Small Business Success Tips

In today's 'live' training session, GovCon president Neil McDonnell answers a top question from small businesses responsible for government contracting sales. "How can I find AND meet decision makers at agencies?" Today, he will lists 8 strategic ways to find Decision Makers​ and 8 strategic ways to Meet Decision Makers​Learn how to • Clearly articulate the type of people you want to meet and at which agencies• Understand the different approaches for finding key buyer stakeholders versus the key decision makers________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House. Watch the LinkedIn live episode: https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6941838956476973056/Download free business development POC directories: https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal S

In today's LinkedIn 'live' training, GovCon president Neil McDonnell revisits his most popular topics – federal sales, cold calling and building relationships for successful government contracting. Are you taking the silence personally? Are you self-sabotaging? Good training and personal development can offer you a paradigm shift. Start by trying to understand the 'Mindset' of the person you're calling. What you perceive may not be the whole picture.Today Neil walks through the federal sales process and mindset to help you engage with others.• What is the process flow for contacting federal buyers? Neil identifies the specific steps• What is the proper #business etiquette for leaving voicemails and sending cold emails?• How often should you follow up with someone who isn't returning your call?• How can you follow up without feeling like a nag, annoyance, etc.?________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported governme

Selling to a federal agency requires a different understanding compared to selling to a large prime contractor. Basically, they evaluate on different criteria so you have to adapt. In this 'live' training session, GovCon Chamber of Commerce president Neil McDonnell shows how to prepare for #sales meetings depending on who you are talking with. Who are the stakeholders? 1. Small Business Teaming partners, Large Business Teaming partners and Federal agencies. The main small business stakeholders include Owners and Business Development / Capture person 2. Large Business Teaming stakeholders include: Senior Business Developers (often retired military); Capture Lead (focused on single opportunity, Proposal Managers and the Contract Vehicle program managers. 3. Federal Agency Customer: Acquisition-related people (ie Contract Officers "how they are buying"); Program Managers ("what they are buying", the scope of the opportunity)Watch the video on YouTube for complete notes: https://yo

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell walks you through a few 5-Minute Tasks on LinkedIn to Improve Government ContractingWatch the video on YouTube to see the visuals: https://youtu.be/3NsSwmC2ZQEDiscover more: https://www.govconchamber.comDownload free business development POC directories: https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell discusses the decision process about whether you should be selling to Federal Agencies Free Download: • https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell shares the best Time Management strategies for highly successful business development and sales in federal contracting. Applying Stephen Covey's famous quadrant system to government contracting, Neil details the 4 primary quadrants of federal sales tasks and the activities that generate the best results.Free Download: • https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell teaches you how to review a 150 page federal agency deck to find information that will help you perform Business Development and Capture tasks. Learn the process of "shredding" an industry deck to finding gems of information, whether you sell to the US Navy or another agency.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-navy-overview-govcon-chamber/Discover more here: https://www.govconchamber.com/navyDownload free business development POC directories: https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Of

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell introduces you to the world of selling to the US Army. Learn everything your small business needs to know to start your business development process with the US Army, including:• Buying Commands / Major Commands• Opportunity Forecasts• Small Business Specialists• Strategic PlansDiscover more here: https://www.govconchamber.com/armyDownload free business development POC directories: https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell takes you inside the world of selling to the US Air Force and shows you how to learn everything you need about:• Buying Commands / Major Commands• Opportunity Forecasts• Small Business Specialists• Strategic PlansDiscover more US Air Force lessons here: https://www.govconchamber.com/airforceDownload free business development POC directories: https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

There are somewhere between 100 and 300 federal agencies who depend on small businesses to meet their missions. How do you decide which agencies to invest your Business Development and Capture time?In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell talks about how to decide which agency is a good fit for your business.Discover more here: https://www.govconchamber.com/homeworkDownload free business development POC directories: https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell takes you inside the world of selling to the Navy and shows you how to find everything you need to know about:• Navy Buying Commands / Major Commands• Opportunity Forecasts• Small Business Specialists• Strategic PlansSmall businesses selling to the federal government are often told to do our "homework" before contacting federal agencies. The GovCon Chamber has done much of that research for you already. Discover more here: https://www.govconchamber.com/homework Download free business development POC directories: https://www.govconchamber.com/sbdirectoryThe FREE Directory of Federal Small Business Specialists offers direct contact info over 1,000 names, emails and phone numbers at 100+ federal agencies; PLUS 100+ large prime "Small Business Liaison Officers" (SBLOs)________Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy,

