If you are like most small businesses owners, you came back from the MWBE Forum inspired, you met tons of people and you got a lot of leads. You are inspired about the 30% subcontracting goals, and you have every intention of following up. In fact, you may have already started making a few calls, scheduling appointments and sending out your capability statement. All of these are steps in the right direction, but I can tell you from experience unless you have a plan, you are going to get busy, things are going to come up and you are going to get further and further away from doing what you set out to do. How do I know this? Because I have been there – attending endless functions, coming back with piles of information, doing some follow-up, and then getting caught up with the trappings of small business entrepreneurship. Things started to change for me, when I took a different approach and made a commitment to marketing and strategic planning. Here is step by step what I did (and what I do now for clients):
- Set a Goal: research shows that when results are tied to specific, realistic and measurable goals, results are easier achieved. So, it may make sense for you to think about what is a realistic goal that you could achieve as result of your participation at the MWBE forum. I would also suggest tying this goal to a dollar figure. After all, what is the point of attending these functions if not to increase sales?
- Be Realistic: once you set a goal, the next big question should be – is my goal realistic? Does my goal align with my experience and capacity? I often compare marketing MWBE programs to running a marathon, it takes time. You are not going to complete 26 miles if you never ran before. So, set a small goal, one that is realistic, one that makes sense, and then after you reach that goal, you can always increase it or adjust it.
- Research: many people never take the time to do research, they start marketing right away, which in my opinion is a waste of time. Take the time to carefully select government agencies that are buying what you are selling. Here is a link to Frequently Purchased Commodities http://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/fiscal/directorycommodities.pdf
- Review Quarterly Forecast for Discretionary Spending: each quarter NYS publishes a quarterly forecast for discretionary purchases over and under $50,000. This is a great place to start if you are newly certified, or don’t have the required experience or past performance to perform on larger contracts. fhttps://ny.newnycontracts.com/FrontEnd/General/BidOpportunities5.asp?TN=ny&XID=8353
- Create an Action Plan: once you determine your goal, ask yourself what actionable steps you need to take to reach that goal and when. Assume that you already sent out your Capability Statement and made a few calls – what is next? This is where a lot of people get stuck. I recommend putting action items on a calendar for at least six months and considering multiple activities. Where can you interact with buyers again? What functions do you need to attend? Can you send a letter, an email or post card? Who can refer you? Can you subcontract?
- Follow-Up: create a system for follow-up. Unfortunately, many of us drop the ball when it comes to follow-up. We’ll put all this effort out there and then drop the ball when it comes to responding to emails in a timely manner, returning phone calls and scheduling necessary activities. Think about where you are dropping the ball and fix it.
- Accountability: if you were to hire a coach, more than likely the first thing they would do for you is set up a system of accountability. Studies show that results improve 80% when we have a system of accountability. If you are in a position to do so, you may want to consider hiring an experienced coach to assist you. Otherwise, you may want to partner with another business owner, a member of your staff or another group and create weekly accountability sessions. Essentially the way accountability sessions work is that you share your weekly action items with someone and measure outcomes and results.
- Educate Yourself: there is no shortage of things you’ll need to learn as you expand in the government market place. It is absolutely critical that you master certain skills like cost estimating, wage and hour, bidding, and proposal writing if you are going to be a successful government contractor. Take advantage of the abundance of free information available through the Small Business Administration (SBA), Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) and Women Business Centers and learn as much as you can, then invest in developing the appropriate skills.
- Know Your Environment: marketing will open doors, you need to be prepared when you get there. For my friends in the Construction and Related industries – what about bonding?? All the marketing in the world is not going to help you if all the work you are going after requires a bond, and you don’t have one. Same with union. Are you union, or non-union? What makes sense? Do your homework now before spending all this time and money on marketing.
- Add Resources: when thinking about taking your business to the next level, you may also want to consider what resources that you will need to add to get there. Do you need more people? More money? Equipment? Think about these things and don’t wait until the last minute to start exploring them. Consider what would happen if you reached your goal and start preparing for it.
It’s not unreasonable to except to add one new client in 2015 as a result of attending the MWBE Forum earlier this month. There truly is an abundance of opportunities out there for MWBES, and I am personally aware of several companies that are having trouble meeting their 30% goals.
