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Winning government contract within six months of trading |
Many business start-ups and small businesses think it is very difficult to win contracts with government organisations. They give up before they even start trying, possibly because most of their network has no clue about what it takes to sell to government organisations and the public sector at large.
In this very short article, I am going to quickly give you the strategies I used to win my first contract with a public sector organisation. I am going to share with you some of the challenges that I have tackled head-on and if you would like to know more about what it takes to win government contracts, I will sign post you to my free resources where you will learn
more about this.
It takes confidence and understanding of the procurement process to put a bid in the first year of trading with a public sector organisation. When I started my business in 2006, I remembered telling some of my then contacts that I was going to bid for public sector contracts. It was not too long after making this announcement that I was faced with numerous challenges by the very people I thought should support me in accomplishing my goals. Many of them expounded how it was impossible for me to win a public sector contract. Some of the comments that were hauled at me were, you have no track record of trading and no financial accounts to provide to the public sector organisations. The list went on and on. What these individuals did not know at the time was that I have had lots of experience working in the public sector and have had privileged positions that gave me first hand access to the bids that were successful and those that were not. I had also taken the opportunity to attend tendering workshops even before I started my own business and I had asked questions of the experts during these workshops.
I decided I was not going to say much to these “Nay Sayers”; rather I would press on and do what I wanted to do. My then mentor was very supportive although with hindsight I do not think she believed I would win a contract within a very short period of starting my business. The first thing I did was to source opportunities that I knew I had a strong probability of winning using my knowledge about the procurement process. I put in my first application four months into my business and was not shortlisted. I was not discouraged but rather was determined to fail quickly so that I can move on to the next level. I requested feedback on my bid from the local authority I had submitted the bid to. They were kind enough to provide me with a very detailed feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of my bid. By the time I was given the feedback, I had already submitted another bid to Liverpool Council. Strangely enough I was shortlisted by Liverpool City Council and I was invited to an interview. I did not win the contract but again I went back for a feedback knowing that to move forward honest feedback was required.
I always requested a detailed and honest feedback and 80% of the time I succeeded in getting one. Most people shy away from requesting feedbacks and there lies their biggest problem. The feedback I received from Liverpool City Council was similar to what I was told by the first organisation. Both organisations indicated they are concerned about the resource capacity of my business and that I was marked down for this reason. Both opportunities put very high premium on technical capabilities not number of years of trading as well as resource capacity. The opportunity was a set of finance training workshops. Notice, as part of my strategy, I deliberately focus my attention on opportunities that put a high weight on technical expertise not those that are seeking businesses with over three years of trading. In all of this I was not disappointed. I pressed on.
 By month seven, it was time for me to do something about the feedback. I took action and eventually started working with associate consultants and trainers. This helped me overcome the challenge of resource capacity. Then another opportunity came up in December 06, it was time for me to make another strike. I did. And in January 2007 I won my first contract. I went back to the “Nay Sayers” to inform them about my results-they were shocked. I learned from the experience never to rely on what people tell you as the whole truth. Trust your gut instinct and believe in yourself and higher power. The strategies I used to win the contract had been rigorously put together having been tested many times when I used them to win further contracts. Above all, I wanted to make sure that others can use the strategies and win contracts too. So I proceeded to put together my own fast track toolkit for winning contracts. Then I approached one of my consultants who was interested in expanding into the public sector market but had no clear strategies of how to do so.
I took my associate consultant through my system and she followed it to the letter. There were times she wanted to deviate from it but I insisted that she use the system as I have set it out on my toolkit. She did. After being in business in seven years, and with no prior bidding experience, she submitted several bids to the London Development Agencies following my system. She won seven contracts that year. She came back to me very excited.
She offered her testimonial below.
Since then, other business owners have used my system with success. New and existing businesses alike have used my system and all have won contracts. Moreover, they have all given me written and video testimonials which you can read today from my website.
If you are not selling to the public sector you are missing out. If you are selling to the public sector unsuccessfully then you really need to use the Fasttrack Tookit. If you are a budding entrepreneur, you can now assess this knowledge as part of my online business startup school for only $39.99 or £25 per month.
For more information about my free ebook, go to http://www.businessservicessupport.com/tendering_for_public_sector_contracts.php
Sheila Elliott is an expert in business and personal development strategies. She is the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com and http://www.sheilaelliott.com |
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