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hello and welcome to gov directions this is mark knowles i'm one of the founders of directions and this is our gov advice services series and we're here today to talk about capability statements uh document that all of us need when we're working with government and we want to make sure that you're fully aware of what's necessary in a capability statement and we think if we make you a little smarter then you'll have more success in winning government contracts and today we got with us dr cynthia harper and she's going to lead us in our presentation and she's going to talk to you about capabilities statement welcome dr harper how are you doing today i'm good mark and how are you and the good folks over there with gov directions we're doing well and we certainly thank you for sharing your knowledge with us today and and i just would point out at govadvice.com you're able to come and read some more about capability statements and this this is a recorded version and we're going to store it there for our members and what i'd like to do as you get started is move over to a powerpoint that you've presented to us and that'll get us knocked off so if you want to just maybe introduce yourself give them a little background and then we'll get started we're wonderful well again thanks mark i am dr cynthia harper so excited i've been a part of the government market here um for the past 20 years actually i've been in and out but the last five years we've been very consistent with working and helping small businesses garner large government contracts teaching them the ins and outs of how to be successful in the federal space and the value of teaming and the value of the right contracts the value of knowing what agency is best for you to go after and how to narrow down this broad process of government contracting because certainly it is not um it's it's a big elephant but we need one elephant at a time and it is something that we can all get a bite of and we can all win so let's talk about how to create an award-winning capability statement let me get some water here all righty so a capability statement it is so important that we create award-winning capability statements because we've entered this government market so that we can win let's go mark let's talk about this right quick all right so what is the capability statement it is actually the factual representation of your company notice i said the factual representation of your company and it really focuses on the need of the agency so it's your company focusing on the needs of the agency providing real solutions with a short company bio is your resume for business and it's a living document and i want to make a point here when i'd say a living document as your company grows your nascodes change they grow you reach different agencies and program managers and procurement directors you develop different relationships at that point when i say a living document it's important that you go back in and you update your capability statement so that it's always unready to go so what is it not what what isn't a capability statement well it's definitely not a brochure it's not a 10-page marketing package it's not a flyer or coupon it's not a powerpoint presentation and it's certainly not a one size fit all remember i said earlier that it actually is something that fits the agency you're looking to serve so why do we need a capability statement why can't we just present ourselves call them up and tell them who we are well there are a lot of people within the federal space trying to win government contracts so while we do need a government capability statement because the government doesn't use brochures you can't send a business resume you have to send a capability statement is used for marketing your company to government buyers for also for team team in agreements and for industry days and then it speaks to the government procurement language that's why you need a capability statement ah let's talk about the benefits of a cape statement well it opens doors easy to forward so it opens doors so it's very easy to forward what i mean you can just send it out to other agencies you can send it out to partnering companies you can send it out to osteobooze it's a very easy send it's one page it's specific it creates access to startup and build a relationship you have to have relationships in the government space so this is one of the first things we need is a capability statement so we can develop a rapport a relationship with other agencies other people other teams first whipping the other the government buyers believe that you speak their language when they see a healthy capability statement that's aesthetically pleasing with the right information on it they understand you speak their language and then it addresses the specific needs of the buyer remember everything in the government space is a bid and there's a buyer looking to procure your product yes your product the government buys everything from water to vehicles the government approaches it where the fact the government is the number one buyer in the world so you are doing the right thing by entering to the government government market it also entices agency buyers to consider you once they realize that okay they understand this business and then it leads to more contracts and that's what we all want more contracts bad or no capability statement let's talk about that it definitely slams the door on you it'll prove to them that you do not understand the lingo and it proves that you don't understand how the federal market works it makes you look risky as well as weak and it's your first impression so it kills your credibility so you must have a capability statement versus a brochure or 10 page marketing packet all they need is one capability statement from you and then it wins less or even no contracts if you don't have it it's almost impossible to get past go there are capability statement versions well it's a door open version one is a very high level version with everything that you do included on it so that one is inclusive it lists all the different it's very broad in nature um has many nase codes and for general marketing purposes at events it's important that you have this one it's a high version you might meet people from all walks of life all industries they might be not just partners but they might be presidents of companies so that's good to have your capability statement you never know who you might give a presentation with or what we call industry days when you meet face-to-face to present your case and pitch so it's real important that you have a high industry one as well and then you there's a specific version where you narrow it down for that specific agency for that agency's need and more effective to style so mark let's talk about the six c's of a capability statement i know you've probably seen lots of capability statements tell us how important the codes are on a capability statement well that is true sydney i have definitely seen a lot of those and um i think that's one of the most important you know clarity of your purpose is is probably the first thing i always encourage contractors to to be aware of and having those codes that that really centers in on pinpoints on what kind of opportunity you're looking for and so you want to make sure you have that next code and i think you want to talk about some of those codes in particular but the codes are very very important absolutely your codes are very important so there are six c's of a capability statement the first one are your codes there are seven or eight