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  2. June is Entrepreneur's "Do It Yourself" Marketing Month!.

    For those of you who are not yet fans of Chase's Calendar of Events, you'll find that it's a great resource for you or for your clients when seeking those special holidays to tie your promotions to! In fact, there only ONE entry in the entire book with the word "marketing" in the title, and it happens to be in honor of Entrepreneurs "Do It Yourself" Marketing Month in June. Of course, that's reason to celebrate.

    In order to do our part for the celebration, we've created a cool little e-book with some marketing planning tools and 30 ideas for entrepreneurs, along with a 30-day e-course starting on June 1st. What's even better is that there's different content and different ideas in the e-book and the e-course, so it's like you're getting two for one!

    Learn more about Entrepreneurs "Do It Yourself" Marketing Month at: www.diymarketingmonth.com

    Below is the press release signaling the launch of Entrepreneurs "Do It Yourself" Marketing Month coming up in June.

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

    Contact: DanaVanDen Heuvel
    The MarketingSavant Group
    888-989-7771
    dana@marketingsavant.com

    MarketingSavant Group reaches out to entrepreneurs with "DIY" marketing in honor of June's "Do it Yourself" Marketing Month

    Green Bay, WI -- (May 13, 2009) Even in struggling economic times,
    small businesses' entrepreneurial spirit continues to be a driving
    force in the American economy.

    A Green Bay, Wis.-based marketing consulting and training firm is
    reaching out to the backbone of American business, providing a
    Do-It-Yourself Marketing Plan customized specifically for
    entrepreneurs. MarketingSavant is delivering free marketing tools just
    in time for Entrepreneurs "Do It Yourself" Marketing Month in June.

    "As an entrepreneur myself, I know how challenging it is to keep
    marketing 'top of mind' and to stay front of mind with your customers
    when you're wearing multiple hats," said Dana VanDen Heuvel, president
    of MarketingSavant and creator of the month-long Do It Yourself
    Entrepreneur Marketing Plan geared to small business. "But effective
    marketing is even more pivotal to a small business' well-being than
    their larger peers'."

    Not to mention the sheer number of small businesses ripe for
    marketing assistance. Small business is not equated with small
    financial impact. Consider these statistics:


    • In 2008, there were an estimated 27 million small businesses in the U.S. (Source: Small Business Administration)

    • In 2008, 12 million people were involved in starting new firms. (Source: Small Business Administration)

    • For 90 percent of these beginning entrepreneurs, it takes more
      than five years for an outcome to be determined. In that time,
      one-third disengage, one-third continue in start-up mode and another
      third implement a new firm. (Source: U.S. Small Business Administration)

    • Small businesses provide half the nation's nonfarm, private real
      gross domestic product, and half of all Americans work for a small
      firm. In addition, small businesses have been the primary job generator
      in the U.S. economy, creating 60 to 80 percent of the new net jobs
      annually from 1994 to 2004.(Source: Small Business Administration)


    With numbers like these, there's a substantial audience that can
    benefit from Do It Yourself marketing tools customized to their unique
    needs. The MarketingSavant DIY Entrepreneur Marketing Plan includes
    several resources that entrepreneurs can quickly put to use, as well as
    tools to build their long-term marketing plans, including:

    • "30 Days of DIY Marketing" e-book, an excellent resource that
      provides a marketing calendar and more than 30 do-it-yourself marketing
      ideas to grow your business over the summer;

    • 30-day e-course, delivered daily by email, highlighting marketing tips;

    • Eligibility to receive one of 10 free copies of the book, "Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days" by Jay Conrad and Al Lautenslager;

    • Free access to a BlogTalkRadio program featuring insights from Lautenslager, a well-known and respected guerrilla marketer

    • Tips for reaching out to the media to obtain media coverage on your event/product/service

    • Much more!


