Tag: Advice for Small Businesses

Miguel Sanchez: Embracing Inexperience and Taking One Step at a Time

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Get inspiration on how Miguez Sanchez embraced inexperience, but still took one step at a time towards his success in the govcon marketplace!

BACKGROUND

Miguel Sanchez is a military veteran from the U.S. Marine Corps Infantry Division in Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. 

After fighting for the country, he then started going to night college in 2013 while working for a company. 

Meanwhile, his internship at a company in Wall Street introduced him to the govcon marketplace. He then pursued different industries until he decided to follow the consulting route in the IT space. 

“It wasn’t a matter of quitting. To me, it was a matter of pivoting.”

Currently, he is the Key Principal at SGC GROUP, a company he established to provide consulting and business development services to government contracting clients. 

LEARNING ABOUT GOVCON

Sanchez first learned about state and local government contracting when he’s doing an internship at a service-disabled veteran-owned investment bank at Wall Street. 

As the business development person, he traveled and did business with different Fortune 500 companies while also doing state and local contracts. 

However, Sanchez also knows that ownership is extremely important and he wanted his future to align, so he decided to learn about govcon— from having an SDVOSB certification to joining GovCon Giants. 

LOOKING FOR CLIENTS AND WINNING CONTRACTS

In looking for a client to provide his consulting expertise, Sanchez started looking within the areas nearest to the DC area.

Then, to fully specify the companies he wanted to do business with, he looked for clients that have some kind of leverage among others, including having certifications.

After his research, he found a handful of companies and started picking up the phone. His plan was to call at least 25 companies a day. Sanchez didn’t even get to 10 when he got his first client. 

The first opportunity that they looked after was a market research that the client already responded to. He just made a simple follow-up and after almost a year talking to the government buyer, they were awarded the IT contract worth 800 grand. 

“The conversation went on for almost a year of just talking to the client. That’s another thing. You have to understand the arena that you’re playing in. You know, with the governing space, it’s not like short and sweet. It’s not from one day to another.”

Although in the IT space that contract seems small, Sanchez understood that it’s a good starting point with him and his client. 

He was thankful when he found that they won and currently, he decided to go full time with the client, with the promise to also continue to be part of GovCon Giants. 

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Know what you need to say. 

Before calling his prospects, Sanchez prepared himself first. He made a little script that highlights the things he needed to say. 

He even researched about the buyers that may buy the services that the prospects have and the opportunities that the prospect might like. 

“Sometimes, you get one shot, you know. These people are getting voicemails and calls left and right every single day, so if they give you a minute of their time, you better know what you, you know, you’re gonna say.” 

Be reactive and proactive. 

Be prepared for everything. Consider that, in this govcon marketplace, opportunities may come knocking, but that only happens when you do the work. 

“I think that it’s important for people to understand that in this business, you need to be reactive, right, but you also need to be proactive. You need to be both, right?”

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about how Miguez Sanchez embraced inexperience, but still took one step at a time towards his success in the govcon marketplace, then be sure to click the resources below.

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

Learning and Overcoming Setbacks – Miguel and Maria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2OR6VTZRic

MasterMind Monday: Top 5 Lead Sources for Federal Contracting in 2021

Posted on by Eric Coffie

What is a lead and how do these people will lead you to your govcon success? Let’s find that out through this new blog with Top 5 Lead Sources for Federal Contracting Judy Bradt! 

WHAT IS A LEAD?

Someone who has already paid you money is 12 times more likely to do that again than somebody who’s never heard of you.

That someone is a lead and your best leads are the people who already know you, like you, trust you, and have paid you money. These are the people who pay you on time and come back for more. 

“The first lead source you can tap are the people who are your current clients.”

Then, by identifying these people, you can do follow-up conversations. Just manage to get really up close and personal.

But who are these leads and how to deal with them? Read the next part for more. 

5 LEAD SOURCES FOR FEDERAL CONTRACTING

1. Clients 

Your current clients are a great source of business leads because you already know them and you know what they like.

What you need to do is to continue building that relationship. What does win look like to them? What is something that they care about?

“The 20% of your clients represent the 80% of your referral and return business.”

2. Contacts

These are people that may have not bought something from you, people whose information is on one of the other sources of your contract data, or people whom you met at an event but never fully connected with.

What you need to do is to continue nurturing your relationships with these people.

