Federal end-users, such as human resource program managers, engineers, or facility managers, make most purchasing decisions. As the term implies, the end-user is the person who will actually use the service. Services and complex products and solutions must be sold to the end-user because that's who will determine whether the service or product meets their needs and solves their problem.

Selling to the federal government mirrors the sales process in the commercial sector. You have to identify the end-users, knock on their door, be prepared for rejection if you are making cold calls, and be persistent. Use existing federal relationships to spawn new relationships if you can.

The difference between selling in the federal market as opposed to the commercial sector is that with the feds it is critical that you have a way to close the sale once the buyer has decided that your product or service is the one that will meet their needs. Closing in this context means signing a contract under federal purchasing rules. That is precisely what a GSA Schedule allows you to do.