    "Realistically, entrepreneurs want to take charge of their own
    marketing, just as they take charge of everything related to their
    businesses," said VanDen Heuvel. "The DIY Marketing Plan makes this
    good intention a reality by delivering a comprehensive plan
    specifically for entrepreneurs in an easy-to-implement, do-it-yourself
    format."

    To learn more about the DIY Entrepreneur Marketing Plan and/or to
    participate in the plan for your small business' benefit, visit www.diymarketingmonth.com today!



    (05/14/09 09:00 PM)

  3. Is Your Marketing Head in the Sand?. It seems most marketers, at times like this, are retrenching and burying themselves ‘in what they know’. Or they're being asked to. Managers are afraid to tee up new social marketing ideas to senior execs, since "6 programs just got cut". The CFO is asking to cut any marketing that can not be proven to be accretive to current ROI figures. That’s all understandable, but now is not the time to bury your head in the sand, for your career or for your business. Three reasons why: Assume everyone else is doing that (burying heads in the sand). Don’t you (as a person and business) want to stand out and differentiate? Don’t you want to go where your competitor is not? Don’t you want to be stronger and smarter than competition with social marketing activities as we come out of this recession? Aren’t customers even MORE wary of traditional marketing and advertising, turning to each other more for authentic advice. User generated content is growing at times like this – in both creation and consumption. 8 out of 10 shoppers consulted reviews before buying their holiday gifts. 70% of Twitter accounts were created in 2008. Facebook is expected to grow to 200M (from 150M users) by the end of this year. And I’ve seen no slow down in customers posting user generated content through our clients.Don’t fall back when the rest of the market is moving forward. Take this opportunity to take advantage of sleeping competitors. Be the light for... (02/24/09 09:00 AM)

  4. In the downturn, green companies outperform. A new study by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney indicates that firms with "true commitment to sustainability" outperform industry peers in the financial markets. The study, called Green Winners: The Performance of Sustainability-Focused Companies During the Financial Crisis, found... (02/11/09 09:00 PM)

  5. Launching my new company. After almost two years at Prophet, I am reconnecting with my entrepreneurial spirit to start up a new social-good consulting firm called Fruitful. The focus is on aligning business strategy with social good to achieve triple-bottom-line results. I'm really excited... (02/02/09 09:00 PM)

  6. Is Your Marketing Head in the Sand?. It seems most marketers, at times like this, are retrenching and burying themselves ‘in what they know’. Or they're being asked to. Managers are afraid to tee up new social marketing ideas to senior execs, since "6 programs just got cut". The CFO is asking to cut any marketing that can not be proven to be accretive to current ROI figures. That’s all understandable, but now is not the time to bury your head in the sand, for your career or for your business. Three reasons why: Assume everyone else is doing that (burying heads in the sand). Don’t you (as a person and business) want to stand out and differentiate? Don’t you want to go where your competitor is not? Don’t you want to be stronger and smarter than competition with social marketing activities as we come out of this recession? Aren’t customers even MORE wary of traditional marketing and advertising, turning to each other more for authentic advice. User generated content is growing at times like this – in both creation and consumption. 8 out of 10 shoppers consulted reviews before buying their holiday gifts. 70% of Twitter accounts were created in 2008. Facebook is expected to grow to 200M (from 150M users) by the end of this year. And I’ve seen no slow down in customers posting user generated content through our clients.Don’t fall back when the rest of the market is moving forward. Take this opportunity to take advantage of sleeping competitors. Be the light for... (01/16/09 09:00 PM)

  7. Help prevent what you treat....

    In reading a recent post on Bill's blog in his Monday Morning Motivation series, he offers the advice to chiropractors, or any doctor for that matter, that their highest calling is to help prevent what they treat.

    ...but what are you doing to help make yourself obsolete?

    ...The highest calling of any doctor (of any ilk) is to help prevent what it is they treat.