different codes that we need to make sure and definitely four of them must be on your capability statement so your codes are rel relative to the success of your capability statement your core competencies you know we talk about the court we talk about the center what's the core competencies that you offer um the second the third one is your company data how you know your company data you only have a short window there to list the company data so the so the things that are important and relevant must be listed for the company data as well as the corporate expertise and differentiators what are the things that differentiate you what are you an expert in are you a pmp are you an 8 a company are you um a woman owned you know what are you an expert at what did you win did you win an award that separated you and made you an expert in this why why would a company want to choose you when there are 50 to 75 of the capability statements they're looking at in particular if they don't have a relationship with you then the fifth see is the clients and your customers where did you get your past performance how did you use it who were your clients who were your customers how did you serve them that's all past performance and i want to debunk this myth here that people often think that if you didn't do it in the federal space it's not accounted that's not true most small businesses have come from a corporate client or their own personal business and so they've worked in that industry for someone make sure that's listed as well and then your contact information don't forget your name your email address a proper email address make sure that you have listed um the address how to be reached and any other information that would be important for contact information to reach you let's talk about some different capability statement versions sometimes we have what we call an rfi and rfp and rfi is a request for information and an rfp is a request for proposal so these are these are these are different sources and versions that they look for and they need you need to create a specific requirement sometimes if there's a source of sought and it's given to a company that's woman owner 88 and you need to make sure that you have a specific format as required for that documentation very important so here we go with the codes your nace codes psc codes sick codes nigp codes all these are codes and then up under there we have cage code the duns number your certifications the contract bigger vehicles in which you are associated with all of these codes must be listed on your cate statement they're very very important and that's why we take our time to make sure we have everything listed that you need the right websites to find what you need so that when you present it it will definitely show that you understand the cage needed to be successful in the government space the second thing is your core competencies remember i say at the center of you what are the service of the products that you offer you know use bullet points so they can look at it quickly glance down at it look at it quickly and even if you're talking about it while they're reading you recite it you need to understand everything on your capability statement and what you've done um short sentence fragments it's real important that you have short centers and fragments they're not trying to read a full detail not a not long narrative select the key offerings and very important relate your offerings to meet the needs of the agency very very very important to meet the needs of the agency your company data a brief pertinent history of your company is really relative here you know how many years you've been founded five plus years ten plus years um what's the size of the firm it doesn't matter if it's two or three people um how many employees you're serving and then you could talk if it's three or four of you or two of you how many years collectively of experience that you have garnered in this certain expertise you know who are the key individuals in the companies what are their backgrounds whether previous bankers i t developers i t directors you know hr consultants these people are very important because it allows the company to understand that you understand what it takes to run a business you know where are you do you have offices warehouses locations are you virtual you know it and and we're living in a virtual society so we can reach more people virtual than we can anyway and then team partners jv partners you know who have you worked with and who are you trying to work with so all this is a part of your company data your corporate expertise and differentiators the summary of your company's expertise is very important summarize the things that your company is a sme the subject matter expert in special knowledge abilities and training you know again what is the special knowledge you have are you iso 9000 certified have you worked with a special um secret mission with your company what are the skills or the technical experi expertise are there any technologies or patent techniques you know what are your industry certifications like cmmi or pmpe or leed or lean any of those industry certifications are relevant to the success of your capability statement again your quality standards you know your financial stability and if you're bonded you know what can you be bonded or are you already bonded because some companies you must have bonding capabilities to move further with some of the contracts not all of them let's talk about your clients and your customers your past performance is so important whether it's government or not your past performance is very important um who are your clients and your customers that you've done work with and trust me they will look to see if you've done work with these customers you know select from your government customers first you could have worked with ibm but you are worked on a government project that's great for past performance um select the largest clients as well it's real important that you know that they feel like you're comfortable with working with large clients and then the key here is this customer is most similar with the agency you're marketing to list the customers who have worked if you work want to work with hud but you've worked with hud or another company similar to hud a housing development agency but you want to work with hud now list that you've got that experience between the two of those um companies and agencies so make sure you include all the reference name contact info size of project if you're meeting a contracting officer or a decision maker enterprise in person number six the contact information a nice logo your company name points of contacts your your address and mark i want you to make sure they note we do not use post office box on capability statements i think that's an important point so make sure that you get a professional document absolutely cynthia's told us here today um and i just wanted to you know call attention to this is just one of the services that gov directions has in place and you can contact us for a personal consultation and dr harper would be glad to work with you individually um just go to the gov advice.com website or call us at 800-492-8523 that's 800-492-8523 and you can reach out to us and we'll have someone work with you on preparing that i think it's generally helpful to have guidance in this process it's such an important document and we would really certainly like to help you with that so thank you for coming and talking with us today cynthia we look forward to you participating in additional series with us thank you so much mark good luck