It is recommended to make data-driven and educated decisions on where to invest your money when you enter the government marketplace. Over the last decade, I have noticed some common mistakes that most companies do just as they are starting to enter into the government marketplace.

Mistake # 1 – GSA Schedule

The most common thing that I’ve noticed is a lot of companies go ahead and pay to get a GSA schedule. It is an acronym for the General Services Administration and it is a negotiated contract between Government and your company. The government likes to use GSA contracts for specific products and services. It minimizes some of the back-end paperwork for government buying officials. You might ask that this sounds great, so why wouldn’t I want to get it? We have to do our due diligence and find out what parts of the government are buying your product or service and we have to find out how they prefer to buy it. If we find out that their preference is the GSA schedule then at that point it makes perfect sense to invest your time, money, and energy in it. The cost for the GSA schedule starts anywhere from $6,000 all the way up. I’ve also seen companies that have spent over $20,000 on the GSA schedule. I would advise that you first do your homework and find out if the government or parts of the government prefers it.

Mistake # 2 – Minority Certifications

These are specific certifications that the government has identified that they utilize as a preference to buy products and services. While it sounds great to some people but the government sometimes doesn’t use this methodology. This means that even if you have a minority certification, this is not an assurance to get a contract. Once you have done your due diligence and reached out to the government to confirm that the government or parts of the government prefers minority certification then you should signup for it.

Mistake # 3 – Government Programs

The next most common mistake companies make is that they spend a lot of money getting certified for some government programs that are not minority-based. The government does offer programs that companies can get to simplify the buying process but we should only get the ones that we want to utilize. The recurring theme is that we need to do our due diligence because these are not hundred-dollar certification as it costs thousands of dollars.

Mistake # 4 – Expensive Database Services

Another common mistake is that the companies subscribe to expensive online databases that have some government information that can potentially help companies make decisions on how to go to market and who to market to. When you’re just getting started, you may not even know what this data means. So why would you pay a lot of money for something that you really don’t know? So, we need to understand what this information is, so we can determine whether it has any value to your company.

Mistake # 5 – Business Development Services

The next most common mistake, I have seen companies make is they go ahead and engage business development companies. Business development companies can get you appointments in the government with potential decision- makers or buyers. Now, in theory, it sounds like a great idea but when you are first getting started you don’t know what is the value of it. You need to first understand how does this whole thing work. Once you know how this entire process works then you are in a better position to finalize what type of business development process tools you need.

You will also then get an idea that whether you should outsource it or make it in-house. The aforementioned are the 5 most common mistakes I have seen over the last decade. If you can just be a little patient and do a little bit of due diligence, you could save tens of thousands of dollars and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars.