If you are struggling to win contracts/RFPs, one of the most common reasons for this is that you simply aren’t ready to be a government contractor. This isn’t an arena you just jump into unequipped. It takes time to make sure everything is in order. You need to ensure you have the proper and STRONG fundamentals needed to WIN.

Think about Karate Kid for a minute. Daniel wanted to learn how to fight. More specifically, he wanted to learn how to throw a punch, but that wasn’t the focus of Mr. Miyagi’s training. He started with the basics. Most government contractors SKIP all the basics and go right into a karate tournament by chasing an RFP without any knowledge of the customer, understanding the value they provide, or any relationships with the customer or partners. The result is that they get beat up over and over and most eventually quit.

When you pause and take the time to learn the basics, the skills, and the fundamentals of GovCon for your business, you will be more successful at the contracts you choose to pursue. Learning is mandatory…..but HOW you learn is your choice. You can learn the RIGHT WAY or the hard way. Choose wisely.

Let me ask you a question: Would you rather put your resources into something that works FOR your business or something that can work AGAINST your business? It seems like a no-brainer, right? But many people are making a passive choice every day to allow some things to hurt their business when there are very simple solutions to prevent that.

For example: If you are still using a gmail, yahoo, aol, or any other free email domain for your business…please stop doing this. It’s time you convert to a professional email domain. I guarantee you that free email domains cost people business. It’s hard to take a company seriously when they don’t have a professional email address. Legitimate businesses get filtered out EVERY DAY because they use a free email address. It’s very inexpensive to get a professional email domain, possibly even free with your own website address. Do you have a strong signature block on your emails? This is another FREE tool that many business owners don’t utilize. Not only does it take away from your perceived professionalism,

Persistence without insight – ⚠️ Caution ⚠️- Only watch this video if you want to improve something that is not working in your business. What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. If we all know this, why do we do it in business? For a lot of folks, the answer is simple. We don’t always know how to fix a problem. So we go with the one thing that we think will work…brute force and sheer numbers. Unfortunately, relying only on those two tools will wind up in burnout, exhaustion, or defeat in business.

We have to remember, business isn’t just a numbers game. It’s a game of insight and minor adjustments. It is vital that we take the time to step back, gather data, and examine what we are doing. Then we can make key adjustments in areas of the process that are failing or underperforming. Too often, business leaders don’t stop “doing” long enough to assess “how” or “what” they should be doing. Think about your favorite sports team. No matter what sport you watch, I can guarantee that it has timeouts and halftimes.