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CHARLIE MIKE – Curriculum

CHARLIE MIKE Webinars are from 1:00 – 2:00 PM EST on Tuesdays with schedule brakes. (Three week on/One week off format)

Tuesday, February 2: Winning Strategies and Proven Best Practices for Government Prospecting
Speaker: Joshua Frank, Managing Partner, RSM Federal
Description: One of the more educational, fast-paced, high-energy and thought-provoking seminars you will find on basic and advanced tactics and strategies for accelerating small business government sales. These tactics and strategies are designed for entrepreneur, novice, experienced business professionals, and executives who operate or plan to operate in the federal space. Based on changes that have taken place in federal acquisition the last five years, we will outline how and where to prospect and provide real-world tactics, strategies and recommendations. Focusing on techniques proven to maximize government opportunities, we discuss the importance of pre-acquisition prospecting; how and where to identify and evaluate which federal agencies and military commands buy what you sell; the most common prospecting challenges faced by small business; and identify, walkthrough, and we evaluate the 20 most common prospecting methods and discuss which ones actually work.

Unlike most seminars, this is more than a general or abstract discussion. This seminar provides award-winning tactics and strategies that have directly helped companies win more than $2.8 Billion in definitive contracts and more than $30 billion in multiple award contracts. There are hundreds of experts. There are thousands of recommendations. We discuss the importance of pre- acquisition prospecting; how and where to identify and evaluate which federal agencies and military commands buy what you sell; the most common prospecting challenges faced by small business; and we identify, walkthrough, and evaluate the 20 most common prospecting methods and discuss which ones actually work.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn and understand the difference between acquisition and pre-acquisition and how much time successful companies spend in each phase.
  • Understand the most common small business challenges and what you can do to minimize them.
  • Understand which prospecting and business development methods are weak, strong, and core to your sales strategy.

Tuesday, February 9: Contracting in a Crisis
Speaker: Gloria Larkin, President & CEO, TargetGov
Description: This is an exceptional time for federal contractors. Government contracting in a crisis is not contracting as usual. The government customer is adapting to meet its needs. During this time veteran-owned businesses can rise to meet those needs. Join Gloria Larkin, President & CEO of TargetGov, for a discussion of current conditions and opportunities.

The federal government continues actively contracting. New channels and processes have opened to expedite procurement of goods and services to not just address the pandemic, but to also keep the federal government functioning. This session will focus on what is changing to the resources available to find, pursue and win federal contracts. As a result, you can will support your company as it maps out the next 3, 6, and 9 months of business.

Major Takeaways:

  •  Expediting Acquisitions
  • Top Tools
  • Reaching Decision-Makers
  • Over 400 pages of supporting documents, curated to address critical contracting changes, available to webinar attendees

Tuesday, February 16: Leading Through Crisis: Turning Adversity Into Advantage
Speaker: Patrick Alcorn, Executive Leadership Coach, The John Maxwell Team
Description: In this webinar we will discuss three of the 11 Perspective Principles About Crisis. Learn practical ways to see and turn adversity into advantage, while helping others around you to do the same. Create and implement small, daily, practical steps that enable you to find and leverage the advantages found in a time of adversity.

Tuesday, February 23: BREAK

Tuesday, March 2: Engagement Series Part 1 – How to Win Your Meeting and Get Invited Back*
Speaker: Judy Bradt, CEO, Summit Insight
Description: “Get in front of the right people sooner” is the top challenge for over 80% of GovCons. Research shows that achieving this one thing will open the door to anywhere from $1 million to over $10 million this year. Here are the proven steps, based on what Federal buyers tell us they care about and results our clients see when they take action.

What you’ll learn:

  • Who your Federal Buyer is
  •  How to get in front of your Federal buyer
  •  The Two Types Of Wins You Need
  • The Three No-Fail Checklists You Must Have
  • The Four Keys To Federal Wins

Tuesday, March 9: Surviving the Valley of the Shadow of Death: NAICS code Exit Strategies
Speaker: Sharon B. Heaton, CEO, sbLiftOff
Guest: Harry M. Siegel, former owner of HMS TECHNOLOGIES
Description: Exceeding your size standard as a veteran with small business work can be a death knell. You can find yourself unable to bid new work, recompete, or receive follow on options after the 5th contract year. So how can you avoid this “valley of the shadow ofdeath?” and successfully sell your company?

