Author’s Note: Distractions can have a significant impact on federal contractors, leading to the loss of valuable time and opportunities. It’s important to recognize the cost of giving in to these distractions.

During each session of Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors® Bootcamp, Michele and I discuss
BD/ADD, Business Development Attention Deficit Disorder, with our students. We explain that it’s something they may develop over time, depending on their susceptibility. For example, I am highly susceptible to it because I have a passion for information, I’m very inquisitive, and I love challenges, such as finding hard-to-find details that lead to winning a deal thought to be out of reach. These traits can easily lead to distraction reactions, especially when combined with misleading narratives surrounding success in federal contracting.

Those narratives resemble an unhealthy fixation on:

• – NAICS Codes as primary criteria for identifying opportunities.
• – Socioeconomic designations being more important than capabilities.
• – Massive multiple-award contracts being the only way to do business with federal agencies.
• – Requests for Information (RFIs) lauded as the beginning of business opportunities.

I don’t need to delve into much detail about these misleading narratives. If you join one of our sessions where I discuss my 7 Habits for Winning in Federal Contracting™ or attend an upcoming Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors® Bootcamp, you’ll gain valuable insights into the pitfalls of following these approaches. When you combine less-than-ideal guidance with business processes that aren’t in sync with your objectives or the market, you’ll find yourself facing those pitfalls once more. To succeed in any market, especially federal contracting, intent, and commitment are crucial. Being committed and intentional means having clear objectives and well-informed plans. Let’s start with planning.

At the beginning of your company’s fiscal year, were distractions a part of your planned strategy? Probably not. If you’re similar to many companies, you may find yourself responding to government market research on requirements that are unfamiliar, from organizations you haven’t previously considered. This does not sound like ‘according to plan’ to me, How about you? Here’s another example. Considering the revenue and profit goals you set, along with the typical deal size for your product or service, how many RFPs or RFQs did you aim to respond to and win? Assuming you do not have a 100 percent win rate, you need enough submissions to achieve your goal. Here’s the multi-million-dollar question. Have you considered the potential challenges in managing your workload to ensure you can effectively respond to the required number of
revenue-based solicitation requests while also accommodating RFI responses in your bandwidth planning? Keep in mind that RFI responses do not constitute an offer to the government and cannot result in an award. Since the government has no intent to award a contract (their wording, not mine), I recommend giving the same level of scrutiny to these as you would to RFPs and RFQs. Maybe more. 

Being intentional and committed also entails making sure you have the necessary knowledge to effectively work your plan. Knowledge is information-in-context. Many industry leaders in federal contracting lack sufficient context to establish and maintain an information advantage. This goes beyond just terminology, although that plays a significant role. This also includes roles and processes. Knowing who to contact to achieve a specific goal starts with understanding whether that goal aligns with the interests or responsibilities of the person you are contacting or attempting to contact. In federal contracting, it’s crucial to differentiate between the roles of customers and buyers. This distinction allows you to recognize that customer needs emerge well before the development and publication of an RFI.

Distraction reactions often result in companies chasing ghosts. That means chasing leads and opportunities that may not align with your goals or needs. But hey, it’s the end of the fiscal year, and Halloween is just around the corner. That’s the perfect time of year for ghosts, right?

Peace, Health, and Thriving,

Go-To-Guy Timberlake