I make it no secret that I don’t know everything, which is why I preach so often about building a team of experts around you to fill in the education gaps that you don’t have access to without them. In my career, I have made some amazing connections, but they all pale in comparison to my friend and partner, Mr. Guy Timberlake. Those who know me know I kid that I moonlight as the President of his fan club. Those who know him, understand why I feel the way I do! If you are looking to work smarter and not harder, know how to properly market your business to the right customers, and know where to find the opportunities you can win…you need to know him too! They don’t call him “Go-To Guy” for nothing. He has 30+ years of industry experience that he lends to assist business owners in getting to where the good stuff is, and fast! I asked him to assist me with this informative blog to shed some light the best methods to find the opportunities they are most likely to win.
Often when I’m consulting with business owners, they have a great product, service or both, and they have a desired outcome in mind , but they can’t get ahead because they aren’t using the right information to find the opportunities they can actually win. Here are 3 things I have learned from my friend Guy, that I believe all GovCons could benefit in knowing:
- How to properly identify what they offer in the way those who want to buy it can find them
- Identify the best buyer(s) for their product/service
- Learn to execute #1 and #2 and become profitable in the federal marketplace
NAICS vs PSC
Most business owners have a NAICS classification that they use to market their business. Many have not heard of a PSC (Product and Service Code), but after this, you will be running to get yours defined. The basic difference between the 2 is that NAICS Codes are industry classifications that are used primarily by statistical agencies i.e. Census, BLS, SBA. These codes represent the industry the business operates within. PSC Codes are classifications established by the Department of Defense and GSA (General Services Administration) to represent the goods, services and research and development purchased in each contract action.
By definition, one is effective to identify products and services and the other industries. If you choose PSC Codes that properly identify all of your offerings to the market, you can more clearly identify the customers who will buy from you. You may be asking, how? If you conduct a search using a relevant NAICS Code, and the same search using a relevant PSC Code, you get very different results. Those results typically reveal how much opportunity/money was left on the table when doing market research based around NAICS Codes.
Who’s your buyer?
Identifying your PSC Codes will allow you to better track who your potential buyer is. You can see which agencies have been purchasing your goods/services. The best method to use to identify your relevant PSC Codes is by using tools such as SAM.gov/Contract Opportunities, FPDS-NG ezSearch, the GWCM Common and Defense-Centric Spend Tables, and the Product Service Code Selection Tool. You will know who your buyers are because PSC Codes represent the ‘part numbers’ of the goods and services purchased by agencies, based on the taxonomies utilized in DoD’s Better Buying Power Initiative (established in 2010) and GSA’s Category Management/Strategic Sourcing (established in 2016).
Now I know, so how do I execute?
You should come to the Parabilis/GovCon Club presentation of Tactics, Terminology, Tools and Resources for Connecting the Dots in Federal Contracting. During this program, participants will have the opportunity to take in foundational information used to create the Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors® Bootcamp Complete program and engage in Q&A with Go-To-Guy Timberlake who created and leads the program. Additional details for this upcoming event will be provided to invitees. If you would like to be included in this event, please send your contact information to Teresa@parabilis.com.