Expanding your Small Business into All Levels of Government Work

Posted by Administrator on August 21st, 2006

Small businesses bidding on government contracts for an added source of sales revenue are on the right track. Government contracting has many benefits for small businesses, including set-aside preferences and excellent pay. Many small businesses may be intimidated by the idea of expanding the scope of their government contract work beyond local government contracts. However, there are many reasons why you should build more government relationships and bid on government contracts at the state and federal, as well as local, levels.

Why Expand to State and Federal Government Contracts?

You should consider expanding from local government contracting to all levels of government contracts because it will help your company to:

Grow your revenue and reach higher sales goals. When you bid on government contracts at all levels, you are increasing your client base. If you have a greater number of government sales leads, you will most likely increase your government contract revenue as well.
Gain more work credibility and experience. Prospective clients want to know that your company has the experience it takes to get the contracting job done or deliver the products they need. You can use your experiences to build rapport with government agencies, helping you to grow your client base.
Better serve your clients with an expanded geography. By showing that your company has flexibility in range of services, extended service locations, etc., it demonstrates your company’s awareness of client needs. It shows your willingness to go the extra mile (both literally and figuratively) beyond basic requirements; this can even work to put you in favor over the competition.

How to Start Expanding your Small Business

If you’re a small company bidding exclusively on local government contracts, you’re limiting your business. When you expand into the federal and state arenas, agencies become aware of what your business has to offer. So if your company is ready to bid on government contracts on the federal, state and local levels, the next thing you should do is start building government relationships.

To start, you will need to locate your government contacts. You’ll need to get to know as many government decision makers, buyers and government personnel as possible and target the contacts that will work in your favor. This is important because the further you network, the better your chances of influencing government contract awards. Finding your government contact information can be tedious and it is often hard to find up-to-date information. To save you time and get a jump on your marketing campaign, you may want to consider looking into a government information company with a government contact database that you can tap into. You’ll need government contact names, titles, phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses. With this information, you will want to conduct direct mail, email and phone marketing to ensure you’re maximizing your marketing efforts. Be sure to plan out your government marketing, and pinpoint exactly when and how you are communicating with your clients. To assist you with this, consider building a marketing calendar and label your marketing according to: