Although I do not have a large number of followers, some of you might have noticed that I have not written anything new for several weeks. This was not by design. I just got tied up with too many deadlines and activities, a phenomenon I have come to call “The Clump Factor”. You may ask […]
Category Archives: Lessons Learned
Customer Access: Factors That Influence Your Communications Strategy (Part 2)
Feb 21
In Part 1, I discussed some the reasons that contractors feel they need access to the Federal Government personnel. In this article, I will describe some of the factors that impact the amount and type of contact you really need. As with most other aspects of business, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. One must look […]
Customer Access: Why Do I Need It? (Part 1)
Feb 14
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After posting my comments on the trend towards a less receptive Federal Audience, I received several responses that wanted to know if I were going to post any suggestions for how to overcome this potential difficulty. I have decided to address this request in a series of four articles. Part 1 examines the reasons contractors think […]
10 Steps to Better Proposals – Part 2 of 2
Jan 19
This is the second part of my 2-part series on some advice to developing better proposals. The first five steps were presented in Part 1. Here are steps 6 through 10: #6: Conduct meaningful reviews. Veterans of proposals are familiar with the multiple “color reviews”, where teams are brought into review the proposal at different […]
10 Steps to Better Proposals – Part 1 of 2
Jan 13
We always seem to be in proposal season. I recall a time when the Federal Government had acquisition cycles and we could plan our proposal resources and budgets. Not only that, but they also gave us enough time to respond – usually 60-90 days. Those days are past and proposals are fast and furious. No […]
5 New Year Resolutions for Federal Contractors
Jan 9
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Yes, I realize that I am a week late with this article. I took some time off during the holidays and it has taken me a week to get back in the groove. My personal resolution for the New Year is to be more active on my blog and to build my business so I […]
Why Federal Contracting is like Shrimping (My Forrest Gump Epihany) – Part 4 of 4
Jan 5
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Sadly, this is the final installment of my series on shrimping and Federal contracting. I have had fun writing this series and do hope that you’ve enjoyed reading it. In this final part I will describe three realities that apply to both shrimping and federal contracting. I know that we would like to believe that […]
Tell Them Three Times – Are you sure?
Nov 22
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All of us have heard the saying: Tell the audience three times: Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; and tell them what you said. I think this is Presentation for Dummies – dummies who make presentations as if they were presenting to dummies. I prefer to treat my audience as if […]
What Happens when Details are Ignored
Nov 14
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This weekend offered me a perfect example to illustrate why ATTENTION TO DETAILS is on of my main themes. As a result of my failure to pay attention to details, I am writing this from my home office instead of on a warm and sunny beach in Florida. Here is what happened. My wife and I were scheduled to […]
Analysis Paralysis
Nov 7
Business development is all about finding business. By nature, being in business involves risk. Yet, so many companies are so risk phobic that they seem unable to make a decision. One of my pet peeves is “analysis paralysis” or the process of analyzing something to death resulting in the inability to make a timely decision and missing out on a significant […]