Get the facts from a leading M&A professional and a service-disabled veteran who sold his company in 2020.

You will learn:

  • How to plan your NAICS code journey;
  • How to tweak your business plan to fit larger NAICS code work years in advance, or;
  • How to sell BEFORE you hit your NAICS code ceiling;
  • What the 2021 market looks like for veterans seeking to sell

Tuesday, March 16: Influencing CPARS and Using Quality Assurance to Win
Speaker: Gloria Larkin, President & CEO, TargetGov
Description: The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) or a provable and trackable internal customer service ratings process are two of the most critical, and most overlooked elements that impact an organization’s success in winning business with the federal government. Your company’s customer service or CPARS rating may very well be the determining factor in your next win or loss.

During this session Gloria Larkin, President & CEO of TargetGov, will discuss exactly how the federal government rates contractor performance and how to help your business grow by leveraging past performance in the private sector, in city, county and state government as well as federal prime and subcontracts. We will cover how the CPARS and a separate measurable internal customer service process impacts current and future bids and detail specific steps your business can take to achieve the highest CPARS rating. Also addressed is the huge challenge how to document performance ratings as a second, third or other tier subcontractor.

BURNING QUESTIONS THAT WILL BE ANSWERED:

  • Why and how does CPARS impact current bids?
  • How does the government rate contractor performance?
  • How can companies achieve the highest CPARS rating?
  • How can CPARS be used to expand capabilities?
  • How can a subcontractor prove customer satisfaction that federal decision-makers accept?

Tuesday, March 23: 5 Things You Need to Know for Finding and Winning Low-Hanging Fruit
Speaker: Guy Timberlake, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, GovCon Club™
Description: In the world of Federal Contracting, purchases made by civilian, defense, and intelligence agencies using the Simplified Acquisition Procedures move quicker, have fewer administrative burdens, and are used to procure a wide range of goods and services valued at more than $25B in FY2019 and FY2020.

This is a knowledge-rich Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors™ delivering insights and tips for immediate use in updating market research and business development tactics.

Tuesday, March 30: BREAK

Tuesday, April 6: Gain Access to Capital at Favorable Terms
Speaker: Kirk W. McLaren, CEO, Foresight CFO
Description: Growth companies need access to capital. We need working capital to prime the pumps when launching new contracts. We need borrowing capacity to gain the confidence of contracting officers to win new contracts. Sometimes we need funds to scale the business.

Join Kirk W. McLaren, MBA, CPA, IFM, the CEO of Foresight CFO and Georgetown University Lecturer, to learn about Gaining Access to Capital at Favorable Terms.

CEOs You Will Learn About

  • How to determine how much you need
  • Borrowing and equity options
  • What each source is looking for
  • Why strong financial practices improve your odds
  • Getting Your First Look Loan Score

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Tuesday, April 13: Methods for Communicating Your Past Performance to Accelerate Government Sales
Speaker: Joshua Frank, Managing Partner, RSM Federal
Description: If you’re looking for tactics and strategies on how to position and communicate your company’s past performance, this seminar will change how you market, communicate, and differentiate your products and services. An educational, fast-paced, and high-energy seminar, we look at how most companies market their “experience” and past performance, with moderate success and little to no differentiation. Then we’ll look at several real-world examples where you will learn to map the value for each of your contracts and then “bridge” them to improve market position and increase the perceived maturity of your company. This seminar will be heavy on examples and strategy, which any company, small or large, can take advantage of. Whether you are an entrepreneur, small, or large business; regardless of targeting the public or private sector, this seminar will open your eyes to how you can more strongly market your company.

