Working with Large Prime Contractors

SUBCONTRACTING

Subcontracting can be a springboard to future direct contract awards within an industry. Large prime contractors are frequently required to partner with small businesses and this creates thousands of subcontracting opportunities every year.

Subcontracting helps you –

gain valuable experience and learn from larger successful companies
build your network and agency expertise
avoid administrative overhead and resources required to execute large contracts

Should You Pursue Prime Contracts or Subcontract?

There are 3 reliable paths to revenue and success in the federal marketplace

Prime contracts with federal agencies
Subcontracts with large prime contractors
Subcontracts with other small prime contractors

Which federal sales path will lead to the quickest and most predictable success for your company?

Which path will lead you to revenue and stability in your operations?

* LinkedIn training recorded live • May 11, 2022

Video Training | Working with Large Prime Contractors

PANEL DISCUSSION: 5 Large Prime Contractor SBLOs describe what they want from small business partners

SMALL BUSINESS LIAISON OFFICERS (SBLOs)

SBLOs are the primary entry points to large prime contractors.

What do SBLOs do ? What don’t they do?
What are the "right and wrong ways" to knock on their door?
What are the best traits of successful small business partners?
How can you increase your chance of getting on a large prime's team?

HOST : Neil McDonnell, president, GovCon Chamber of Commerce

COMPANIES REPRESENTED –

AECOM | Shawn Ralston
Deloitte| Teanna Jones
Honeywell Aerospace | Cruz Andino Vargas
Dynetics (a Leidos Company) | Jennifer Torbic Delaney
Manson Construction | Melinda Martirosian

* Panel discussion recorded live • 2020 June-25

What are the Major Differences Between Selling to Federal Agencies and Selling to Large Primes?

UNDERSTAND THE 3 PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS

1. Small Business Teaming stakeholders include:

Business owner/s
BD and Capture people

2. Large Business Teaming stakeholders include:

Senior Business Developers (often retired military)
Capture Leads (focused on single opportunity)
Proposal Managers and Contract Vehicle program managers

3. Federal Agency Customer stakeholders include:

Acquisition-related people (ie Contract Officers "how they are buying")
Program Managers ("what they are buying")

* LinkedIn training recorded live • 20 June 2022

How to Find Large Prime Contractor Points of Contact

In this live sales training, Neil shows exactly how to find key points of contacts, names and numbers using real-world examples.

Learn the value of teaming
Learn the roles and titles of points of contact (POCs)
Learn where & how to find key points of contacts

* LinkedIn training recorded live • 1 September 2022

Finding the Right Federal Prime Contractors

Understanding Subcontracting

Why is subcontracting is vital to your sales success?
How do you decide which companies to approach?
What roles / titles do your ideal contacts have?
How to get others to 'Know, Like and Trust' you ?

* LinkedIn training recorded live • 22 September 2022

Top 3 Things Large Prime Contractors Look for from Smalls

Large government contractors are always looking for reliable small business partners who can add value to their own Capture efforts

What are they looking for in a small business?

stability in your operations
possible existing relationships with agency buyers
that you fill a niche
past performance to prove your expertise

* LinkedIn training recorded live • 15 September 2022

How to Grow Within a Large Prime Contractor

Do you have an existing relationship with a large business but aren't able to grow within that customer?

In this training, we discuss how to –

Turn your initial successes in a large prime into broad success across that customer
Recognize when you're being held back
Plan a sales strategy for organic growth
Get help reaching further into the large prime
Reach further into large prime contractors with NO help

* LinkedIn training recorded live • 10 August 2022

How to 'Control' Prime Teaming Partners

In this training, Neil explains:

What it means to control your relationship with a prime contractor
How to work together with the prime to stay on task and timeline
The main 'one-and-done' tasks
How to be seen as a subject matter expert and a trusted partner
Ongoing tasks to help you keep your relationship on target