You may lose a lot of the time doing this, but this is a must as you just don’t know what your network can yield. 

3. Contract Notices or Data

Your third leads are past contract data, agency forecasts, and current notices about things that are coming up for bid.You can extract these information in some govcon database such as beta.sam.gov and start there. 

Still, instead of just looking at all of these and going, “What can I bid?” start asking, “Who’s my buyer? Who’s my federal human? What else can I find out about that person and the people at the other four layers around them?”  

4. Federal Employee Directories

Each agency has their own employee directories that you can use to start building relationships with.

However, make sure that you are targeting the specific people that are doing the buying process and not just connecting to all of the people in that directory. 

“You don’t want to start an employee directory and go fishing. You want to go hunting. You want to be very specific about who you’re tracking down and why.”

5. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a tremendously valuable place to look and build relationships with federal employees. 

Considering that there are over two million federal employees on the platform, this is an opportunity that you should take advantage. 

What you need to do is look for the specific people within the agency that you want to do business with. Connect with them and communicate with them, thereafter. 

“The LinkedIn profile can help round out the picture of who this person is as a human being and give you some other ways to ask some other questions to build a relationship with them or help them and get them to help you with your detective work.”

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

1. Make it easier for your customers.

Your customers don’t wake up and say that they’re going to give you contracts. However, you can encourage them to do that. 

Assess these two statements: one is “Oh, let me introduce you to Sarah and Joe,” and the other is  “Oh, I know some people. You should call Sarah and Joe.” 

There’s a huge difference between the two. And the latter is not just telling them to do something, you’re encouraging them. 

2. Don’t just use a cold request.

When you’re communicating with someone through LinkedIn or emails, make sure that you research more about them beforehand and don’t be too spammy.

Your lead sources can easily see if your message is just a cold request. So, instead of making them feel that way, write something meaningful for them. 

“For goodness sake, look up their LinkedIn profile, look up what’s up with their company or their organization because if you don’t have time to learn about your government buyer, they sure as heck do not have time to learn about you.”

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more on what is a lead and how these people will lead you to your govcon success, then check our full Mastermind Monday video with Judy Bradt. 

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

Top 5 Lead Sources for Federal Contracting in 2021 – Eric Coffie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz5wfEEUd-8

MasterMind Monday: What could hold you back as an entrepreneur?

Posted on by Eric Coffie

What holds you back as an entrepreneur? Let’s find that out through this Mastermind Monday with our guest Emily Harman!

BE SELF-AWARE

As business owners, we all do a lot of things, but you should also take a break for some time. Don’t just push, push, and push. You should also realize the things that you need to do to strengthen your self-awareness. 

Consider that the best leaders are self-aware. They understand themselves and they assess the things that hold them back. And with that, they know what are the things needed for the growth of their business, as well as themselves. 

“I’ve spent the past almost two years… becoming a lot more self-aware, and understanding myself. And, you know, we’re always growing, we’re always expanding, we’re always evolving into a new version of ourselves.”

POSITIVE INTELLIGENCE AND YOU2

Positive Intelligence is a book and a coaching program that makes an assessment of what your top 10 saboteurs are. 

If you visit the website, it will tell you about your saboteurs and identify which you are stronger and weaker at. 

For instance, in Emily Harman’s case, she is an achiever, people pleaser, and restless. 

Knowing this is pretty important because by knowing your saboteurs, you can make changes on how you do things. Your hyper achiever self might push you to do more work, but what you really need is rest.

Besides, this can also be helpful in a team setting because by knowing what yours and others saboteurs are, you can make necessary changes on how you can deal with each other. 

Meanwhile, another book that you should also read is called You2 by Price Pritchett.

In this book, the author talks about watching a fly that is trying harder and harder to fly through the window, when really a few flaps of the wing down, the door is open.

That example can relate to how you run your company. You might have not accepted a handful of business partnerships thinking that they will just take advantage of you, when in fact they just want to help you grow. 

So, if you want to reassess how you do your business, read the resources above as these really answer the question, “Are you really seeing the other way to do it or are you just acting on your limiting beliefs?” 

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

1. Know your ‘why.’

Knowing yourself and your ‘why’ is important, especially in this lucrative but challenging marketplace of government contracting. 

Are you just here to get rich quick or are you building generational wealth? 

