The Amtower Report

(The Amtower Report is an e-journal on the Business-to-Government market featuring the opinions of Mark Amtower, and occasionally reader comments. This newsletter is only sent to those who request it. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.FederalDirect.net and if you like this newsletter, please pass it along to your colleagues. To unsubscribe, see directions below. The newsletter is posted each Monday at www.FederalDirect.net, and the latest “Off-Center Observations” is on the home page. All back issues available at http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletterarchives.html)

In this issue:
Amtower Off-Center Observations
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: FOSE Download
Events Worth Attending
Amtower on the Radio- WFED

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: The OSDBU conference last week in Upper Marlboro had record attendance and a ton of floor traffic. Sponsored by the OSDBU Council, this is a great event for small businesses, but you will have to wait until next year for the next one. Congratulations to the OSDBU Council for another great event.Item:

Item: The wait is over – the archives for my new radio show are up at http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=356&sid=1102333 . The show airs Friday at 2 P< on WFED, 1050 Am in Washington DC and is simulcast at www.FederalNewsradio.com .

Item: There is a roast and tribute to industry veteran, master-networker and all around great guy John Sanders on May 23 (see Events below for details). For those who do not know John, he was the CEO of TechNews and publisher of Washington Technology for many years, creator of a number of events around WT, and just one heck of a guy to brain-storm with. At  www.JohnSanders.com  take some time to read his parables for Entrepreneurs, the JS no-holds barred view of being an innovator. John has always been a straight-shooter and an inspiration to many of us.

Item: My short speech at the 22^nd Annual Outlook Conference on April 12 went over well – The Six Habits of Highly Defective People. If you were not at Outlook, you can listen to the 20 minute speech here: http://federaldirect.net/sixhabits-outlookconference.mp3 . The last speech I gave that was this popular is turning into my second book which will be out in June, Why Epiphanies Never Occur to Couch Potatoes…. more on the new book soon.

Item: As of last week, there are 15,486 GSA contracts. Without doing an actual count (doing the Amtower eyeball estimate), I guess that 30% of the companies listed have yet to report any earnings.

Item: A subject line from an SBA newsletter last week read - SBA 07-21 -- President Proclaims April 22-28 as National Small Business Week. My sub-headline is Army, GSTI and WWT celebrate.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY: SMALL BIZ BLUES

I was at the third anniversary party for The American Small Business Coalition (www.theasbc.org ) on April 20, and I spoke at length with one small business owner who was lamenting his apparent inability to partner or team with larger integrators. His complaint is one I have heard often: I thought I had a relationship with their people, and they said if I brought them a deal, I might be able to get on the contract.

A harsh reality of wanting to do business with the large contractors is the simple fact that thousands of companies want their attention, want to be on their contracts and most  small companies simply do not understand the process. Part of understanding the process of becoming a sub-contractor is knowing that each of these prime contractors has their own partner selection criteria. None of these selection criteria are easy, seem-less or are based on perceived relationships.

How should a small business approach a large systems integrator?

I had the opportunity to interview business development veteran Bob Davis for several hours after he left CACI and before he went to work for Accenture. He taught some BD classes I produced in the mid-1990s which were quite good. Bob is a 30 year veteran of the market and one of the more experienced BD professionals. He really knows this stuff, and I have had a great time listening to the interview.

The purpose of the interview was to produce a CD program to help companies new to the market, or those simply not familiar with the business development process, understand this esoteric and specialized discipline. The result is a three-hour three CD program that is excellent for both the novice and the serious practitioner.

Bob walks the listener through the entire BD process from potential program emergence to post-award, and paid special attention to the above issue of how to partner and how not to partner with prime contractors – the systems integrators in our market. He likens the partnering process to going to a casino: know how much time and money you can afford to lose before you leave. Even professionals going to a casino know the odds are against them – but going with real market knowledge will improve your odds.

I will not try to offer a digest of what the CD set offers, except to say that partnering and teaming is an arduous process, with many pitfalls.

This CD set is scheduled to go into production in mid-May, after final editing. The publication price will be $397. The PRE-publication price, good until May 11, 2007, is $297, prepaid.

For a different CD program on the federal sales process I interviewed Max Peterson, a 20 year veteran of selling to the government. The results are similar: great information over three hours on three CDs – also being published in late May with a price of $397 and a PRE-publication price of $297 (the pre-publication price is o good until Friday, May 11, 2007 and it must be paid by that date) With end-of-FY rapidly approaching, this program can help many of those GSA Schedule holders on the lower end of the food chain.

If you are interested in either or both programs, email me at amtower@erols.com with CD Program in the subject line.

EVENTS WORTH ATTENDING

Beware of the SCHLOCK EVENT PRODUCERS, producing minimal value events that eat your money with no significant return! The events listed below are among those I think are worth your time, money and effort. Just because an event is not listed below does not imply it is not worth attending. If you want my opinion on a specific event or producer, call me. This topic is addressed more thoroughly in the members section at www.GovernmentMarketingBestPractices.com.

April 26, 2007: ITAA Breakfast Briefing: Real ID: Under Fire - an up-close look at the movement for stronger ID's, Ritz Carlton, Pentagon City, http://www.itaa.org/events/event.cfm?EventID=1903

May 1-2 Global INFOSEC Partnership Conference (GIPC) 2007 Ft. Huachuca, AZ http://www.fbcinc.com/gipc

May 9-10, 2007, GovSec, Washington Convention Center, www.GovSecinfo.com

May 15-17, 2007. GSA Expo, Orlando, Florida.  www.expo.gsa.gov

May 23 A Tribute & Roast Honoring  John Sanders, 6:00- 10:00 PM, Capital Hilton http://www.dctechcouncil.org   Sponsorships are available.

June 3-5, 2007, ACT Management of Change Conference, Richmond, Virginia.  THIS WILL SELL OUT FAST – REGISTER NOW! www.actgov.org

June 6, 2007: VMWare SYMPOSIA 2007 Ronald Reagan Center.: http://info.vmware.com/content/Sym?&Src=web_homepage

June 25-28, 2007, National Veteran Small Business Conference & Expo, Las Vegas www.Nationalveteransconference.com

June 26-28, Department of Energy 8^th Annual Small Business Conference,  Washington Hilton, www.smallbusiness-outreach.doe.gov

Nov 6, 2007 – The SIXTH ANNUAL AMTOWER SUMMIT ON SELLING PRODUCTS to the GOVERNMENT, BWI Airport Hilton. Save the date – details to follow at www.FederalDirect.net/2007summit.html

AMTOWER ON THE RADIO - WFED

Amtower Off-Center airs Friday at 2:05 PM on WFED 1050 AM in Washington, DC and is simulcast on  www.FederalNewsRadio.com. Upcoming guests  April 27: Courtney Fairchild (co-host), Bob Bly (world famous copywriter), Neal Vitale 1105 Media);  May 4: Channel issues: resellers Jill Aitoro (Government VAR), Larry Walsh (VAR Business), Bob Laclede (Ingram Micro);  May 11: Women in the Contractor Community: Issues and Viewpoints: Courtney Banks of Raytheon, others TBA;   May 18: Telework, Mark Zelinger (Zelinger Associates), Heywood (Woody) Talcove (Juniper), others TBA;  May 25: B2G Marketing – Mary English (MCH), Lisa Dezzutti  (Market Connections), Fred Diamond (Diamond Marketing), Larry Rosenfeld (Sage Communications). ….Stay tuned!

*** As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower Report is published by Amtower & Company, and is written for companies targeting the government marketplace. The opinions expressed are those of Mark Amtower unless otherwise noted. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 314, Highland, MD 20777-0314 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. Email subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net