Government agencies continue to operate mostly at FY’15 dollar levels under the Continuing Resolution passed by Congress last week.  That means any agency scheduled for an increase in the President’s budget hasn’t yet gotten one and that no new starts are allowed unless Read more

Just because the annual federal selling frenzy has come to an end doesn’t mean there aren’t things for contractors to do.  Here are three things that you should do this month and next to ensure continued federal success.

1. Take A Class or Seminar:  October and November are prime training months for contractors.  Whether you need to know who will have money in FY’16, how to make sure you stay on the right side of contract compliance, or renew your network of contacts, this is the best time of year to do it.

2.  Show Your New Stuff:  Look at the first quarter of the fiscal year as the time to roll out your new 2016 solutions line-up.  Now is the time when your customers are looking at the important new products and services they will buy later on in the year.  Make sure your “auto show” is ready to hit the road.

3.  Rest:  You’ve charged hard through Q4 and burned plenty of midnight oil.  Don’t burn out.  Give yourself a break so that your company can rely on you to cue it up all again later this year.

Think about how often you get a random e-mail from a service provider who is positive he or she can help your business.  You get multiple messages a week like this if you’re like Allen Federal.  They’re usually off the mark by a mile and you know that the person sending it likely wasted time and money putting the whole campaign together.  Before everyone shakes their head in knowing agreement, though, ask yourself, “Does anyone say the same thing about my business?”  How thoroughly does your company research a business prospect?  Do you know their priorities and pain points, or do you move out with a “one size fits all” approach to federal marketing?  Federal agency operations and missions are as varied as the pockmarks on Mars.  Your business just looks plain goofy if it doesn’t take the time to do a little homework.  Make sure you focus your federal efforts and take the time to understand a potential customer.  Don’t have any fed asking “I wonder what they possibly thought they could do for me?”.

Successful government business requires both knowledge of process and good relationships.  Where and how, though, do you form those relationships?  It’s not like there’s a successful “Match.com” for contractors.  Relationship building in this arena must be done the old fashioned way, one step at a time.  Allen Federal has developed a specialized class designed to show your company where and how to meet potential federal business partners, as well as people inside government.  Our half-day training session is built on our 26 years of experience in working with successful contractors.  We can be specialize the training to your firm, too.  Don’t be a wallflower at the federal contracting dance!  Let Allen Federal show you how to find, maintain, and leverage federal business relationships!  Contact us today at info@allenfederal.com for more information.