I Have a GSA Schedule: What Do I Do Now? Part 1 of a 4-Part Series

Perhaps the most common question asked by any small to mid-size enterprise that has recently acquired a GSA Schedule is expressed in the title of this article.

When you realize that approximately 20% of the Schedule holders account for roughly 80% of all revenue derived from these Schedules, the obvious question becomes: What are the successful Schedule holders doing that I am not?

The seemingly mutually exclusive attributes of assertion and patience need to be present. Assertion is required to doggedly discover those Agencies, programs and personnel that constitute many of the essential elements in any sale to the Government. Patience is the sense that the Government moves slowly in the acquisition phase of completing a contract action. This fact leads to the first of 3 essential steps (Discovery, Planning and Execution) that form the foundation of virtually any successful effort in government sales.

The first of these is “Discovery”. The first two components of Discovery are:

1. How is the Government buying the solutions we are selling?

Is the buying centralized or decentralized?
Who makes the buying decision? End user, Contracting Officer, or combination of both?
What contractual vehicles do they prefer? GSA Schedules, Basic Purchase Agreements, Agency or Government-Wide Multiple Award Contracts?
Is the buying done directly or is it imbedded as part of a larger program (e.g. large design and construction buy) where the buyer is another company.

2. Where are my competitors focused?

Where have your top 3 or 5 competitors made the bulk of their sales?
What contractual vehicles or entry points are they using?
Who do they deal with in their top accounts?

While these action items sound sufficiently straightforward, the fact is that a great deal of research and “shoe leather” is required to obtain valid, comprehensive answers that permit us to proceed intelligently in our quest for Government sales.

In Part 2 we will address the third component of the Discovery process: “Who is buying what you are selling?” In other words, how do you determine what agencies to focus your limited resources on and why?