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell talks about all the places a small business can register in order to 'be found' by federal contracting buyers during their market research activities. If you are not where federal buyers or large primes look for small businesses, then how can you expect them to find you? Today Neil introduces Supplier Portals, inhouse registries used by large businesses to track small businesses. These function similarly to SAM/DSBS but are compiled for that company alone. Large prime portals are used by internal buyers (capture managers) and program managers when trying to find qualified small businesses to work with.Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

LinkedIn is the only social media platform used by salespeople in the federal market. In today's #LinkedInLive episode, GovCon Chamber founder Neil McDonnell explains how to apply its value to your business development and capture efforts. Today's 3 tips focus on your photo​, name and headline.Active on LinkedIn since October 2007, Neil grew his small business network in the federal space primarily using LinkedIn for sales and recruiting. Now with over 17,000 followers, he consistently get thousands of views each time he post content of value.Neil brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

In this LinkedIn live episode, GovCon Chamber founder Neil McDonnell explains how to reach a specific program office in a specific federal government agency and how to find the contact information of the federal buyer in your field. During your business development phase, it is critical that you are talking to the right people who can make decisions or make connections for you. VIsit the GovCon Chamber for your free copy of the 2022 Small Business Specialist Directory with over 1,000 direct points of contactNeil brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell discusses whether your small business should pursue prime contracts or subcontracts. It's important to understand which path will lead to the quickest and most predictable success for your company - which will lead to revenue.Sales in the federal market has proven, predictable paths for success such as prime contracts with agencies, subcontracts with large prime contractor, and subcontracts with small prime contractors.Neil brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

Do you suffer from FOMO? the fear missing out on opportunities if you niche down to one particular core competency? In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber founder @Neil McDonnell walks us past our "Fear of Missing Out" (FOMO) on federal contracts.Neil brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.

GovCon Chamber founder Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.In this LinkedIn live, Neil through the path toward how to get an an existing contract vehicle to grow your federal revenue

GovCon Chamber founder Neil McDonnell brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.In this LinkedIn live, Neil walks through 5 common actions that aren't getting you the desired return on your investment. 1. Calling agencies and large primes​2. Focusing on your competition​3. Events (conferences, expos, matchmaking)​4. Category Management and Best in Class​5. Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)​

In today's LinkedIn live, GovCon Chamber founder Neil McDonnell explains how and why to pursue a "very good" or 'exceptional' CPARS rating, rather than leaving this to chance. Too often small businesses only think about CPARS ratings when a contract year is ending or when the COR/KO sends something to fill out.Neil brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.PLAN IN ADVANCE: 1. Train your team (and the government) about CPARS​2. Clarify the criteria​ for “satisfactory”3. Discuss ways to achieve “very good” and “exceptional”​ ratings4. Document all the commendations agencies give about your performance​5. Document any problemsABOUT CPARS | https://www.cpars.gov/CPARS is the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting SystemPerformance evaluations contain both government and contractor comments

In today's LinkedIn live, Neil McDonnell explains what happens when you extend your contracting in too many directions. There are three basic markets for B2B (commercial, federal and State, Local, and Education market (SLED) ) What happens when you have customers in the Commercial Market at the same time as you're in the Federal Market? Too many small businesses – especially 8(a) small businesses at the time of their graduation – frequently chase business opportunities randomly rathering than methodically. Today Neil looks at this from a Sales Strategy and explains the strengths and weaknesses of these markets for different size businesses in order to grow and scale your business revenue. In addition to being GovCon Chamber founder, Neil brings 20+ years of government contracting experience. As a small business owner, he has personally won and supported government contracts for the US Army, Navy, Air Force, HHS,VA, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Executive Office of the White House.