Tactics and strategies on how to capture and competitively communicate your company’s experience and past performance. If you’ve ever attended one of Mr. Frank’s sessions, this new session will completely change how you perceive and communicate the value of your company and its solutions.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn how to communicate the value of your company with quantifiable and qualifiable metrics.
  • Learn how to communicate the value of your commercial past performance to help win government contracts.
  • For entrepreneurs and small business owners who have a new company, how to use, communicate, and market your individual experience, working for other companies, as part of your new company’s capability and value.
  • Learn how to use graphics to quickly and accurately portray your company’s expertise and past performance.

Burning Questions
1) My company has been around for several years and we have 9 contracts in both the commercial and government markets. However, most of our work is subcontract and they average between $25,000 and $75,000 revenue each. We want to convince other companies that we can do more than what we’re being given. We also want to start priming but we’re having a hard time communicating our value and what differentiates us. The work on all these contracts has been limited. We want to accelerate our growth. How do we take the work we’ve done and market and communicate in a way that will help us grow?

2) Hey! I’m new to the government market and while we have past performance on the commercial side, we don’t have a government contract yet. How do I communicate my company’s past performance in order to be competitive in the government market?

3) So…we are a new company that just opened for business 11 months ago. We don’t have any commercial or federal contracts yet. Recognizing that 90% of companies get their first 3 or 4 contracts as a subcontractor, how can we possibly communicate value and past performance to larger primes and GCs when we have not yet performed on a contract?

4) Is there a stronger way to quickly and professionally market our past performance via graphics? When someone looks at my website, marketing collateral, and bids / proposals, how can I ensure that prospects and teaming partners IMMEDIATELY recognize that we’re qualified, mature, successful, and highly competent?

Tuesday, April 20: Engagement Series Part 2 – Five Federal Lead Sources You Need To Know* 
Speaker: Judy Bradt, CEO, Summit Insight
Description: Do you keep seeing a ton of “opportunities,” but not enough for work your company can win? Or does all the set-aside work keep going to someone else?
Help is here. Join us to discover how successful GovCons figure out who their players are at all the layers, and start to get in front of them long before the requirements are written with someone else in mind.

There’s plenty more you’ll need to learn…but this session will get you on the right track to building relationships with the Federal buyers you are meant to serve.

Here Is What You Will Learn:

  • What’s A Lead?
  • The Players and Layers
  • Five Lead Sources You Can Tap NOW
  • Live Q&A and More Demos
  • Tools and Templates
  •  Next Steps

Attendee resources: The Lead Generation & Capture Template

Tuesday, April 27 – BREAK

Tuesday, May 4: Engagement Series Part 3 – Close It In Q4! Ten Things You MUST Start Doing Now*
Speaker: Judy Bradt, CEO, Summit Insight
Description: Are you ready for the Big Spend? Federal buyers awarded over 38% of their contract dollars between July 1st and September 30th in 2018… and that’s not unusual! But if you want to be winning those awards in Federal 4th Quarter there are ten things you need to be doing NOW.

Join us to learn what they are, and start taking action that can put you on the fast track to the wins you want. Here’s why we know it works: these are the steps our clients take, including the SDVOSB who turned a $10,000 contract into a $1,000,000 win in just six weeks.

Here Is What You Will Learn:

  •  Why are small projects important (and how can I turn them into big wins)?
  • How can I become top of mind in their busy season?
  • Why don’t they return my calls (and what do to instead)?
  • What’s the easiest win?
  • What can I give them without getting into trouble?
  •  How can I actually reach buyers?
  •  How can I make my company stand out?
  • How can I win without a GSA Schedule?
  • How can I get a first win in a new Agency?
  • Where are all the fast sole-source buys?

Tuesday, May 11: Advanced beta.SAM Search – Finding Competitive Intelligence on Government Opportunities
Speaker: Joshua Frank, Managing Partner, RSM Federal
Description: Identifying who buys, how much, and how often is called “Propensity” – and it helps you identify which military commands and federal agencies to target. Unlike most sessions, this is much more than a general or abstract discussion. This session, designed for “Procurement Readiness,” will accelerate your ability to validate who buys what you sell (down to the state, city, and contracting office level); to help transform how and where you engage the market; and to help validate the competitiveness of your pricing . . . for any specific opportunity.

Successfully taking advantage of this information requires that you take the data you find in one system and using that data to find information and intelligence in the next system. There is a process for moving between government systems. You will learn how to connect the dots in order to be more competitive.