    Thumbnail image for obsolete.jpg

    That got me to thinking about my philosophy as a consultant and speaker. It's hard for those of us who work on the retainer system to hold the philosophy of "helping to make ourselves obsolete", but that's exactly what we need to do. There is such an abundance of opportunity out there and by working closely with our clients (whether our consultative calling is inside or outside the enterprise) to move them to a higher platform of strategic or digital marketing execution expertise, we're truly offering the service that they need (and not the service, that we need...)

    ACTION REQUIRED:

    Think about this in your interactions all week. What have we done to truly understand the client and share our wisdom on making them better marketers (or, whatever they are) so that you too can one day be obsolete to them and move on to helping clients help themselves? That is the highest calling of any consultant.


    (08/04/08 09:01 AM)

  8. Small business growth through investing. drake14.jpg











    Since launching MarketingSavant (my social media/digital marketing consulting company) earlier this year, I've been looking at a number of ways to grow the business, outside of hiring people. By growing the business I mean simply the cash base or revenues from the organization. I was caught off guard when another local consulting business owner asked me "so, what's your exit strategy?" Wow, I just kicked this thing off, what do you mean "exit strategy". Of course, I know exactly what he means, but I'd never really given it that much thought. When you're an entrepreneur or an intrepreneuer (someone with an entrepreneurial spirit inside the corporation), you need to have your own exit strategy. For me, I've chosen to pursue an 'education in investing' strategy to help grow my cash reserves while I grow the business. Yes, I know, the market isn't exactly doing well, but that's precisely the time to get in. I look at the stocks and funds that I'm investing in now and thinking back to when I graduated college in 1999... if I had invested even a modest sum then, I'd be doing quite well now. Which brings us to the one thing that I think investing and marketing have in common (I'm sure there are others...but this one is really important... Faith in the future. As marketers, we're always marketing to the future, with faith in that marketing campaign and it's ability to deliver future value. As investors, we're buying stocks and funds with faith in the company's ability to grow into the future. Marketers and investors unite! Doom and gloom does not serve you...it's the faith in the future that keeps both of us afloat and in business. [Inspired by Kevin's post on 'cracks in the retirement nest egg']
    (07/08/08 09:00 AM)

  9. Business Blog Consulting getting back up to speed.

    bbc.logo.png

    After a bit of a slow period, the BBC (Business Blog Consulting) is getting back up to speed with a new owner (Stephan Spencer) and renewed enthusiasm.

    As a business blogger and blog/social media consultant, it's great to be part of this team.

    Keep an eye on the developments at BBC!


    (04/04/08 09:00 PM)

  10. Liberate Your Marketing By Setting Boundaries.
    This is the article that I wrote this month for adotas.  The idea here is that so often, marketers are consumed with all of the media and hype around them that we neglect to setup proper boundaries and filters for ourselves and for our teams to ensure that we're truly able to focus on our marketing mission, only letting that which will truly benefit our organization onto the marketing plan.

    â??Donâ??t fence me inâ?? is the mindset of most marketers and creative members of your team. The last thing we typically want is to have boundaries on our time, creativity and choices. Boundaries, however, are what keep you and I focused on the business of marketing and others focused on sales and still others focused on finance and operations. The ability to set, express, and maintain boundaries is an essential part of any healthy marketing department. Boundaries build â??win-winâ?? relationships by making clarifying needs and limits, while opening the field on what options are available for meeting marketing objectives. More specifically, setting marketing boundaries around both new and legacy marketing tactics allow you to focus on those things that matter and only pursue those ideas that pass through your well-established marketing boundaries, ensuring a higher degree of success.

    What do marketing boundaries look like, and how can you know where and how to set them?

    Peter Block, author of Flawless Consulting, says that â??If you canâ??t say â??no,â?? your â??yesesâ?? donâ??t mean a thing.â?? Thatâ??s so absolutely true. In marketing, if we canâ??t say â??NOâ?? to those things that seem to beg at our budgets and demand our time, weâ??re hamstrung in trying to accomplish those things that weâ??ve already said â??yesâ?? to. In order to keep our yes and no categories in check, there are five key boundary setting techniques that I recommend for all marketers.

