When I took a class from Richard White on "Doing Business with Homeland Security," in early 2002, I was absolutely shocked to hear, "It will take well over 12 months to get business from the government." Being a commissioned sales executive ready to hit the federal field, I knew I didn't have that kind of time to win business. He said that many companies make the mistake of depending on only blanket marketing and not "feet on the street" sales to win government relationships and customer loyalty. Richard told us that it is fine to purchase contact databases for email marketing, but you need to back it up with a focused sales team.

With that concept in mind, I realized that I needed to go to Washington, DC myself and develop some key relationships. However, I didn't even know where to start. One evening, I was having dinner in Crystal City, Virginia with one of my local sales executive and we struck up a conversation with a group of other contractors. Crystal City, located just outside of Washington, is packed with hotels hosting thousands of out-of-town contractors serving the government. Many of the contractors end up "networking" with each other in Crystal City after a hard day out in the world of government contracting and sales. One of the gentleman I met was a very experienced sales executive who sold repairs to the Navy ships and spare used parts (which are difficult to find). I realized that his perspective and experience would be most helpful to a newcomer. He concurred with Richard's assessment that entering the federal market would take patience and perseverance, but the hard work would b e worth it. We exchanged business cards and went on about our business. The following week, we were both staying at the same hotel again and he introduced me to one of his colleagues, a personal friend of a Facility Director at the Navy. The new contact was kind enough to give me the name and phone number for the Facility Director. Over the months, I kept in contact with my contractor buddies because they would "coach" me throughout the relationship with the Facility Director.

I contacted the Facility Director and introduced myself as someone who was referred by a friend. He opened right up and invited me to the office. I took our local sales executive along with me because I knew he would want to know who would be taking care of his account locally. He introduced us to his preferred furniture vendor and told us that if we could work with her, we could work with him. Over the months, we kept in touch via phone, personal visits and email. One day, he contacted me in a panic. "Eileen, I need to create a speech on selling to the government for a woman's organization and all I could think of is you, because you are so persistent." I gladly helped him with the entire speech. Within a month of that speech, he sent me an email saying he heard through the grapevine that I might be able to help the Navy. He wrote an email to the person in charge and sent me a copy. He told me exactly when to call the "Lead" and what to say. As an aside, the Facility Director was not the decision maker in the case. Instead, he became my "fox" because he was my embedded federal contact who coached me through the entire relationship.

I contacted the Lead and he invited me in to meet his replacement. He said they would require my company's services but that our services wouldn't be needed until after his retirement took place in three weeks' time and his successor was in place. When the eventual meeting occurred, I introduced the "Replacement" to my local "Project Manager" (the same local sales executive mentioned previously). As discussed during our meeting, the Lead used us as a test for an order of one. Once my company's "Project Manager" perfected the delivery of one, the "Replacement" invited us in for the "big opportunity," as he called it. He then assigned us to meet with "the Team." Members of the Team laughed during our entire first visit. We asked about the joke and were told, after the boss left the room, that they had met with our competitor six months previously and suggested our type of service, but the bosses laughed at their idea. Now, they realized, the "Replacement" was using their original idea. The Team members told us they were fine with it as long as the idea was being used, because they believed that it was a good idea in the first place.

After twelve months of developing seven federal relationships within the same general department, a $250,000 project was born. Richard White was right - demonstrate 12 months of persistence, patience and perseverance and you'll win government business.