The Federal Government fiscal year begins on October 1st. Therefore, fall and winter are typically peak planning periods for purchases that will take place in spring & summer. Based on our experience targeting this market, we work to align teleprospecting strategies with how federal government purchases are planned and made. Here are some examples of what works…
- Fall & Winter Strategy – Utilize teleprospecting to find out who will be buying what and where the action will be. This is the time to develop and build relationships. It’s time to find out what program managers NEED. Talk to them. Listen to them. Help them plan. Find out about their hot buttons. Use an ongoing nurturing strategy to build a consistent, ongoing dialogue.
- Spring & Summer Strategy – Capture all the specifics of each project and pending purchase through targeted lead generation activities. This is also an important timeframe to requalify any previous leads that are not properly engaged with your sales team, thus ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.
- Late Summer Strategy – Capitalize on the “use it or lose it” spending. The government spending frenzy is taking place; therefore, focus your outbound teleprospecting efforts on capturing & qualifying immediate leads from your known decision-makers.
The fiscal year end for State & Local government (SLG) is not as consistent. For instance, 46 of the 50 states begin their fiscal years on July 1st, while approximately 50% of county and city governments begin on Jan 1st. There are also some counties and cities that start Oct 1st.
While the fiscal years may not be consistent, the way in which SLG tends to plan and make purchases is relatively consistent as it relates to their fiscal year. For instance, in the first half of their fiscal year, many agencies will be conservative with spending in case something comes up that they didn’t anticipate. However, in the second half, the threat of losing the money causes them to accelerate spending. Ideally, tele-prospecting strategies should be mapped to each agency fiscal year.
- First 6 months – Utilize teleprospecting to contact the appropriate procurement and IT decision-makers in order to understand their needs, plans, and to schedule one-on-one meetings for the sales team. Implement consistent contact strategies so that agencies are well informed of your offerings, and you are well informed of their upcoming projects and needs.
- Second 6 months – Make sure your sales organization is properly engaged with each lead. Re-qualify and escalate any leads that are not properly engaged. Don’t forget about “use it or lose it” spending. This will take place in the final months of the fiscal year. Ramp up your lead generation efforts during the last 3 months to capture last minute projects.
Of course, implementing the above strategies is dependent on having an accurate database of agencies with fiscal year information. If you’re missing this key piece of information, obtain it through data augmentation services and data profiling.