I think it goes without saying that once you are awarded your GSA Schedule, your goal is to become a successful GSA contractor. But how do you make sure you are taking advantage of all GSA’s tools and effectively marketing yourself to the government? Government marketing is not the same as commercial marketing, so the landscape may be all new to you.
One of the most common misconceptions is once you are awarded your GSA Schedule, you can just sit back and watch the orders come in from government buyers. This is rarely true. You need to be proactive about marketing your products and services, and making your solutions stand out from your competitors. We know it's easier said than done, so that's why we created this blog to help you get a head start on your marketing plan.
Who Are Your Government Customers?
Before you begin creating your GSA Schedule marketing strategy, you need to understand who your potential customers are. This is a question we get from many of our clients: Who can we sell to with a GSA Schedule? It's more entities that you would expect.
The simple answer is: any executive or federal agency, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, or the Department of Labor. You can also sell to groups like Congress or the Senate. However, you can sell to more agencies than just the federal government.
With a GSA Schedule, you can also sell to certain international organizations like the United Nations and NATO, or you can sell to some state and local government entities including public education institutions and tribal governments through special purchasing programs.
These state and local programs include Cooperative Purchasing where you can sell IT and security related products, and Disaster Purchasing, where you can sell solutions related to disaster preparedness or response. There are several other state and local programs for GSA contractors, but if you’re ever unsure if you can sell to a specific agency, you can check GSA’s list of eligible entities.
Marketing Your GSA Schedule
Now that you have a better idea of your customers, you’ll want to start creating an effective marketing plan for your GSA Schedule. We have put together 5 main steps you should follow to make your solutions more visible to government customers.
1. Research Your Government Customers and Competitors
You can’t perform any of the following steps successfully if you haven’t done your research. You'll want to first identify: Who are your targeted government agencies and who are your competitors?
Identify Your Target Agencies
Although it’s tempting, you'll want to narrow in on a few government customers rather than trying to market to all of them. Just like the commercial world, you want to target specific customers. Once you have identified your target agencies, you’ll want to find out everything you can about them including their:
- Budget
- Acquisition plans
- Current/past contract awards
- Procurement forecasts
We suggest using the following sites to help you acquire your information.
- SAM.gov: This site will allow you to check out any upcoming contract opportunities and search past award information
- Usaspending.gov: This site has a lot of information on past and future budget forecasts and contract awards so you can see who the incumbent is on certain contracts.
- Schedule Sales Query Plus (SSQ+): This GSA-specific site lets you view spending trends for several categories including by contractor, business size, NAICS Code, category etc.
Research Your Competitors
You also want to research your competitors and how they compare to you in the government market. You’ll want to find out their:
- GSA awarded pricing
- Capabilities
- Previous contract awards
Of course, you might be able to find out some of the initial information by simply googling them, but we suggest three main sites to help with your research:
- GSA eLibrary: eLibrary creates a profile for every GSA Schedule contractor. Here you can view a company's pricelist/text file, business size, special designations, SINs, etc.
- GSA Advantage!: You can use this site to compare pricing and offerings for similar products sold by your competitors.
- GSA’s CALC tool: This tool is for labor categories only. You can use it to compare rates for similar offerings and the averages for every labor category.
2. GSA’s Procurement Platforms
GSA has two main platforms to sell your solutions and actively bid on government contracting opportunities: GSA Advantage! and GSA eBuy.
GSA Advantage
GSA Advantage! is the federal government’s premier purchasing site. We like to think of it as the federal government’s version of Amazon. Government agencies can easily search for millions of products and services, yours included. On this site, you’ll want to make sure each of your listings has detailed product information including photos, descriptions, and GSA approved prices. You’ll also want to ensure you are uploading high quality photos or logos, and detailed descriptions.
GSA eBuy
Government agencies go to GSA eBuy to post Requests for Quotes (RFQs) and Requests for Information (RFIs). You can respond to and bid on these opportunities. What's unique about this site is you can search for opportunities listed under your specific Special Item Numbers (SINs), so you don't have to sift through unrelated opportunities. You can also view submitted quotes, and save quotes for the future. Occasionally, government agencies will also select you when they create an RFQ, and you will receive an email notification requesting a quote. A new feature allows you to send a notice that you intend to respond to an opportunity as well.
3. Boost Your Web Presence
Your own website is a useful marketing tool in itself. You should plan to dedicate a section of your website just for government customers, so they can learn more about your company and how your solutions meet their needs all in one place. You can link to your website on GSA eLibrary, so you want to make sure if a government customer visits your site, they’ll have plenty of helpful material at their fingertips.
When you are creating this section, you’ll want to focus on addressing how your unique solutions will help the customer. It's important to use more "you" language instead of "we" language. Tell your customers how you can help them achieve their mission, instead of spending a lot of time talking about your company's achievements.
On this webpage you’ll want to include:
- GSA approved logo (see link for restrictions)
- Contract information
- Past performance
- Case studies and whitepapers
- Emphasis on your value and differentiators
- Links to GSA Advantage! and GSA eLibrary
- Capabilities statement (more details below)
4. Learn How to Draft an Effective Capabilities Statement
A capabilities statement is an effective tool to help you stand out from your competitors and introduce your company to government customers. You may have crafted a commercial capabilities statement, but this one needs to be unique for each government customer.
Some capabilities statements are required in government solicitations, but it’s also a great idea to have handy at any industry days or networking event, or if you’re meeting with a Program Management Officer.
In the capabilities statement you’ll want to include your: core competencies, past performance, differentiators, and corporate data. The table below goes into detail on how to successfully fill out each section.
5. Find Contracting Opportunities for Your GSA Schedule
Making yourself visible to government customers is the first step in marketing, but you'll also want to be proactive about finding government contracting opportunities. We'll discuss a few ways below you can track opportunities for your company.
GSA eBuy
We covered this platform earlier in the blog, but as a reminder, GSA eBuy is where government customers post RFQs and RFIs for GSA Schedule contractors to bid on. In the “find opportunities now” section, you can search for relevant RFIs and RFQs based on the SINs listed on your GSA Schedule.
SAM.gov
SAM.gov has acquired a lot of GSA’s legacy systems in the past few years, and one of them is Federal Business Opportunities (FBO). On this site, you can search for contracting opportunities and filter them by keyword, agency, response date, NAICS Code, etc. We cannot emphasize enough how useful this site is for finding your next contract.
Subscription-Based Government Forecast Sites
Although the government has a few free sites to help you locate upcoming opportunities, you may also want to consider subscription sites that track specific opportunities closely. These sites can keep an eye on specific industries and keywords and send you notifications when there's a relevant opportunity coming up.
Industry Days and Other Networking Events
As a GSA Schedule contractor, you can attend industry days, GSA business matchmaking events, and summits (even virtually). During these events, you can establish connections with government customers and other contractors if you want to form a Contractor Teaming Arrangement (CTA). It’s also a great time to share your capabilities statements!
Make Sure to Keep Your Marketing Materials Updated
Your GSA Schedule can last up to 20 years, and the government marketplace as well as your solutions are bound to change. You’ll want to make sure you are keeping the information on your site fresh and frequently updating your marketing materials. As we are starting to see with the change in administration after the 2024 election, priorities and spending changes in the government marketplace, and you’ll want to make sure your marketing materials reflect the current needs of government agencies.
If you have questions about using procurement platforms like GSA eBuy and Advantage!, or you have general questions about your GSA Schedule contract, feel free to reach out to a member of our consulting team. If you would like to learn more about marketing your Schedule and keeping it up to date, sign up for our weekly blog recap and monthly government contracting newsletter.
