January 27, 2012
OPEN Forum Message
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You know your business is the best. However, communicating that to prospective clients can be tricky, whether they’re government agencies, commercial enterprises or retail customers. Handled improperly, billing yourself as the top in your field—and repeating the claim once, twice or more—can easily make your assertion seem empty or make you sound arrogant. No one wants to work with a braggart, even if they are the best of the best.
“In business a lot of people do the oversell, which often leads to the opposite of the desired result,” says Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council.
So how do you blow your own horn? Don’t, says Gerber. Grandiose claims come across as exactly that. Better to devise a multi-pronged strategy that gets the point across for you.
Let other people do the talking. Gerber recommends regularly gathering written or videotaped testimonials from previous clients, which you can include in company literature or on your website. You also want to get clients and customers talking up your company online via Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media outlets. The trick is to shape the content you post so it inspires meaningful, specific comments from people about their experience with your company. For example, you can write a post about a specific product or service to solicit people’s experience with it. Bear in mind that the quality and relevance of the recommendations matters as much as or more than the number you rack up.
Get some press. You can tell prospective clients about what’s new and exciting at your company, but the info will be more meaningful if they read it in the media. When you land a contract, come out with a new product or service or win an award, write up a press release and post it on PR WEB or similar sites. It’s great to see your name in the Wall Street Journal, but you might be better served if your press release is picked up by a specialized publication read by your potential clients. Many trade publications focus on government contracting, including Service Contractor magazine, which is published by the Professional Services Council, a leading trade group for government contractors. Being quoted regularly can help you build a reputation as an expert in your field.
Blog. When you write blog posts, don’t boast—write about issues relevant to your clients: news they may be interested in, challenges they may face, best practices that can help them run their own business more effectively. Doing so can help position you as an expert in your particular field and raise your profile with prospective government clients.
Provide proof. One of the best ways to demonstrate you are the best is to win an award. The Professional Services Council and other groups sponsor annual industry awards for top companies and executives. Some fields, such as advertising, rely on awards to build a reputation. Still, many companies never even enter industry competitions.
You can also demonstrate your firm’s high quality with data from jobs you’ve completed. Rather than brag about what a great job you’ve done for past clients, provide figures on how much money you saved a client or the percentage by which you increased productivity.
Put yourself in your clients’ shoes. Most clients, including government bureaucrats, don’t want to hear about you as much as they want to hear about themselves—specifically, what you can do for them, according to Tammy Camper, principal in the greater Philadelphia-based consulting firm Strategic Transformation Partners. Too often, Camper says, companies are so busy touting themselves that they forget to address the client’s concerns. So put the bragging aside: A little homework can help you tell prospective clients how you can meet their specific needs, whether that means helping keep soldiers safe or distributing textbooks to schools. Without one boast, you’ll show you’re the best.
Check your balance, review recent transactions and pay your bill on the go.
Logistic Specialties 4 months ago
Marketing your products to the government requires a combination of innovation, investment, education and strategic policy. Excelling at government contracting requires attention to industry needs, forecasting and attention to developing customer relationships. Because of the rules associated with selling to the government your business development professionals need to be aware of all the rules and regulations. Many of the items above are not relevant to selling to the government. Government representatives will review your products and/or services based on your response to their solicitation. You first need to build a strategy, prepare a capture plan, and respond to the requirements. Responding to a government requirement is a very lengthy and detailed process. The earlier you are aware of a program that will be up to bid the better you can prepare your own products to respond. Teaming with other companies is often a great way to augment your internal resources. More at: www.lsiwins.com