This is the year that you grow your business with million dollar projects as a government
contractor. Now, you know this but you don't want to make any unnecessary mistakes,
which is why in this video I'm sharing five mistakes
new contractors make on government proposals. Let's go.
Welcome back to the channel. If you're looking to grow your government contracting business,
maybe you're looking to expand into the government sector from the private sector and you want to
take advantage of these million dollar contracts that the government has set aside for minority
owned, small businesses, make sure you subscribe to this channel and turn on the notification
bell so you don't miss out on any trainings when we drop them here on this channel. Now,
today in this video we're going to be talking about the myth most new contractors coming to the
government market believing, why being productive matters, and what being cute will get you.
Down in the description I will put a link to my accelerator program so if what you're learning
here today you want to take it to that next level as you're implementing and have support from me
while you're growing your government contracting business, definitely check
out that link down below, and then I'll look forward to seeing you on the inside.
Some people can write a proposal for a government contract without help, many cannot. When my
clients go rogue or before joining my accelerator program they lose out on contracts because of
simple mistakes that could have been avoided with a conversation and an overview of their proposal
prior to them submitting it. Stop wasting time and money on proposals when you don't have to,
it's time you get this right. All right, so let's get into the five mistakes
new contractors are making as they're submitting proposals to the government.
The first thing is time. Time, time, time. I know sometimes we feel like we don't have enough time
and then sometimes we feel like we have more than enough time. Well, let me just tell you,
time is very, very important when you're submitting proposals to the government. Number
one, you're going to have a timeframe, a deadline as to when the proposal is
due. A lot of times you don't have a lot of time. There's not weeks and months, in most cases,
that you have to put together a proposal so that is why time is very, very important. With that,
a lot of times you're not giving yourself enough time to put together your proposal.
The second thing is you don't understand how long it takes you to put together a proposal. Now,
you have some idea but, really, we don't have time to be guessing when we're trying to put
together a proposal. We need to know how much time we have, how much time is it going to take us to
put this actual proposal together, and then also how much time do you need for your vendors, your
sub-contractors or even for you to source numbers for whatever you need. How much time do you need
for that and to get those numbers back from those individuals so that you then can take that and
then create your final proposal. So, time is very, very important. You need to know the timeline
of all the different parts that it's going to take to put together that final proposal.
Let's talk about the blank screen. Have you seen that before?
You're getting ready to write your proposal and you're sitting there staring at this blank screen.
Where do I start? What should I do first? What all do I need to include in this proposal?
Well, that shouldn't be your reality. Okay? Someone has come before you, trust me,
and they've created proposals before so you shouldn't have to stare at a blank screen.
Now, if you are staring at a blank screen that's a whole different conversation and it just tells
me you don't have the support that you need as you're beginning your journey as a government
contractor. It doesn't have to be this way, it's because you chose for it to be this way.
Checklists that you should have in place, and then even within your solicitation you can pull out
and make yourself a checklist as well as you're getting ready to put together your proposal. The
first thing I'm going to tell you here, this is an action item for you guys to start working on like
right now, is create a template for the proposals that you will submit. Now, I said a template so
that means every time you submit a proposal you'll probably have to tweak that proposal template to
fit it to that particular solicitation, but at least you won't be staring at a blank screen.
Now, if you need support with that in my government contract accelerator, yes, I share my
multi-million dollar template that I've been using to win the multiple million dollar contracts,
and it is working for my students inside of my accelerator as well so I do share
that as a resource to my clients only. All right. The third thing is being cute. Do I
look cute? Don't put that in the comments, I don't want to know your answers one way or the other,
but being cute will not get you there either. Okay? I'd rather you be understood
than cute. Okay? Understood is always better than being cute when you're submitting a proposal.
What do I mean? We have the phrases that we use, our favorite words that we like to use.
Well, when the contracting officer is looking at your proposal will they understand the language
that you're using? You have to think about that. Even within your industry and the type of service
that you provide, you may have terminology that you use or acronyms that you use but you have
to ask yourself, will the person reading my proposal know what I'm talking about? If not,
you better choose a different word. Then also make sure the language you use in your proposal
matches the RFP, the request for a proposal, hence the solicitation.
I want you to comment below, have you submitted a proposal on a federal government contract?
Let me know in the comments, yes or no, no or yes.
After my client, Nicole, she's in my government contract accelerator program, she submitted on
a proposal. After the proposal process was done, she requested a debriefing, which is something I
tell all my clients to request, and so I want to share with you what she said. This is her
words that she shared with all of us inside of our private community. Let me read this to you.
She said, "I had my first debriefing today and it was amazing. Basically,
everything Felicia Streeter has preached is in the key takeaways. How cool is that?"
Me preaching it, right? And one taking action on what I said is two totally different things so,
with the information that I'm sharing here, don't just listen
and understand what I'm saying, but take action too.
All right, let's get back to number four, the work. You need to have a
clear understanding of the work you will perform if you're awarded the contract.
In order to actually perform, be awarded the contract, you have to show them that you
understand the type of work you will perform. You're going to have to write your scope of
work to what they are asking you for in the solicitation. Now, the other piece of that is,
also you have to understand what they're asking for in order for you to price it out,
so here's what you have to do. Think about your proposal. Inside the proposal,
you're going to have to tell them, "Okay, here's where I'm going to take you from where you are
to what you want. These are the steps I'm going to take. These are the tools I'll have
to use. This is the software I'll be using." Whatever it's going to take to get them from where
they are in pain, problem, something they need, to the solution you're going to provide, how will you
get them there? You need to lay that out for them, and you're going to have to write it out. Okay?
In addition to that, not only writing it out, you also have to take those line items and put a price
to it as well. You have to be able to write to the scope of work, also price out the scope of work,
which means you have to understand the work that you're going to perform.
Now, number five, really this could save you a big headache one way or the other,
whether you bid or not, and that is the question, to bid or not to bid. You have to decide. You are
the owner of your business, unless you have other partners or other companies that you're
teaming with and maybe collectively you guys will make this decision, but the decision still has to
be made, do you bid on this opportunity or not, yes or no, no or yes? In making that decision,
you have to determine what factors will you consider to help you get to that decision?
The best way to do it is to have a bid go, no go formula. Now, if you don't have one, I share that
with my clients inside of my accelerator program as well. We have a lot of information and things
that I cover there on the bid process, pricing, proposals and solicitations. I always say, that's
the meat and potatoes of the program, right? Most of the other things that we share it supports
getting you to that level, but where most people fall is the bid process. That's why we spend
a lot of time on that one particular area in phase three of our accelerator program.
There you have it, the five mistakes new contractors are making as they transition
and expand their business into the government marketplace. If you want your share of the
million dollar government contracts so that you can increase your profits, have more time,
and scale your business, and you'd like for you and I to work together as you make that transition
into government contracting, I'll be looking forward to seeing you on the inside.
Go ahead, check out the government contract accelerator. I'll put the link down below.
You can join us right there from the page and then, again, I'll see you inside the community.
Now, if you've been hanging out here on my channel and you haven't subscribed yet,
why not? Don't you think it's time for us to partner together as you transition from
the private sector into the government sector and start winning some of these
million dollar contracts? Make sure you go ahead subscribe, turn on the notification
bell so you get notified when I drop new trainings here. And remember, you're just
one contract away. Share this video out and I'll see you right back here real soon. Bye for now.