Many consultants charge anywhere from $3K to $5K to do what this seminar will teach you. Utilizing beta.SAM’s Data Bank (formerly FPDS), we will walk-through an extensive, step-by-step process so that you can perform this research on your own. This seminar includes basic content to support companies new to government sales and advanced content for companies that are more established in the government space. This includes identifying your NAICS codes; your SBA size standards; how to quickly search SAM’s Data Bank; how to run advanced ad hoc queries; how to locate your competitor’s pricing; and how to find quality teaming partners. With millions of data fields, we will demonstrate the tips and tricks for MS Excel pivot tables in order to quickly find the answers you need for your sales strategy. If you’re familiar with government data, but not confident about how to filter or make sense of the data, this session is guaranteed to make you more competitive; help you identify and validate competitive price points (CPP) (whether your pricing is competitive); and help you more strongly target government buyers and teaming partners.

A Master Class on finding competitive intelligence on government opportunities. This session will help connect the dots and make you more competitive. We’ll walk-through an extensive, step-by-step, real-world example where we use more than a dozen government websites and data sources, including tips and tricks with beta.SAM’s Data Bank, to improve your competitive pricing, teaming, and sales strategy.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn how to identify what other contractors were paid for a given contract and how this helps identify your competitive price point.
  • Learn how to quickly identify which contracting offices in which agencies, commands, and states are buying what you sell, including contact information.
  • Learn how to take advantage of government contract data and simple instructions on how to run pivot tables in MS Excel.

Burning Questions
1) I’m bidding on a contract and I have no idea if my pricing is even in the ballpark. I need to know if my pricing is competitive. I’ve tried searching government systems and I’m having a hard time finding anything on this contract. Is there a way to figure out what the competitive price point will be for the opportunity I’m bidding right now?

2) Awesome! I’ve filtered the data and I know that USACE is my top buyer. How do I figure out where these contracts are being procured? Which installation? There are dozens of contracting divisions and offices! How do I identify the specific contracting office so I know exactly where to start?

3) “Use this system. Use that system. Try teaming with other companies. Just call the government buyers . . .” Ugh! I’m still struggling! I’m not sure what this data tells me, the value it provides, or how to use it and take advantage of it. Really, how valuable is this data? How do I sift through the millions of data points, find the information I need, understand how this data impacts the decisions I’m making, and how does it really make me more competitive?

4) “Just query FPDS, USASPending.gov, GSA Sales Query, etc. etc.” Well that’s just great. But I have no idea how to manage or look through all this data. How do I use pivot tables to quickly and easily crunch the data and find actionable intelligence. . . in less than 20 minutes?

Tuesday, May 18: Engagement Series Part 4 – To bid or not to bid? The $65,000
Question (Includes complimentary checklist and worksheet)*
Speaker: Judy Bradt, CEO, Summit Insight
Description: You know the feeling in the pit of your stomach, when you see that great opportunity, it looks like it was written just for you… and there’s less than 30 days to go. You’ve worked so hard, but somehow it seems too good to be true. You’ll learn how to make bid-nobid decisions in ways that will end your sleepless nights, save you thousands of dollars, months of time… and avoid losing your talented staff who become demoralized when their hard work brings them just loss after loss.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why Bid / No-Bid Matters
  • Bid/No-Bid: Major Criteria
  • Wired: For them or for you?

Bid/NoBid 12-Step Diagnostic

  • Case Study: Sahl Communications
  • Case Study: Red212
  • Sample Bid-NoBid Evaluation Matrix

Tuesday, May 25 – BREAK

Tuesday, June 1: Initiating Aggressive & Agile Growth
Speaker: Gloria Larkin, President & CEO, TargetGov
Description: Join Gloria Larkin, President & CEO of TargetGov, for this information-packed webinar to help you focus on increasing opportunities to drive aggressive growth and business development leveraging your VOB, VOSB, SDVOB, or SDVOSB certification now. Attendees of this session will learn specific practical actionable strategies and tactics to fast-track federal market growth. Topics covered include: Funding trends, Contract vehicles, Positioning to win market share, Federal decision makers, Using the Mentor-Protégé Program for growth, and Guaranteeing decision-maker meetings.

