There's No Magic to Doing Business
with the Government!

Have you heard of the SBA partner resources such as SBDCs and SCORE that are out there specifically to help us small business owners (free of charge) learn how to do just those things like sell to the government that will help our businesses grow?

If you're wondering how to go about selling to the government, start with the SBDC in your area. There's a Small Business Development Center attached to a local community college in most communities around the nation and each of them are staffed with professionals paid to help the small business community.

As a special advisor to SBA agencies in my region of northern New Jersey, I get an insider's view of help that the government can and does offer to assist entrepreneurs.

Get help selling to the goverment ‚ from the government!

And guess what?

The information these agencies offer is free, or so very low-cost that it seems free. All across the country, expos take place where government buyers sit at booths all day just for the purpose of meeting business owners like yourselves ‚ simply because they wish to do business with small companies like yours.

Consultants of local SBDCs, SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and BIC (Business Information Centers, typically housed inside larger SBA offices) can and will help you begin to understand the process of doing business with the government.

These agencies are all federally run, but they receive and share with their clients, information about state events as well. And you know what? As government agencies themselves, they are uniquely positioned to give excellent and accurate advice on "How to Do Business" with the government.

Also check with your state offices to find out what special programs they may offer to small businesses. If you can't identify which office handles this type of request, don't hesitate to reach out to you your local State Assemblyman. Local politicians such as assemblymen and state senators have staff to handle constituent queries of all types and are delighted when they receive questions to answers that are easy to get and make a concerned constituent go away with a smile on his face and a kind word to say about the service he received, which may help him raise votes in the next election.

Opportunities with local and pseudo-government agencies

Don't stop at the state level! Counties and municipalities buy goods and services. Pseudo government agencies ‚ such as the Port Authority of NY/NJ ‚ which get the bulk of their funding from the government, are essentially government buyers as well.

You begin to see that there is no magic in selling to the government. It's a process of defining a market, conforming to the needs of that market (if you can) and identifying the buyers in that market who are able and willing to hire you. After that, you face the questions of whether you can afford the (mostly time) expense of pumping out bids and whether you have the cash flow to wait 60 days to 6 months to get paid for your work.

What so many businessmen fail to see when beginning to evaluate the prospect of doing business with the government, is that our government is so huge and buys so much, through so many departments, agencies and offices that there is no "one" way to do business with "IT" !

Do your homework, make some friends

You need to understand what you're selling, who in the government buys it, when they buy it, what quantities they buy it in and what requirements are going to be stipulated of successful bidders (e.g., bonding, delivery terms, packaging).

I encourage you to also pay attention to who authorizes the purchase of your product or service and not only what agency buys it, because ultimately you will be dealing with buyers who can help or hinder your bid, and these same people are likely to be involved in signing off on the paperwork which gets you paid. The buyers themselves may be equally as important as the agencies each of them represents.

If you spend a couple of days researching the topic, you'll find where to obtain lists of current and upcoming bids. Start casting your net and within a couple of months you'll have learned about ‚ and maybe even attended ‚ an expo or two where you can meet government buyers face to face.

Get Certified!

But it's going to take more than these steps to "do business with the government" if you're a small business owner. Plenty of companies larger than yours can easily underbid you. To level the playing ground, special programs were created that may give small businesses preferential status when submitting certain bids and you will want to take advantage of these programs.

First, you need to find out which are the preferred designations you may be eligible for and then submit your business to the process of qualifying for them, which is largely referred to as, "certification."

For next time

I'll give you some information about the certification process.

Until then, nighty-night, children!

. . . oh yeah, almost forgot the advertising pitch.

If you need to hire a consultant to help you sell your products or services to the government, we are happy to be of service. Just drop us a line, or call.

‚‚ Kimi