Knowing your customers is the key to sales success. This is true whether you're selling to public or private organizations. The most successful federal contractors take the time to uncover contact information for the buyers who purchase what their company sells. However, finding the right buyers can be one of the most difficult aspects of federal sales and is the single biggest reason that small businesses find the federal market so difficult to enter.

The federal government offers a wide range of marginally useful resources to help small businesses enter the federal market. For example, federal agency web sites provide information on how to do business with the government. The reality is that these web sites, for the most part, provide nothing more than suggestions on how to deal with red tape. Federal agencies also hold conferences and training events for small businesses. Unfortunately, end user contact information is not provided as part of these events. The government's offerings are carefully designed to provide help on the surface without providing access to end users. Why, you ask? The truth is that end users would prefer to remain anonymous because they have all the vendors they need and do not want to be deluged with calls from new vendors.

A long-range solution to this problem may be in the making. Congress is currently considering legislation which would require the creation and posting of a public contract awards database. The proposed database would provide a summary of what was purchased and who the end users and official buyers were for awarded contracts. The creation of the proposed database would be the single biggest step the federal government has ever taken to truly opening the federal market. However, the implementation of such a database could take several years, if not more. In the interim, a small business is forced to conduct research by (i) searching the Internet, (ii) perusing agency telephone directories and agency organizational charts, or (iii) making contact with contracting officers to ask them who the federal buyers are in their respective agencies.