When marketing and selling our goods and services, we all know we should be targeting. If you’ve been a Community member for a while, you’ve likely heard me talk about the value of targeting a lot.
The challenge isn’t knowing that we have to target, or even knowing how to target (watch this video for some insight (https://skywayacq.com/training/tfco-targetorforgetit/). The challenge is knowing when we have targeted enough. How do we know that we have fine-tuned our plan deeply enough that we are not still wasting our time chasing unproductive opportunities, but not so deep that we have very few opportunities left?
The answer: when your customers treat you like you are the prize, not the other way around. Here are two ways to tell, even in the government market.
1. They appreciate you.
These are the customers who appreciate what you do because you are able to solve their problem. They have a problem, they need someone to solve it, you’re that someone. An example from my CO days is when I bought some safety equipment for our Navy SEALs. The SEALs needed this equipment to do a few things, but do them very well. After a source selection that started with over 20 companies, we ended up with two in the Competitive Range. They were both the prize. They solved our problem very, very well. And guess what, it is what they both specialized in. They did a few things, and did them so well that they were the prize.
2. They call you back.
This may be a literal example, but the best one I can think of is when you have a sole source award (through an 8(a) or similar) and they keep giving you the award because you are the prize. You solve their problem. However, in the more common competitive contract landscape, this means that you are the incumbent that they want to keep…or at least whom they want to make sure you get to compete again. This means they will do things like keep the re-competition a small business set-aside (or not), they will keep the scope of the contract in line with your capabilities, or they will structure the evaluation procedures so you will have a chance to compete. If you are the prize, they will want to keep you.
The catch is that they know they have to compete the requirement. Even though you are the prize, you will still have to compete to win the award. This is what we call the 80/20 rule. For more on the 80/20 rule, check out Episode 003 of the podcast (in the podcast player) and the blog article I wrote about the 80/20 rule.