Warren Buffet has said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it. If you think about that, you do things differently.” It is hard work to develop a good reputation, in life and in business. You must be honest, consistent, and reliable. When you think about what you want your company to represent, I would bet that most of you feel strongly about building a company with a good reputation, strong core values, and an atmosphere where people feel valued regardless of your customer base. You want your customers to view you as a consistent, easy to work with, reliable partner that produces high quality products that meet their needs.
In the beginning, I believe that most companies apply those same principles of valuing their reputation with their government customers just as they do their commercial customers. However, I have seen time and time again where somewhere along the business development path, companies lose sight of the fact that the government values customer service just like commercial customers do. They value consistency, reliability, and honesty just like your other customers do. When the idea that the government should be treated with the same respect as your other customers gets lost, as it seems to always do, there can be a detrimental breakdown in the relationship that can damage, if not ruin a small businesses’ reputation for years, if not permanently.
So, what steps can you take to prevent a relationship breakdown and continue to build a strong reputation as a defense contractor? Here are a few best practices that I valued as a government customer, and that I have seen used by successful companies within the defense sector.
- Say “Yes, but..” instead of saying “No.”
- Timely, quality deliverables.
- Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
- Manage your risk. Be honest about your risk.
I will develop each of these best practices in more detail in the coming weeks but for now, here is a brief overview of each topic.
Say “Yes, but…”
In many ways, being a flexible company happens naturally regardless of whether you aim for that goal or not. You are constantly adapting to your environment to grow. It’s no secret that working with the government can require more flexibility than you’re used to or frankly, even feels comfortable. So, what happens when they ask you to deliver, modify, or create a product that doesn’t work for you, you don’t think is in their best interest, or is simply going to be too much for either party to handle without significant pain. You may want to say “No, we won’t do that” or “No, you shouldn’t do that” but don’t say that. Instead, say “Yes, but.”
Timely, quality deliverables
Timely, quality deliverables matter to your government customer. You must remember that your deliverable doesn’t end with the person you submit it to. That is the beginning of another long process on their side and the quality of product you submit will show multiple people, at various levels, that you value all the products that leave your business, not just the products you personally care about the most.
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate!
Communication is the backbone of building a solid reputation and relationship. Consistent and honest communication will do more for you than any of these other topics. Remember, this is a partnership, and you want to be a good partner.
Manage your risk, and be honest
Managing your risk and being honest about your risk are crucial to building a good relationship. No one likes to be blind-sided with bad information. Being proactive about cost, schedule, and performance status and being up-front about that status will go a long way in showing your government customer your work ethic and how you handle setbacks.
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One final thought. It's easy to cut corners on small or low cost contracts, but how you execute is evaluated and documented. Your performance impacts your future opportunities and it compounds over time. Past performance is a common element to evaluation criteria for government contracts. The experiences of your past performance as evaluated by your previous government customers are recorded and reviewed during future opportunities.
Please tune into the next few weeks of blogs to read my more developed thoughts on each of these topics. I’d love to hear about your experiences regarding this topic, so if you’d like, please leave a comment below!
Keep moving forward,