If you’re thinking of the former, then it’s going to be very hard for you to lead a company in the long haul. However, if you think of the latter, then you can adjust your mindset and strategy to really achieve your goals. 

“Knowing yourself, and knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and knowing what your mind is telling you, and being aware of whether or not you’re listening to your mind is all really important stuff.”

2. Be with people who point out the truth.

Be with people who won’t just say ‘yes’ to everything you do and ask. These people should be able to point out the truth and the things that you did wrong. 

This is pretty important because you’re building a business. You don’t need people who always say yes. Rather, you need people who will tell you things that could have been done better. 

This way, you know what not to do next and what you should focus on. 

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about what is holding you back as an entrepreneur, then check our full Mastermind Monday video with Emily Harman.

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

What could hold you back as an entrepreneur?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DcxuHQF6Gg

Top 10 Industry NAICS codes in 2019

Posted on by Eric Coffie

If you’re a small business owner and you’re wondering why you don’t see federal opportunities for your company, maybe we can help.

Opportunities, oftentimes, don’t come to you, it’s you who finds them. When searching for opportunities, you need to use specific criteria to filter your search, this is where the NAICS codes come in.

Do you know yours? Many businesses use NAICS codes to find upstream suppliers and downstream markets. Government agencies even post-contract bids and offer tax incentives within a given NAICS code.

Before you go out there and start finding business opportunities, get to know first the federal market and the industries that have been successful in winning contracts. If they can do it, you can too!

With this in mind, here’s the Top 10 Industry NAICS codes that prospered in 2019.

1. 336411 

This industry code is on top of the list with a cumulative government spending of almost $50 billion in 2019. This comprises establishments involving aircraft manufacturing. 

They are those who manufacture or assemble complete aircraft. They also develop aircraft prototypes and do aircraft conversions, such as major modifications to systems and complete aircraft overhaul and rebuilding.

2. 541330

Coming in at second place, establishments in this industry provide engineering services. They apply physical laws and principles of engineering in the design, development, and utilization of their machines and systems. 

Businesses under this code may offer the provision of advice, preparation of feasibility studies, and preparation of preliminary and final plans and designs. 

3. 561210 

Services offered by this industry are often overlooked but are necessary for us to function. They are the establishments that offer facilities support services. These businesses provide operating staff to carry out a combination of support activities; but are not involved with or responsible for the core business or activities of the client. 

The mentioned combination of services include janitorial, maintenance, trash disposal, guard and security, mail routing, reception, laundry, and related services to support operations within facilities. 

4. 541512 

This code is for businesses offering computer system design services engaged in planning and designing computer systems that integrate computer hardware, software, and communication technologies. In 2019, this industry is worth about $24 billion in the federal market. 

5. 336611 

At the top five, we have the ship building and repairing industry. They are the people who operate a shipyard, which are fixed facilities with drydocks and fabrication equipment for building ships.

Activities of shipyards include the construction of ships, their repair, conversion, and alteration, the production of prefabricated ship and barge sections, and specialized services, such as ship scaling.

6. 236220 

Under this code are people responsible for the construction of commercial and institutional buildings and related structures, such as stadiums, grain elevators, and indoor swimming facilities. 

General contractors, commercial and institutional building for-sale builders, commercial and institutional building design-build firms, and commercial and institutional building project construction management firms are included in this industry.

7. 541715 

This is for establishments that involve research and experimental development (except nanotechnology and biotechnology research and experimental development) in physical, engineering, and life sciences.

Businesses under this code conduct research and experimental developments in the field of science and mathematics, all essential for economic growth, which is probably why the government invested around $20 billion in this industry.  

8. 541712 

Similar to NAICS code 541715, this code is also for establishments in the research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences engineering and life sciences (except Biotechnology) industry. This code covers a wide spectrum of fields, from biology to chemistry to veterinary.

Note: The NAICS Code 541712, however, is no longer valid. The NAICS Code that should be used instead is 541715. Unless the requirement is dealing with nanotechnology, in that case, code 541713 should be used. 

9. 336414 

This code is for the guided missile and space industry, which manufactures complete guided missiles and space vehicles and/or develops and makes prototypes of guided missiles or space vehicles. 

Although it is second to the last, the government spending on this industry is worth about $19 billion, which is still a huge amount.  

10. 541519 

Last but not the least, with a cumulative government spending of almost $17 billion, we have the industry that provides other computer related services. 