    Learn to say The Positive â??NOâ??: Yes, you can say â??noâ?? positively. Knowing that your â??noâ?? answer leads to increased energy and focus on the â??yesesâ?? youâ??ve already committed to. To get a feel for this, look at where you should say â??NOâ?? right now. Sit down right now and identify the emerging demands on your marketing team, plan and budget. Identify 5-10 â??NOâ??sâ?? you need to say. Then, for each, ask yourself, â??What would I be willing to say â??Yesâ?? to in this case?â?? Choose wisely - only what you are willing to do, and can do with the same energy and focus that youâ??ve committed to apply to your existing â??yeses.â??

    Establish â??gate criteriaâ?? for new marketing vehicles and ideas: Thereâ??s a tool used in product development called the â??Stage-Gateâ?? method that includes a set of predetermined steps from idea to launch. By implementing a similar set of procedural steps in reviewing new marketing ideas, tools, tactics and technologies you will gain a clear understanding of what you should allow into your marketing mix and whatâ??s destined for the â??NOâ?? pile. Just as you have a systematic process for evaluating candidates that you hire onto your marketing team, you need to establish rigor in what ideas make it onto the marketing plan.

    Equip your team with boundary setting tools: The best boundary setting tools are of little benefit to an organization if all of the information and minute decisions are still run though the head of marketing. When working through the exercise on the â??positive NOâ?? and setting up your gate criteria, walk you team through the process and gather their input. When you get to the next iteration, walk through it with your team again and point out where their input is included. Repeat until complete.

    Transfer ownership of boundaries to your team: Working through step 3, â??equip your team,â?? will set the stage for ownership transfer. Once youâ??ve settled on an initial â??NOâ?? list and have your gate criteria and process established, it should become part of everyoneâ??s job to ensure that everything is vetted through the new process and â??NOâ?? test before it comes up for discussion.  This way youâ??ll have a team thatâ??s always focused on the securing the win for each of your committed â??yesesâ?? but that also knows how to spot a genuine opportunity when it comes along.

    Keep your freedom to choose: When youâ??re not clear on what you should say no to, itâ??s equally challenging on what to say yes to. By setting marketing boundaries, youâ??ll free up your thoughts and energy to focus on what matters most in achieving your objectives, while simultaneously freeing yourself to make smart choices using your new â??power of NOâ?? and ideas evaluation methods.

    Once youâ??ve established boundaries, a system and criteria for new marketing idea review and delegate boundary management to your team, youâ??ll find yourself with more focus, energy and initiative behind those decisions that you have committed to and will have a fool-proof system for staying in step with the newest marketing trends without feeling like youâ??re being carried away on a tidal wave of runaway marketing ideas.



    (04/04/08 09:00 PM)

  11. Lovely E-Mail.

    I get quite a few e-mails each day. Some are from people asking about my services, others want me to answer their questions, and still others write rather lengthy stories about various hardships that they want to overcome by getting grants that don't exist. Then there is the e-mail I received yesterday asking for a donation so that the sender could attend a conference in Las Vegas, which she can't pay for because she doesn't have any consulting work. Hmmm, I would like donations so that I too could go to Las Vegas.

    But every so often I receive an e-mail that just plain makes me happy. I got one of those yesterday too. Here it is:

    I am 30 yrs old with little to no experience in writing up
    proposals. I am currently working in a middle management position in a
    small company. I feel I have an idea that would greatly benefit the
    company I am currently working for. After approaching one of the senior
    management with it, he told me he liked it and to write up a proposal.

