| FORTUNE Small Business: | |
Cracking the federal procurement market
Ask FSB's experts help a software company put together a plan for expanding into government sales.
(FORTUNE Small Business) -- Dear FSB: I own an SaaS (software as a service) company that provides workforce management and scheduling solutions. We currently sell primarily to the private sector, but we would like to expand our offerings to government and defense customers. Can you offer any insight into the best practices for penetrating this market?
- Rachel Lyubovitzky, Bridgewater, N.J.
Dear Rachel: Before you start crafting proposals for government projects, take note: As a female business owner, you've already got an edge in the public sphere.
"Every agency at every government level has a quota they have to fill for woman- and minority-owned businesses," says Mary Scott Nabers, CEO of Strategic Partnerships, a procurement consulting firm in Austin. "Once you've decided which level of government you want to target - federal, state, or city - contact the division that works with minority-owned businesses."
According to Nabers, these agencies can help you network, gain visibility, and position yourself to apply for public projects.
What do you do when you're ready to market your business to the feds? Irv Alpert, the Executive Vice President at Onvia, a Seattle business that creates software for finding government contracts, advises you to check out your competition.
"The simplest thing you can do is look at how other successful businesses went to market - find the patterns of who's winning projects, and if you can, order copies their proposals," he says. Database products such as Onvia's software can help you track down past and future bids.
Alpert also suggests that you find a team member who has experience in selling to the government, or hire one to help you write your proposal. Nabers agrees, and advises you to look into federally funded mentoring programs for small businesses, which link companies like yours with large prime contractors. 
Are women still 'disadvantaged'?
Where to find funding to expand
Finding new customers for a carpentry biz
-
Anne Giapapas has a job in one of the 15 most overworked and underpaid professions. More -
These 5 businesses are offering their services -- from shoes to hair cuts -- to the unemployed. More -
These rising stars, like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, have great jobs to fill. Here's what they're looking for. More -
They graduated into the worst economy in decades. Here's how 11 grads are getting by. More -
Executives like News Corp. chairman James Murdoch raked it in. Where the other 19 rank. More -
These 5 cities have the fastest-growing foreclosure rates. And they're not the usual suspects. More
