The most obvious way to use news stories to find business opportunities is to look for mentions of a Request for Proposals (RFP).
You might also try just the word "proposal," which on its own can have multiple meanings, and sometimes indicates the agency's request to conduct a procurement. Other words with multiple meanings that often appear in news about business opportunities include the words "Work," "Legislation," and "Issues."
If you are a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), university, etc., you might try searching for news that mentions grants or research.
If you want a competitive advantage, you need to discover opportunities ahead of the formal announcement.
Sometimes customers issue a Request for Information (RFI) before issuing an RFP.
Another way to get ahead of the RFP release is to look for stories that mention a draft solicitation
Find the Pain...
One way to spot future business opportunities is to find the customer's pain. If they have a problem or a program that is at risk, they may need help finding a solution.
One sign of bad news for a customer is a negative report or audit.
Even if the news is positive, studies and reviews often point out the need for change.
News that mentions policies, procedures, or priorities may also be a sign of change, and customers who are experiencing change may have a need for additional support.
The need for compliance with rules and regulations can also lead customers to look for solutions.
Find the Change...
Another technique is to look for statements of the customer's goals, strategies, or plans. Or look for plans for upgrades or modernization. Of course budgets, spending plans, and funding often impact a customer's procurement plans. However, even customers who are running a deficit and looking for savings may need to invest to get there. Pay attention to keep customer groups, such as the purchasers.
Stories that mention procurement data may also be useful.
For competitive intelligence gathering and potential teaming opportunities, it can be useful to stay on top of news about contract awards and wins.
Improve your business development techniques
In addition to using the News Center to hunt for business opportunities, you can use it to learn how to improve your business development techniques. For example you can learn about marketing and sales. When searching, don't forget to look for variants on words, for example try also searching for the word "selling." If you are interested in marketing, try searching for other related terms, such as branding or internet marketing. While you're at it, try searching for Pricing.
If you are interested in growing your business, try words like "credit," "growing," and "valuation."
If you are a startup business, you can find relevant articles. You can also find articles that can help you learn about business plans or are about being an entrepreneur.
Grow your small business
If you are a small business, you can look for articles with keywords that are relevant to your market. These include news that mentions the Small Business Administration (SBA) or SBA Loans. You can also look for news that mentions special programs for small businesses, such as the Hubzone program or the Mentor Protege program.
If you are a minority owned business, you can also look for terms like "8(a)."
Government Contracting
If you are a government contractor, there is a ton of contracting industry jargon to base your searches on. For example, news about the A-76 program can help you spot future opportunities.
You can also look for news about government specific technology such as "eGov" or "Section 508."
Procurements are often the result of an Inspector General (IG) report. If you are interested in contracts administration and procurement regulation, you can search for news about protests or share-in-savings contracts..
News about contract vehicles is often highly relevant to business development, so try terms like Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) or the GSA Schedule. If you are familiar with GWAC or ID/IQ contract vehicles, then you might also be interested in searching for task orders.
Another approach is to search for contract names that will be released soon, such as Alliant or Encore.
A major component of business development for government contractors is often teaming with other companies and subcontracting.
You can also segment the government contracting marketplace. For example try searching for Civilian vs
Military. Or you could search for news about state and local government contracts. And while you're at it, try international procurement.
Information Technology
If you specialize in Information Technology here are some words that often appear in the descriptions of business opportunities. You can search for terms that are capability or technology specific such as Document management or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). These days it seems like every Software development project requires web development and internet access. New items from the office of the CIO can also be relevant for business development.
Major procurements often use systems terminology, so words like database, integration, networking, or Systems Engineering work well. News items describing business opportunities often include support services terminology, such as
"Help Desk," "Training," or Project Management.
New technologies can spawn all kinds of procurements. Mobile technology and RFID are hot right now, as are terms like Wi-Fi, VoIP, and Wireless. People are also starting to seriously look into Linux and Open Source solutions.
General business and finance news
While the News Center is designed to focus on news related to business opportunities, marketing, and government contracting, general business and finance stories sometimes make it through our filters. This includes stories about the economy, the stock market, and mergers.
Focus, focus, focus...
The most focused results come from combinations of words. Try combining the words above with the terminology of your industry, customer names, states, or locality. Some of these words are in the columns to the right.