    I have been searching the internet for the past week and a half
    attempting to gain insight and advice into how to create a quality
    proposal. I am not the type of person how expects, or even wants, to
    have someone else do my work for me. Most of the sites I found offered
    to create a proposal for a fee. It is my belief that unless
    circumstances require otherwise that a person should learn to do things
    for themselves. It was a nice surprise to find on your site a starter
    list of sorts that I could use to begin to make a proposal on my own.
    Your "Proposal Preparation Checklist" and Proposal Pointers and
    Pitfalls"
    are wonderful tools and I wanted to take a moment to thank you
    for freely distributing them. It is a welcome relief when someone sets
    forward information to allow people to empower themselves. The links
    you have provided to other websites are also wonderful. Just skimming
    over the Checklist and Pointers, I have already noticed some points I
    would never have considered.

    So again, thank you so very much. I really appreciate the effort you
    have put into your site and also the information you have offered freely.

    What a beautifully-written thank-you note. And to boot, it expresses my own mantra -- "do your homework" -- just perfectly.

    It's just so nice when something like this pops up in your mailbox!

    (03/01/08 09:01 AM)

  12. Lovely E-Mail.

    I get quite a few e-mails each day. Some are from people asking about my services, others want me to answer their questions, and still others write rather lengthy stories about various hardships that they want to overcome by getting grants that don't exist. Then there is the e-mail I received yesterday asking for a donation so that the sender could attend a conference in Las Vegas, which she can't pay for because she doesn't have any consulting work. Hmmm, I would like donations so that I too could go to Las Vegas.

    But every so often I receive an e-mail that just plain makes me happy. I got one of those yesterday too. Here it is:

    I am 30 yrs old with little to no experience in writing up
    proposals. I am currently working in a middle management position in a
    small company. I feel I have an idea that would greatly benefit the
    company I am currently working for. After approaching one of the senior
    management with it, he told me he liked it and to write up a proposal.

    I have been searching the internet for the past week and a half
    attempting to gain insight and advice into how to create a quality
    proposal. I am not the type of person how expects, or even wants, to
    have someone else do my work for me. Most of the sites I found offered
    to create a proposal for a fee. It is my belief that unless
    circumstances require otherwise that a person should learn to do things
    for themselves. It was a nice surprise to find on your site a starter
    list of sorts that I could use to begin to make a proposal on my own.
    Your "Proposal Preparation Checklist" and Proposal Pointers and
    Pitfalls"
    are wonderful tools and I wanted to take a moment to thank you
    for freely distributing them. It is a welcome relief when someone sets
    forward information to allow people to empower themselves. The links
    you have provided to other websites are also wonderful. Just skimming
    over the Checklist and Pointers, I have already noticed some points I
    would never have considered.

    So again, thank you so very much. I really appreciate the effort you
    have put into your site and also the information you have offered freely.

    What a beautifully-written thank-you note. And to boot, it expresses my own mantra -- "do your homework" -- just perfectly.

    It's just so nice when something like this pops up in your mailbox!

    (02/21/08 09:01 PM)

  13. Free Help With Government Contracting.

    Are you an entrepreneur? If you are, you can get FREE assistance to help you learn about government contracting and how to sell your products and services to this huge market. My guest blogger, Kurtis Clark, gives you the scoop.

    Most small businesses don’t realize the tremendous opportunities there are to contract with Federal, State, and local government entities. Although selling to the government can be more challenging than selling to the general public or even to other businesses the sheer size of this market justifies at least looking into the potential. Last year, all levels of government combined purchased a staggering amount of goods and services. Experts estimate that figure to be over $1 trillion. Where can you find assistance to help you break into the complex world of selling to the government? Several excellent sources of free assistance are available.


    The Small Business Development Center program (SBDC) is a nationwide network of independent centers funded in part by the U.S. SBA. They have counselors who can help business owners complete application and registration forms and deal with the bureaucratic process. Counselors usually know local agency procedures, which agencies are preparing for large construction projects, and may even know many of the persons responsible for local government purchasing. All SBDC’s offer free consulting services and low-cost training classes. Most SBDC offices host annual or bi-annual government contracting seminars often in conjunction with government procurement experts free of charge. Check with your local SBDC for upcoming seminars in your area. For a listing of local SBDC offices visit the SBA website.


