Your Marketing Focus for FY 23

As we move from the pedal to the metal period of proposal writing of the 4th quarter of the federal sales cycle into a more methodical marketing plan for Q1, we want to figure out where to focus limited marketing resources. We don’t want a strategy that spreads out over a too large target and neither do we want to limit the number of opportunities that we focus on. Photography offers a good metaphor for this process.

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The Magic Price Point

One of the most challenging decisions I have had to make as an independent consultant is to decide how much I should charge.

  • What do I need?

  • What will people pay?

  • If I lower my price will I get more business?

  • Am I leaving money on the table?

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Listening and Refining your Offering

In my first blog post I recounted how I got started with my consulting business. I soon found out that it is a long slog from that brilliant idea I started with to a sustainable business.

In this second post, I recap how I balanced what customers expect from a consultant against what I think they need. I started a business with a passion about something, but what if I am passionate about something that no one wants to buy?

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So, you want to be a consultant? Getting started

For 20 years, I was a happy salaryman in large federal contractors. There was always someone in my office who dreamed of the day that they could get out of the 9-5 rat race and start their own company. Be their own boss. Do what they want! That person was NEVER me. Being an employee worked for me. Until it didn’t. Then I started my own company. This is the first of three blog posts on how I did it.

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5 Secrets to Winning Proposals

Consistent winners are not the ones with the snappiest writers or the best graphics (though those help). Nope, the winners are those who have a well-thought out capture and proposal process that positions them above the rest for intelligence gathering and being the most efficient in getting the product out the door. Based on my 20+ years of doing this proposal thang, here are my 5 “Top Tips” for making the "W" happen. You can listen to the webinar on this as well.

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Shape that RFP to your advantage

It’s no longer enough to respond to an RFP with a compliant proposal.  Unless you have actively involved yourself in helping the buyer shape that RFP, the chances are good that your compliant proposal will be nothing but answers to questions that were written by two or three of your competitors.

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Want to win? Prove it!

Proposal writing is not about coming up with the most impressive and clever writing. Rather it is about racking up points on the evaluators’ score sheet, and thereby winning. Pretty prose impresses English teachers, but data rack up those winning points.

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