Key Takeaways:

  • Fast-track tools for success
  • Creating trackable capture processes
  • Measurable business development
  • Selling services and products using the MPT and SAT

Tuesday, June 8: The Small Business Participation Commitment…Maximizing Your Score as a Small Business Offeror for an Unrestricted DoD Acquisition
Speaker: Stephanie Sherwood, CPSD, CPCM, SB Program Manager/Small Business Liaison Officer, Weston Solutions, Inc.
Description: Many unrestricted DoD acquisitions require all offerors, both large and small, to submit a SmallBusiness Participation Commitment Document(SBPC), which is a scored factor of each proposal’s evaluation. Based on the offeror’s total proposal price/value, the SBPC differs from a Small Business Subcontracting Plan–which is based on available subcontracting and required only from Large Business offerors.

This webinar will review the required contents of a SBPC, and how Small Business offerors can best address those requirements to maximize their scores for this important proposal evaluation factor. Enforceable commitments, sourcing, categorical SB targets, past performance, and successful implementation strategy will be addressed.

Tuesday, June 15: The NAIC-ed Truth About Federal Procurements
Speaker: Guy Timberlake, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, GovCon Club™
Description: Reducing drag and increasing the accuracy of identifying customers and opportunities, starts with good information. In government contracting, agencies have unique identifiers to classify organizations at the Department, Agency, and Office-levels, Major and Portfolio-level IT investments and so much more.

But only one is designated as describing ‘goods and services purchased’ in Federal Procurement Data System transactions, and it’s not NAICS Codes.

Tuesday, June 22: Advanced Teaming Strategies To Accelerate Small Business Government Revenue
Speaker: Joshua Frank, Managing Partner, RSM Federal

Description: This session is designed to accelerate your teaming strategies by three to five years, providing basic to advanced real-world techniques to differentiate and build competitive advantage with small and large businesses. Seminar provides value for entrepreneur, novice, and experienced business professionals. A strong teaming strategy differentiates the capabilities of your company and helps you integrate them into two or more of another company’s markets or territories. This facilitates qualified opportunities, both tactical and strategic. Focusing on techniques proven to strengthen your company’s position, we discuss the most common teaming mistakes small businesses make with larger companies; being on a winning team and receiving no work; first versus second-tier subcontracting; a detailed discussion of the five functional areas larger companies use to evaluate and select small business, and the techniques and strategies you can use to differentiate from your competition (not price or features).

Designed for entrepreneur, novice, and experienced business professionals who operate or plan to operate in the federal space. More than a general or abstract discussion. Designed to accelerate your teaming strategies by three to five years, providing basic to advanced real-world techniques to differentiate and build competitive advantage with small and large businesses. Focusing on techniques proven to strengthen your company’s position, we discuss the most common teaming mistakes, a winning team and no work; the five areas larger companies use to evaluate you, and the techniques and strategies you can use to differentiate from your competition. These strategies have helped companies win more than $2 Billion in small business government contracts. Attendees receive session slides, business templates, and example marketing collateral.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify the most common teaming challenges faced by small business government contractors and tactics and strategies to mitigate them.
  • Understanding how to approach teaming partners and the strategies for convincing them to put you on their team.
  • How important is socio-economic status to getting on a team? Not as much as you would think.
  • How to ensure you get work after you’re on a winning team, whether definitive contract or IDC.

Burning Questions
1) How can I position with these other companies so that when I call, they jump at the chance to put my company on their team? Exactly what are they looking for beyond past performance?
2) I don’t want to sign exclusivity in the teaming agreement. I want to be on multiple teams. What should I do in this situation?
3) With these socio-economic certifications, these larger companies HAVE to put companies like ours on their team. So why are we not getting on teams and what do we need to do differently?
4) I know what products we sell or services we provide. I can answer any question I’m asked. But in order to differentiate from other companies, I know that I have to differentiate. How do I successfully communicate the value of what I sell in order to differentiate and get on the teams that we want?

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