    One of these experts and another excellent source of assistance are Procurement Technical Assistance Centers or PTAC’s. They are located throughout the country, with many of the larger states having multiple offices. These Centers are funded by the Department of Defense but most offer assistance on state, local and federal procurement opportunities. Several excellent websites for Federal procurement information are Business.Gov and FedBizOpps. Also check our Deborah’s small business page for excellent information on programs for disadvantaged-, minority-, women-, and veteran-owned business procurement opportunities.


    Kurtis Clark is the Director of the Alliance Small Business Development Center, one of 5 SBDC’s in the U/C Merced Regional SBDC network. The network serves a 15-county area in Central California and last year assisted over 3,000 business entrepreneurs.

    (02/21/08 09:01 PM)

  14. Red Teams.

    I never heard the term "red team" until several years after I began my proposal writing career. My employers never used them and it wasn't until I started working on my own that I encountered organizations that used red teams on certain proposal efforts.

    Basically, a red team is a team of outside reviewers that a company brings in to review a proposal once the final draft is completed. Many organizations don't incorporate a red team review process because: (a) it can be expensive; (b) they can't spare the time; and (c) the idea has not occured to them. But if you are preparing a proposal that is very important to your firm, using a red team can be a valuable and worthwhile activity.

    In a nutshell, the process works like this:

    • Your company identifies people (perhaps 4 or more) to serve as red team reviewers. These people should not have been involved in the proposal in any way, and in fact it's best if they are outside your organization. You will probably need to pay these reviewers a consulting fee for their time. Depending upon the size and complexity of the proposal, the red team review can take from one to several days.
    • Before the red team begins their work, you'll need to prepare for them. They will need a packet of materials, including the RFP, your final proposal draft, the proposal outline, checklists, instructions, and other relevant materials. These can be put in binders that are distributed to each reviewer. The red team will also need a conference room or other space where they can read and meet.
    • Once the red team assembles, the Proposal Manager or another member of your proposal team may give a verbal presentation on the proposal: what it is about, some background on the issues, what problems have been encountered in developing the proposal, etc. The Proposal Manager also goes over the instructions with the review team. These instructions should be as specific as possible -- they should tell the red team reviewers what you want them to look for. For example: Is the proposal theme clear and consistent? Are the benefits of your approach desirable and clearly stated? Does the proposal address all of the RFP requirements? Is it convicing? How can specific problem areas be fixed? How could the overall proposal be improved? Etc., etc.
    • The red team begins its review, first working individually to read the materials and document their comments and impressions. Once this is done, they meet as a group to discuss their findings and to prepare a set of recommendations. When the review is completed, the red team presents its comments and recommendations to the proposal team, which then incorporates the reviewers' suggested improvements.

    Besides red team reviews, there are also pink team reviews. But that's a topic for another day.

    (02/21/08 09:01 PM)

  15. Lovely E-Mail.

    I get quite a few e-mails each day. Some are from people asking about my services, others want me to answer their questions, and still others write rather lengthy stories about various hardships that they want to overcome by getting grants that don't exist. Then there is the e-mail I received yesterday asking for a donation so that the sender could attend a conference in Las Vegas, which she can't pay for because she doesn't have any consulting work. Hmmm, I would like donations so that I too could go to Las Vegas.

    But every so often I receive an e-mail that just plain makes me happy. I got one of those yesterday too. Here it is:

    I am 30 yrs old with little to no experience in writing up
    proposals. I am currently working in a middle management position in a
    small company. I feel I have an idea that would greatly benefit the
    company I am currently working for. After approaching one of the senior
    management with it, he told me he liked it and to write up a proposal.

