Laura’s Winning Ideas

This is a guest article from the monthly newsletter published by Advantage Consulting. Doug Allston, President of Advantage Consulting, Inc. agreed to let me share the article with you. If your firm is likely to hire outside consultants to help you develop business with specific clients, you’ll want to read and pass along this article.

By Doug Allston, CEO Advantage Consulting

In this article, I look at the use of “outsiders,” consultants, to help you grow your business. In my last article I wrote about the Agency Expert Business Developer – Harry. You hired him for six months. He got you some appointments. You got no business. The plan was if you engage “Harry,” he will introduce you to the decision makers in your target organization and they will give you work because you are deserving of the work; the “silver bullet” answer to growing your business. So what went wrong and how can you make this work?

First, let us dispense with the time frame of six months. If your vision of this project, winning business with your targeted organization, is not 18 to 36 months maybe you should forget it altogether. “Stop a minute Doug, you have just changed everything, I don’t have 18 to 36 months. This isn’t a project, it is business development!”

Well, if you are not going to treat this like a project then how are you going to handle the task? If you do not treat this like a project then you will not do the preparation, the study, the planning, and coordination necessary to be successful. If you do not allow sufficient time to do the project you are doomed to fail or succeed only because of luck. You can get lucky, of course, however, luck plays a rather small part in success.

Second, let us dispense with the attitude that the government will “…give you work because you are deserving of the work.” As far as the government is concerned you deserve nothing. You have to earn their business. Alright, so how do you use the Agency Expert Business Development Consultant?

Prepare your Consultant

Give them a month to learn your company and test them each week. At the end of the month you should expect Harry (or Henrietta) to know you as well as you do or better.

Plan your attack.

Who are the decision makers you need to meet who are the most likely able to become your “champions?” Once you and your consultant identify those people then you have to figure out how to get to them. Your consultant probably can’t get many of those meetings. So who does he know that can pass you on to the people you need to meet? In some cases this may take two or three meeting before you get to the right person. Many of these people are gate keepers and influencers.

Plan the substance of your attack.

Your consultant is going to make the appointment. What do you bring to that appointment? Study the government person and organization you are going to meet. What does he need? What are his important problems? What are your relevant solutions? I can’t over emphasis the importance of this preparation. You are going to get one shot at this person. If you can’t blow their socks off with your knowledge and understanding of them and their situation do not have the meeting. We have talked to hundreds of government officials over the years and this is their number one peeve with contractors, they aren’t well prepared.

Plan your initial meeting.

You are going to have at most 30 minutes to make your case, to bring value, and to cause the person you are meeting to want to meet with you again or to pass you to the person you need to meet. You have at most 30 minutes even if they schedule the meeting for two hours. In this meeting you have to demonstrate you have done your homework and that you understand their important problems and challenges. Your consultant can be extremely helpful, helping you develop this background. You then have to customize your company’s solutions to these specific problems and challenges. In this meeting you will not talk about anything in generic terms about your company. In fact anything you say about your company will only be in the context of the government’s problems and challenges. This meeting is not about you or your company. It is about the government employee and his organization. The only purpose of this meeting is to get the follow-on meetings and you will get those only if the government employee views you as someone they can work with and that understands their needs.

Plan and leverage each follow on meeting

Alright, you had the meeting. You did your homework and in the 30 minutes you connected his requirements to specific solutions. You got their attention. The government employee wants to talk further. To continue this process you have to keep bringing understanding and insight into each meeting. You have to refrain from selling your specific solution and migrate to the “consultant” advisor role to the government employee. Why? If you try to sell your solution, unless they have fallen in love with it, and they decide your specific solution does not work for them you are “road kill.”

Our objective is to get the business. Do you care if it is one of your solutions or another? If you do not become the government’s advisor then they will not educate you on the details and specifics necessary to help them craft the solution that works best for them which you are prepared to provide. Through out all of this and the meetings that take place, your “agency expert” can be talking to his contacts, feeding you the information, understanding, and insight that allows you to bring value to your relationship with the government.

Revise your time table

Their time table is your time table! It could be six months or it could be two years. It will depend on the size and complexity of the government’s problem, their ability to get funds, and the vehicles they choose to use in the contract. Again, your agency expert consultant can help. He can help you understand the agency’s funding process. He can help guide the government people if they are inexperienced in the funding process or contracting process. If you do not have patience, then you do not belong in this business. Of course this may require you to continue to pay your consultant. If he keeps bringing you value, so you can bring value to the government, keep him on the payroll.

Questions and comments to Doug Allston at dallston@acibiz.com

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