Key questions for a federal government market strategy.

In this article in the Professional Services Management Journal (PSMJ), Dave Alexander provides advice on developing a federal government market strategy.

There are five core questions that every federal government market strategy should address. Firms that fail to penetrate the federal market typically neglect to address one or more of these questions, and firms that succeed almost always address all of them.

• What types of contract vehicles should your firm pursue? This is different than deciding which types of services you want to sell. It requires you to think about the different ways in which different federal customers think about the buying process, and the different ways that they pick winning proposals.

• How will your firm select niches? Firms that succeed in the federal market do so in individual niches of the market. A successful firm will develop detailed knowledge of each niche in which they operate, where each increment of knowledge leads to more competitive advantage in that niche.

• How will you position your firm as a “safe buy?” An effective strategy has to address how your firm will convince evaluation panels that your firm represents a low-risk choice.

• How will you initiate and nurture key relationships? Firms that are successful in the federal market almost always have strong relationships—with other firms, and with current and
  potential future federal clients. Any strategy for entering the federal market has to address how your firm will achieve this goal, and the types and sizes of investments you will make to ensure this success.

• What types of metrics will you measure? Strategies for entering the federal market should explicitly focus on how management will measure progress in each of the areas noted above.

This article describes why, in the author’s opinion, these questions are vitally important to answer when you develop a federal government market strategy; and provides advice on how to formulate answers that make sense for your firm.