    I have been searching the internet for the past week and a half
    attempting to gain insight and advice into how to create a quality
    proposal. I am not the type of person how expects, or even wants, to
    have someone else do my work for me. Most of the sites I found offered
    to create a proposal for a fee. It is my belief that unless
    circumstances require otherwise that a person should learn to do things
    for themselves. It was a nice surprise to find on your site a starter
    list of sorts that I could use to begin to make a proposal on my own.
    Your "Proposal Preparation Checklist" and Proposal Pointers and
    Pitfalls"
    are wonderful tools and I wanted to take a moment to thank you
    for freely distributing them. It is a welcome relief when someone sets
    forward information to allow people to empower themselves. The links
    you have provided to other websites are also wonderful. Just skimming
    over the Checklist and Pointers, I have already noticed some points I
    would never have considered.

    So again, thank you so very much. I really appreciate the effort you
    have put into your site and also the information you have offered freely.

    What a beautifully-written thank-you note. And to boot, it expresses my own mantra -- "do your homework" -- just perfectly.

    It's just so nice when something like this pops up in your mailbox!

    (02/20/08 09:01 AM)

  16. Moving On. After almost 4 years of running Mantra, I'm headed back to office life. I accepted a position at Prophet, a niche management consulting firm specializing in brand strategy for Fortune 500 companies. I'm writing this post from my hotel room... (05/05/07 08:59 PM)

  17. How to Put Customer Oxygen In Your Company – FREE Teleseminar (2/22/07). On February 28th at 4:00PM CST, Linda Ford of Ford Business Consulting is interviewing me in a teleseminar titled How to Use Customer Oxygen to Breathe New Life into Your Business! This is a a topic I feel very passionate about, and have written about in my blog and DM News. I’ll share principles and learnings from my experiences in four startups and 7 years at Dell leading change initiatives and customer-centricity strategy. Topics include: Why customer feedback isn't enough How your culture will change if customer centricity is real What works (and what doesn't) to get customer oxygen into your organization How to get everyone in your organization focused on the customers' needs How to make your business more successful by putting your customers to work And learn about the Peacock and Woodpeck (verbs) I believe customer-generated content can drive more than merchandising and marketing strategies. It can impact multiple layers in the culture and company strategy. I believe that only happens by operationalizing the customer voice in your employees day to day and showing operational results. Listen in to hear more. Register here and put it on your calendar. And post a pre-seminar question here.... (02/20/07 08:59 AM)

  18. Red Teams.

    I never heard the term "red team" until several years after I began my proposal writing career. My employers never used them and it wasn't until I started working on my own that I encountered organizations that used red teams on certain proposal efforts.

    Basically, a red team is a team of outside reviewers that a company brings in to review a proposal once the final draft is completed. Many organizations don't incorporate a red team review process because: (a) it can be expensive; (b) they can't spare the time; and (c) the idea has not occured to them. But if you are preparing a proposal that is very important to your firm, using a red team can be a valuable and worthwhile activity.

    In a nutshell, the process works like this:

    • Your company identifies people (perhaps 4 or more) to serve as red team reviewers. These people should not have been involved in the proposal in any way, and in fact it's best if they are outside your organization. You will probably need to pay these reviewers a consulting fee for their time. Depending upon the size and complexity of the proposal, the red team review can take from one to several days.
    • Before the red team begins their work, you'll need to prepare for them. They will need a packet of materials, including the RFP, your final proposal draft, the proposal outline, checklists, instructions, and other relevant materials. These can be put in binders that are distributed to each reviewer. The red team will also need a conference room or other space where they can read and meet.
    • Once the red team assembles, the Proposal Manager or another member of your proposal team may give a verbal presentation on the proposal: what it is about, some background on the issues, what problems have been encountered in developing the proposal, etc. The Proposal Manager also goes over the instructions with the review team. These instructions should be as specific as possible -- they should tell the red team reviewers what you want them to look for. For example: Is the proposal theme clear and consistent? Are the benefits of your approach desirable and clearly stated? Does the proposal address all of the RFP requirements? Is it convicing? How can specific problem areas be fixed? How could the overall proposal be improved? Etc., etc.
    • The red team begins its review, first working individually to read the materials and document their comments and impressions. Once this is done, they meet as a group to discuss their findings and to prepare a set of recommendations. When the review is completed, the red team presents its comments and recommendations to the proposal team, which then incorporates the reviewers' suggested improvements.

