Government Information to Build the Relationships that Matter

Posted by Administrator on January 22nd, 2008

It’s happened to every government contractor. The perfect contract opportunity arises, but by the time you hear about it, there’s barely enough time to complete the proposal, let alone build the relationships necessary to give the agency an idea of the value your business can provide. The fact is that most contractors are entirely dependent on referrals and repeat business to find work – without an existing relationship, it’s almost impossible to win a contract. Cold calling can help build relationships, but these things take time, and it’s difficult to know which agencies will be offering work in your field in the near future.

Does this sound like a familiar dilemma? If so, you’re not alone in your frustration. Contractors say that when it comes to developing business, the single-biggest challenge is getting project and government contact information early enough to build the relationships that help prospects understand the value of their services.

Nobody wants to waste time and money pursuing projects that they don’t have a chance of winning. Whether you’re looking to expand geographically, focus on a new government market, or just outperform the competition in a tight market, relationships and timing make all the difference. The best way to get in on the ground floor of a project is to get involved in the planning or even pre-planning stage. For that, you’ll need early notification of sales opportunities, and the up-to-the-minute contact information of the people influencing the contract.

Early Notification of Government Sales Opportunities

In government construction projects, some of the most coveted information comes early in the project, such as land use planning details, zoning changes, development type, proposed use, and key players in the project. With this information, you can get a head start and:

Discover projects are in the land use planning stages
Track which competitors and potential partners are showing up on certain types of government projects
Monitor whether building activity is trending up or down, and for which types of projects
Identify business expansion opportunities and growth markets
Forecast demand for your products and services
Evaluate overall market conditions and identify pockets of opportunity
Fill your pipeline with qualified, actionable opportunities in the planning and design phases
Qualify your projects with background government information

Up-to-Date Government Contact Information

The other piece of the puzzle is finding contact information for key players such as planning and zoning officials, project managers, and potential partners. Government contact information is notoriously hard to find, and promotions and turnover can quickly render existing contact data inaccurate. Once you have your hands on up-to-date government contact information, however, you can combine it with historical data to:

Create customized direct-marketing lists and targeted prospect pitches using government contact information details and project histories
Identify and evaluate prospective partners by reviewing past experience and current activity
Connect with the right government contacts before an RFP is issued, specifications are set or teams are formed
Warm up your cold calls and present your company as a solution, not a vendor
Target city planning officials for more information

Finding the Right Government Information to Get in Early

The reason early notification of government sales data and up-to-date government contact information are so coveted is that they are difficult to find. Getting in on the ground floor of a project allows you to influence specifications as well as keeping your company at top of mind for future endeavors, but the time and money it would take to track down this information keeps many companies away. If you want a head start on commercial and residential projects, consider daily alerts, contacts and project details from a business intelligence company. With targeted, hard-to-find information delivered directly to your e-mail inbox, you can spend less time looking for information and more time acting on it.

Start Getting the Information You Need

To learn more about early notification of government contract information, click here to get your free lead report filled with actionable sales leads in your industry.

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