The services offered are all computer related services except those that were provided for by NAICS code 541512 (computer systems designs services).  

RESOURCES

The ranking from this article was taken from usaspending.gov, wherein Industry NAICS codes in 2019 were ranked from highest to lowest, according to the cumulative amount obligated by the government to each respective industry.

To learn more about all things NAICS, you can check out the website here.

Lourdes Martin-Rosa: Women-Owned Small Business Advocate

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Featured on over 700 media outlets advocating for women-owned small businesses, Lourdes Martin-Rosa shares her experience leading to that success and her advice for small businesses. 

BACKGROUND

Lourdes Martin-Rosa established her company Government Business Solutions in 2003 with the goal of providing innovative and solutions-driven consulting services and training to thousands of small businesses in terms of dealing with the government marketplace. 

While managing her business, she had also served as part of the White House Small Business Taskforce, spearheaded the development of the American Express OPEN for Government Contracting & Grow Global programs, served as a WIPP’s National Partner, and partnered with The LEAD Program, Inc. in 2017.

Through her advocacy, she received an Award of Excellence from The White House Senior Advisor in 2016 and was featured in over 790 media publications including the New York Times, MSNBC, CNN Money, the Washington Post.

THREE WEBSITES THAT YOU SHOULD USE

1. Agency’s Website

The first thing that you need to look at is the procurement forecast of your target agency. Different agencies have their different procurement forecasts; this is why you can only look for this information in that agency’s website. 

The SBA has mandated that procurement forecasts should be posted by October of the following fiscal year. This includes when they are going to purchase it and or if they need businesses within a socio-economic category. They also include some of the contact information in this forecast list including the email address and the phone number of the contracting officer. 

“So the procurement forecast, basically, every agency has one and it lets you know what they’re going to be purchasing.”

2. GSA

You will then visit the General Services Administration’s website to create your pipeline and capture plan. 

Because this website acts as a marketplace for vendors and government agencies, this website contains thousands of firms of different industry and socio-economic categories. With this, you can have a look at their products and services and their pricing models. 

However, Lourdes do not encourage small businesses to become GSA schedule holders to get this pricing catalog from the website because you can get this information directly without having to follow the GSA’s approval process for vendors. 

3. SAM

Lastly, you should visit the System for Awards Management’s database to look for contracting opportunities. 

The SAM website is where you first registered your business in the federal marketplace. This is also where you can get various contracting opportunities after the FBO has been moved to SAM. 

 

Due to this, you can basically do an advanced search on various contracting opportunities as well as receive automatic bid notification when an opportunity in your particular NAICS code or product service code is open. 

Now in getting updates, only focus on your industry because there are hundreds and thousands of opportunities on the SAM database daily. 

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Lourdes Martin-Rosa encourages small businesses to go to networking events and talk to the decision makers and other small businesses.

“Just tell them what you do and how you could help them to fill on their mission and goals.”

In doing this, you have to study the agency’s or that person’s background first so that you can strongly build a relationship with these people. 

Then, when you also need to talk to someone within your target agency to educate you about what that agency’s needs, Lourdes recommend communicating with small business specialists. 

“Those all business specialists are advocates. All they do all day long is trying to find small businesses to fulfill on the agency’s contracts, mission and goals. These are the people you want to talk to.”

Also, if you find an opportunity that you cannot do alone, you can team up with other small businesses within your industry. 

“We don’t have all of the resources and we shouldn’t try to be an IBM or Lockheed Martin. What we need to do is learn to team with each other, learn to value each other’s resources and what, and then fulfill that agency’s mission as a team. And that’s the powerhouse of small business.”

But in doing this, you should also choose the right team partner that has the same values and goals as yours. You can work with your past business partners or you can get recommendations from small business specialists and contracting officials. 

Still, in doing the latter, you should make sure that your prospective partner has a good background by looking at their website or visiting USAspending wherein you just search for the firm’s name and all their past performance will appear. 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Lourdes Martin-Rosa as she shares her advice for small businesses as well as her experience leading to her advocacy, then be sure to click the link down below.

033: Lourdes Martin-Rosa – Spearheading the American Express Open, White House Small Business Taskforce and more

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/lourdes-martin-rosa-spearheading-the-american-express-open-white-house-small-business-taskforce-and-more/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYp1Q_-qQ4&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=30