    Besides red team reviews, there are also pink team reviews. But that's a topic for another day.

    (12/12/06 08:42 AM)

  19. Free Help With Government Contracting.

    Are you an entrepreneur? If you are, you can get FREE assistance to help you learn about government contracting and how to sell your products and services to this huge market. My guest blogger, Kurtis Clark, gives you the scoop.

    Most small businesses don’t realize the tremendous opportunities there are to contract with Federal, State, and local government entities. Although selling to the government can be more challenging than selling to the general public or even to other businesses the sheer size of this market justifies at least looking into the potential. Last year, all levels of government combined purchased a staggering amount of goods and services. Experts estimate that figure to be over $1 trillion. Where can you find assistance to help you break into the complex world of selling to the government? Several excellent sources of free assistance are available.


    The Small Business Development Center program (SBDC) is a nationwide network of independent centers funded in part by the U.S. SBA. They have counselors who can help business owners complete application and registration forms and deal with the bureaucratic process. Counselors usually know local agency procedures, which agencies are preparing for large construction projects, and may even know many of the persons responsible for local government purchasing. All SBDC’s offer free consulting services and low-cost training classes. Most SBDC offices host annual or bi-annual government contracting seminars often in conjunction with government procurement experts free of charge. Check with your local SBDC for upcoming seminars in your area. For a listing of local SBDC offices visit the SBA website.


    One of these experts and another excellent source of assistance are Procurement Technical Assistance Centers or PTAC’s. They are located throughout the country, with many of the larger states having multiple offices. These Centers are funded by the Department of Defense but most offer assistance on state, local and federal procurement opportunities. Several excellent websites for Federal procurement information are Business.Gov and FedBizOpps. Also check our Deborah’s small business page for excellent information on programs for disadvantaged-, minority-, women-, and veteran-owned business procurement opportunities.


    Kurtis Clark is the Director of the Alliance Small Business Development Center, one of 5 SBDC’s in the U/C Merced Regional SBDC network. The network serves a 15-county area in Central California and last year assisted over 3,000 business entrepreneurs.

    (12/12/06 08:42 AM)

  20. [Business Blog Consulting] WSJ: Blogs Keep Internet Customers Coming Back. http://www.businessblogconsulting.com/2005/03/wsj_a_hrefhttpo.html There was an outstanding article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal [subscription needed] about small businesses using blogs... more...... (12/12/06 08:04 AM)

  21. Sundays Contract Management News and Comment (27th August 2006). Nuñez's wife got AQMD contract (Los Angeles Daily News) SACRAMENTO - The South Coast Air Quality Management District awarded a $125,000 consulting contract to the wife of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez at the same time the district was seeking legislation to cut train engine emissions. Contract Given To Assembly Speaker's Wife (CBS ... (08/27/06 09:03 AM)

  22. Saturdays Contract Management News and Comment (26th August 2006). BearingPoint wins HHS contract worth up to $13.7M (bizjournals.com via Yahoo! Finance) Management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint will provide various services to a Department of Health and Human Services office in a contract that could reach $13.7 million if all options are exercised. Protest of Baker's FEMA Housing Inspection Services ... (08/26/06 09:03 AM)

  23. Wednesdays Contract Management News and Comment (23rd August 2006). HHS Awards BearingPoint $13.7 Million Contract For Program Management Services (SYS-CON Media) BearingPoint, Inc. , one of the world's largest management and technology consulting firms, today announced it has been awarded a contract, valued at up to $13.7 million over four years, to provide program management services to the Office of ... (08/23/06 09:01 AM)

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