Contesting government buying decisions

Many entrepreneurs I come across in the Ottawa area have expressed an interest at one point or another in doing business with government. Many of them express frustration in the complicated process or have even accused the RFP issuers of already having a supplier in mind.

I want to touch on two subjects.

First, the latter is possible but it is not impossible to overcome. Well placed questions to RFP issuers are welcome. Just as in the sales process it is important to uncover the real motivations of a potential buyer's concerns; it is just as important to get to the heart of government purchasers concerns. For example, in a recent Communications RFSO available on the Merx system, I sent no less than 2 inquiries asking the purchaser to justify requirements I felt were unnecessary towards doing the job at hand.

I suppose the message here is that you should not be afraid to ask questions. You might just get them thinking!

Second, believe it or not, you can beat a lot of RFPs from ever making it to the Merx system by pricing your items under $25,000 and getting on the ''good list'' of decision makers. Believe me when I say it, if given the choice, many decision makers would prefer if they could just get on with the job. If you build relationships and market your company to the point of being top of mind, you could end up avoiding the headaches of frustrating challenges to RFP requirements.

Let me know your thoughts.
_____________________

Mark Buzan is the owner of Action Strategies, a public affairs & marketing communications consultancy. You can subscribe now to his monthly public affairs newsletter by visiting www.action-strategies.ca and dropping down the newsletter menu.