Game Changers for Government Contractors

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about not being ready for certain aspects of being a government contractor. For example; a lot of companies rush to be a prime contractor before they know their customer, have any past performance, or have the cash flow to successfully manage a contract. If you're not ready, you are going to struggle to win contra...

In this episode, we talk with Matthew Schoonover about The Pitfalls of Government Contracting. One of the biggest challenges that we see for new government contractors is the rush to jump into serious relationships such as a joint venture or the mentor protégé program. We discuss the pros and cons of both of these as well as some recommendations on how to approach them properly. We also discuss co...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Ghosting to Influence an RFP. Ghosting is hands down one of the most underrated things you should incorporate into your BD/Capture process. Ghosting by definition is: positioning the value of your capabilities and differentiate in such a way as to marginalize your competition. If executed properly, informal...

In this episode, we talk with Chris Rabassi about Doing Business with Marine Corps Installations East. Most of the guests we interview on the show are either contractors or other experts in government contracting. This time, we get to hear what it's like being on the government end of these conversations. We discuss several tactics and strategies for approaching a government agency for the first t...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Persistence - The Secret to Success. One of the top reasons people fail in life and business is because they give up too early. The road to success is not a simple or straight path and it often has unexpected twists and turns. You will also encounter a lot of resistance on the path to success. This is why so...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Leveraging Your Socio-Economic Status. Most people have heard news stories about how much the government spends on small businesses. But how can that information help you? This podcast helps break down some of the small business goals, we give an overview of each of the top socio-economic statuses, and we ro...

In this episode, we talk with David Neal about Filling Your Small Business Pipeline. One of the challenges for small businesses is that they don't have enough tools or resources in their tool bag. That makes companies rely very heavily on just one or two strategies such as their status in order to fill their pipeline. It's like being a carpenter and only having a hammer in your tool bag. During th...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about what to do if you are new to government contracting. If you are new to government contracting (your first 12 to 36 months), you need to listen to this podcast immediately. This podcast will help you understand if the market is right for you, where to do your initial research to identify your top buyers, what...

In this episode, we talk with Jon Barker about Price to Win Strategies. Winning a government contract often comes down to your price. If your price is not competitive, you lose. If your price isn't justified, you lose. If you don't understand your pricing or don't have a clear pricing strategy, you will likely lose. We fix this by having an overall pricing strategy that we can easily modify for ea...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Managing Your Pipeline. Pipeline management can make or break your government contracting business. If you don't have enough opportunities in your pipeline, you won't hit your quota. If you don't have the right mix of opportunities, you may have trouble getting traction or your sales could drag on for months...

In this episode, we talk with Alexa Tsui about Teaming and Working with Frenemies. If you are going to be successful in government contracting, you need to embrace the concept of teaming. Most companies only want to team with their "friends." And that's understandable. But government contracting often requires you to work with a company or individual/s that you may not like. That other company may...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Task Blocking. Each time I share how many projects I'm working on with folks, the reaction is always the same. When do you sleep? Trust me, I get plenty of sleep. My secret to productivity and time management is actually very simple. I use a process that I call Task Blocking. Everything that I work on become...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Prepping for and Attending Conferences. Attending government conferences is a critical part of your growth strategy. Done wrong, it can be very expensive. Done right, you can walk away with valuable education, intelligence for future and current opportunities, and priceless relationships with contracting off...

In this episode, we conclude a two-part series about Your GovCon Marketing Strategy by talking with Chad Rodriguez. Chad talks about his experience using a third-party (Flourish) to build and execute their marketing strategy. Having a professional marketing strategy has allowed their company to stand out in the market and reach their target audience. Chad is also a huge fan of monitoring the analy...

In this episode, we talked with Megan Nivens-Tannett about Your GovCon Marketing Strategy. The average government contractor completely skips over creating a marketing strategy for their GovCon business. Most use what I would call the brute force method. This involves cranking out RFPs with the hope that if you just respond to enough, you will eventually win something. A well-thought-out marketing...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about the Your Government Contracting Social Media Plan. It's easy to get overwhelmed with all of the choices for social media. First, you have multiple platforms that you can you choose. Second, you have to figure out how to build an audience. Third, you have to figure out what to post. And those are just the ini...

In this episode, we talked with Mark Hijar about Teaming with Large System Integrator / Primes. Small businesses face several challenges when approaching a large prime to team. They have to differentiate themselves from dozens if not hundreds of other small companies with a status, provide valuable intelligence to the prime about an opportunity, speak the language of the primes, and ultimately pro...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Managing Your GovCon Finances. Money management is critical to your success in any business and can often be the difference between staying in business and shutting your doors. You need to understand simple things like; your monthly break-even, how to track A/R, systemizing your payroll, the cost of borrowin...

In this episode, we talked with Eric "Doc" Wright about the GovCon Benefits of having a PMP and/or Sec+ Certification. Hands-down, one of the hottest businesses to be in right now as a government contractor is project management. Every contract needs some level of project management and being able to prove your fluency and capabilities as a PM are critical to winning government contracts. This dis...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about the Top 5 Proposal Mistakes. We've all been in a position where we write our best proposal, submit it, and then lose. When it comes time for a debriefing, you realize you made a simple mistake. You make the correction next time, and to your surprise, you lose again! This time, your debriefing doesn't really...

In this episode, we talked with Joshua Frank about Federal Trends and their Impact to Your 2022 Government Sales Strategy. Josh covers strategic sourcing, CMMC, the labor shortage, the challenges the government is having moving to a distributed workforce, clearly articulating your value in a lowest price (LPTA) environment, and much more.

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Celebrating Your Losses. When most companies lose an RFP, a top employee, or suffer some other loss, the tendency is to grieve at some level and then just move on. Celebrating your losses helps to create a culture of learning. The next time you lose an RFP, you should get a debrief from the government and th...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about How to Hire and Retain Great People. It's my personal belief that this is going to be a challenge for the foreseeable future. The employment market was already getting tight before COVID. After COVID, people changed their perspectives and priorities. Employers need to do the same in order to attract the best...

In this episode, we talked with Emily Harman about her chapter Authentic Leadership from the book Becoming a GovCon Expert. The journey to becoming a better leader starts with self-discovery and a lot of inner work. Emily talks about letting go of the "shoulds," developing your mindset, finding your purpose, and more. ----- Federal Access is helping Government Contractors win more contracts. It ca...

In this special episode of Game Changers, you go 1-on-1 with Michael LeJeune to talk about Quarterly Planning. One of the things that separate winners from losers is having a plan. I can't stress enough the importance of sitting down once a quarter to review your long-term goals and then create a plan of action for the next 90-days that is going to move you closer to your dreams. The process that...