One of the Steps that Supports Emerging Small Businesses in Doing Business with the Government is Identify and Analyze Opportunities and Risk.

Before you pursue an opportunity, you first need to analyze the elements of opportunity and risk to understand if it is a worthwhile. Companies do not  have infinite resources, so it is essential that your company employ a standardized methodology for all sales personnel to assess and prioritize opportunities. Having developed an understanding of the opportunity, you will next want to understand your competitors. You will want to identify each competitor or competitive team, what they plan to offer, and how they and their solution are viewed by your customer.

To be effective, you need to develop a “win strategy.” To do this, you need to answer two simple questions from the customer’s perspective: 1) “why us”, 2) “why not our competitor”. Part of this win strategy will also include a “customer positioning and contact plan” with specifics on who, when, and how to convey this message to key executives and decision-makers in the customer’s organization. The win strategy will also serve as the basis to develop the proposal win theme.