A multi-award contract comes with no specific promise of business. So winners have to continually refine their strategies in order to maximize their wins and income from the contract.  As such, marketing within a contract becomes just as important as the original sales pitch.

Building the specific sales and marketing savvy needed to maximize contract income requires an explicit understanding of the perceptions and needs of those who have the ability to purchase off the contract.  To that end, many government contractors turn to market research to help answer questions critical to contract success, including: Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you to everyone who attended the April 8th Government Marketing Forum event; and a special thanks to all of you who offered feedback through our post-event online evaluation.  I am sure you will agree that our distinguished panelists offered great insight into Successful Marketing: Resonating with the Government Buyer.

It was an engaging discussion filled with humorous anecdotes about what works and what doesn’t when marketing to the government.  The room was packed before and after the program, with a great buzz of networking, which I know I found quite beneficial. This is not the end – only a start to a string of GMF events.  So, be on the lookout for future announcements.

Your organization can increase its chances of growth and success in government markets by answering six key questions.  In some cases, conducting market research will enable you to answer them much more accurately and thoroughly. 

1. Who will influence the purchase of my product or service?
2. Why will they buy my product?
3. Where will they buy my product or service?
4. When do they buy?
5. How satisfied are they after they buy?
6. What will they buy next year?

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t miss the Government Marketing Forum’s upcoming panel: “Successful Marketing  — Resonating with the Government Buyer.”

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Tower Club, Vienna, VA
4:30pm - 7:30pm

Lisa Dezzutti will lead the panel where you’ll hear directly from government IT decision-makers including:

• Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Jonathan Alboum, Deputy CIO, Department of Agriculture
• Ed Meagher, Deputy CIO, Department of Interior

For more details and to register visit:  http://www.fbcinc.com/gmf/.

Are you in charge of business development at an IT-related company? 

If you answered yes, you don’t want to miss our 2 new research briefs (available for each of 11 different federal agencies).  One reports on most-valued vendor attributes, and the other reveals the most popular sources of IT information. 

Here are just a few of the ways our briefs can help to improve your relevance and effectiveness with specific targeted agencies:

• Prepare BD and sales staffs
• Align with the right partners
• Segment messaging by agency
• Prioritize media outlets
• Improve show decisions

Read the rest of this entry »

 This March, we will be fielding the first independent syndicated federal market study of its kind.  In addition to very detailed preference data on traditional and web-based information sources, the study will measure federal employees’ purchasing behaviors across a wide variety of products and services, including IT, defense, telecom, aviation, logistics, HR, finance, and travel. The goal of this study is to measure the media habits of federal government employees along with their purchasing habits. Click here to review the study prospectus for more details.

We think you and your organization will find the results of this survey to be very insightful and useful in assisting with your strategic media and marketing decisions.  The report will release in June.  Those that purchase the study will be able to use an intuitive online report tool to cross-tabulate the results into many different demographic views to better support their decision making.

Pre-register now for an early-bird buyer discount of $525 off the study purchase price!

If you are a federal contractor, you won’t want to miss the upcoming issue of Research IT, our monthly e-newsletter, releasing on Thursday, February 21st.  We’ll be announcing our new one-of-a-kind syndicated federal media and buying habits study.  The insights from this independent, reliable and affordable report can help you perfect your strategic marketing campaigns.  The e-newsletter will also contain details about how you can lock in an early-bird discount of $525 off the purchase price!

To subscribe to our e-newsletter, click here.

We’re not ones to brag, but when it comes to federal agency decision makers, we’ve got the insights.   How do we know what these folks are thinking?  Well, we’ve interviewed them annually for the past 4 years.  Lucky for you, we’ve consolidated our key findings  into two different briefs for each of 11 different federal agencies – one that reports on most-valued vendor attributes, and another that reports on the most popular sources of IT information.

These affordable briefs offer contractors fact-based intelligence and insights for effectively marketing to the agencies of specific interest to them.  Not to mention,  you’ll save a cool 15% when you buy.  Visit our site for more information.

With the increasing emphasis on use of performance-based service acquisition (PBSA) in the federal government, are you confident of your current performance?

Customer satisfaction is a key building block for future business, especially in the federal government market.  Contractors are constantly asked to demonstrate their success in providing the government with high quality services.  Do you have the information you need to win future contracts with new and existing customers?

Customer satisfaction research is a great way to provide this information.  You can increase your understanding of how well you are meeting or exceeding customer expectations and be able to identify issues more quickly, which can save key contracts and accounts.

Don’t be blind-sided in the New Year!  Implement a customer satisfaction program today, or reassess what you may already have in place, to ensure that you know what your customers think. Contact us today to find out how we can help you with this process!

For those of you who were not able to attend last week’s informative web seminar on effectively penetrating the lucrative yet challenging state and local government market, we now have it available for complimentary viewing. 

The webinar features our very own Lisa Dezzutti, President of Market Connections, Inc. and Robert Silverman, CEO of ReachSolutions.  Gain insight from recent research into the needs and buying habits of state and local decision makers, along with an understanding of strategic approaches to building a successful, scalable sales program. 

Learn how your company can leverage this insight into increased revenue, reduced long-term cost of sales and sustainable growth in your S&L business.  Download this complimentary webinar today!