch up and see how we were both doing and of course talking a little bit about the work that I was doing and the work that the government was doing. But as we started talking about that and started talking about, for instance, my clients specialty and the different technologies that they offered, we saw that there were some pretty good fits for solving problems that they were currently experiencing. So both of those conversations are leading to potential efforts, potential contracts with the government. They're not contracts yet, but this is a very powerful way for you to take a step forward with your business development and just take advantage of where you are, where you're going to be located. So I'm always looking for opportunities to have conversations and I'm not talking about bringing a slide deck and giving a pitch, there's times for that. But just having these conversations is going to lead to efforts. By the way, these opportunities, there's no way that I would have known about them unless I have these conversations, right. In one case I had a conversation about an effort that's not going as well as it should be and they're looking for another solution.

                         [05:41] Ricky Howard, Lt Col (Ret): And in another case it was a little bit more still in the planning stages on the government side, trying to figure out how they were going to put a solution together. And they didn't know if they had to use a lot of different companies, they didn't know if it had been done before, if they were creating something from scratch. And I was able to show them where we have done something very similar to what they're trying to do and with the government with the DOD specifically. And this also brings up another point that when you're talking to somebody in acquisitions, whether it's in the Department of Defense or another government agency, they're not all knowing, right? They are very focused on the pot of money and programs that they are managing. So they might not be aware that you've done something with, say, the army or with pick your other agency to VA. That's very similar to what they're doing.

                         [06:10] Ricky Howard, Lt Col (Ret): Acquisition is huge. Keep in mind how many billions of dollars are spent every year. So what you have done, you want somebody to know about that, you're going to have to tell them about it. That's how they're going to find out, whether it's the program manager or the contracting officer. And they will be very interested to hear anything that could potentially solve their problem. And if it's already being used by the government, that is going to give them a level of confidence in your product or service that they could use it quickly and efficiently on their side. Also, there's other confidence things there as well, right? So if you are being used by the government, they have you on a contract. So that might be a contract that another organization can leverage because remember, contract vehicles can take a long time putting somebody on contract. So we're always looking for ways, the government is always looking for ways to put a company on contract where they might not have to go through a huge 18 month process where maybe they can get to you through GSA or through an IDIQ you're on with the Air Force or the army. So keep that in mind.

                         [07:24] Ricky Howard, Lt Col (Ret): Now you're drawing connections, you're building that relationship and you're finding out about opportunities that maybe you didn't know about before. And so now that's like I mentioned, that's two that we weren't planning on, that it didn't happen in the pipeline but are now there so it's very important to do that when you're especially physically present. I mean, if you can go someplace in person that is going to have a big impact and I think more of an impact than say a zoom call or phone call indefinitely, more so than email. Now, one other thing I want to talk about, and it's going to be not a huge podcast today, but on the same topic is your clients so clients that you are on contract with. And this is something else again that we experienced last week. I was with my clients last week talking about a project that we're on, making sure that we're delivering what we're supposed to and providing capability.

                         [08:08] Ricky Howard, Lt Col (Ret): What you want to know is, is there anything else I can be doing for you? Is there any place else that you think that our product or service can be used anywhere within your organization, somewhere else? And if you do that in Savvy, companies that small businesses that are doing this consistently are really good at staying in touch with their program managers on the other side, making sure they're happy. But also, hey, is there anyone we should be talking to? And if you're doing that, they're going to start introducing you to other program offices that could potentially use your product or service. You'd be surprised how often that works. There was a program manager that was par for the course. I expected the company to ask me, and I would gladly give them if I knew that a program could use their particular solution. I'd absolutely set something up. Give them a warm invite and warm intro that was just a little bit on relationships and having conversations and how it can help your pipeline. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them to our website, Dodcontract.com and we'll see you next time.

                         [09:25] Ricky Howard, Lt Col (Ret): Hope you enjoyed this episode of Government Sales Momentum. If you did enjoy the episode, please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. It's very much appreciated. If you're interested in selling products and services to the Department of Defense, I have something for you that you're not going to find anywhere else in the world. The team and I created a program that takes everything you need to win defense contracts and put it into one place. Up until now, only large defense companies and a small amount of people in the know have had access to how products and services are really sold to the Department of Defense. I've taken all of that information and put it in a step-by-step training module that shows you how to consistently sell to the US. Military. If you join our membership, not only do you get the model, but you get weekly sessions with former DOD acquisitions officers for training guidance to answer your questions, and a community of like-minded business owners that want to partner on different opportunities to bid for subcontracting and teaming, or just to discuss general strategy on how to sell to the DOD. You'll have access to every course I've created, every coaching session I've ever recorded, and every interview with an acquisition professional that I've ever conducted. And we covered topics that range from defense sales planning and competitor analysis to SBIR and STTR foreign military sales. The list goes on. Go to Dodcontract.com if you're are interested, and I would love to see you in the membership. Thanks.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can also check out my Interview with Mark Amtower who is a Federal Marketing Strategist where he covers a variety of topics including the history of marketing to the federal government and how to use LinkedIn to connect with your customer.