This book consists of seven chapters on building your business through finding and winning government contracts set aside for 8(a) certified vendors. The chapter titles are as follows:

1. REALITY OF RUNNING AN 8(a) BUSINESS
2. WHERE TO FIND QUALIFIED PROSPECTS
3. DESIGNING YOU 8(a) MARKETING MATERIAL
4. DESIGNING YOUR 8(a) QUALIFYING PROCESS
5. IMPLEMENTING YOUR 8(a) QUALIFYING PROCESS
6. PLANNING FOR YOUR FACE TO FACE
7. CLOSING THE SALE

REALITY OF RUNNING AN 8(a) BUSINESS

In the first chapter we review why you can not set back and wait for orders to come in because you are now certified. You may laugh but we have seen many business owners with that exact attitude in our workshops. We discuss why you need to market and the value of target marketing. We review the three methods of graduation so you can make a plan to leverage your once in a lifetime certification into a success story. The balance of the chapter covers some exercises that will help you plan your business strategy for success.

WHERE TO FIND QUALIFIED PROSPECTS

The second chapter covers some of the regulations to be aware of and how to use these regulations to your advantage. This section takes the approach that you are the one who should be qualifying the government agencies to work with not the other way around. Do not alienate the Small Business Liaison Officer because he has all the information on how to do business with his agency. We also discuss SUB-NET and other databases that are available to you for researching prospective agencies to sell. You will learn how to use the internet to expand your information about your prospective customer and if they are leading you astray.

DESIGNING YOUR 8(a) MARKETING MATERIALS

We start with designing your capability statement along with how and when to use this major marketing tool. One of the keys in the chapter is how to look capable with out lying and making yourself look bigger than you are. One of the biggest complaints we hear from buyers is that small business lie about their size. This makes them afraid to give out work for fear that you will fail and make them look bad. We follow up with discussions about using other government databases to extract business intelligence that will help you get your foot in the door.

DESIGNING YOUR 8(a) QUALIFYING PROCESS

This chapter is all about image building and making you look act and feel qualified to perform government contracts. Build on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses so that the buyer and the agency have confidence in your capability. Know and understand your competition, what about them makes the agency come back to him time after time. Toward the end of the chapter we talk about getting you financial and ethical house in order.

IMPLEMENTING YOUR 8(a) QUALIFYING PROCESS

This chapter is about written and verbal communications with the players of the agency that you want to sell. Building your writing skills and develop those skills into successful proposals. Be a resource to your contacts in the agencies you want to sell and take the time to develop relationships. Selling to the government should not be one time thing; it should be ongoing and with a constant look to future orders.

PLANNING FOR YOUR FACE TO FACE

All of the planning and writing of letters do not help if you cannot sell yourself at the face to face meeting. This chapter covers the things that you need to consider before your once in a lifetime opportunity to make a first impression. Do not let fear take you out of the competition practice the skills that will make a superior first impression.

CLOSING THE SALE

Everything in this book or any other book is of no value if you do not close the sale. More sales are lost because inexperience sales people get so wrapped up in the presentation they forget to ask for the order. The second biggest reason for sales failure is not knowing when to shut up. As a buyer I have experience numerous small business owners sell me on their product or service and then continue to sell to the point where I am not longer interested. I just want you out of my office.

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WHAT IF THE BOOK DOES NOT PROVIDE ALL THE HELP I NEED?

This book is the result of working with 8(a) companies for over 10 years, studying the mistakes they made and helping them find their niche in the a government marketplace. If we answered everyone questions in the book it would be too long to read. So we are offering some additional help if you get stuck or need some additional assistance. For 8(a) firms that purchase our book we will provide one-on-one consultation by email at a reduced price of $75.00 per hour billed in one-tenth hour increments for 30 days after purchase. This is 50% off our standard hourly rate.

RETURN POLICY:

Refund Policy: For any refund, the products must be returned within 10 days from the date of order. The materials should be returned in the same condition and they were received.