Two
Minutes in an Elevator
From IIa President Bonnie Carroll 
Here
you are, trapped in an elevator for a two-minute ride with a local VIP,
just the two of you. Coincidentally, this VIP is a potential, and critical,
client for IIa. Making idle conversation, he or she asks you who you work
for and what your company does. Idle conversation for the VIP perhaps,
but it doesn't have to be for you. (Remember the previous $20 answer--all
IIa staff are public relations people for the company.)
Of course you know what you do, but what do you say about IIa? In the
last issue of InfoEdge, we overviewed what IIa does and where our major
projects are. We looked at "the next big steps" for IIa, a feel
of where IIa has come from in the recent years and where we are going-to
a $25K company. But can you recount all of that in two minutes?
We thought it might be better to give you 10
critical pieces of information about the company and tell you
why they are critical. Then you can weave your own contemporaneous story
in the elevator. Could you do it? Could you pique the interest of that
VIP so that they want to learn more about what IIa do can do for her or
his company? Using these 10 items, take a shot at writing your own elevator
speech. Send it to us, and we'll send a $100 check
to the person who weaves the best story, $50 for second best, and $25
for third. The winning speeches will appear in the fall issue
of InfoEdge.
- 1. We are a woman-owned, small business falling under the $6M
NAIC size standards.
-
- In contracting with the government,
there are specific advantages of being small. Some contracts are
set aside so only small businesses are allowed to bid on them.
In addition to being small, under national socio-economic goals,
woman-owned businesses are targeted for special consideration.
- 2. We were founded in 1988, have grown to approximately 150
employees in 12 states, the District of Columbia, and Europe.
Our headquarters is in Oak Ridge, TN.
-
- The point here is that we have been
in existence for 14 years and are a well established company.
Our growth and geographic distribution shows we can both manage
a complex organization and also have the capabilities to work
on projects in many places. Mentioning Oak Ridge for our headquarters
is important when we market locally for community and political
reasons.
- 3. The company began with core competencies in information management
and a specialty in scientific and technical information.
-
- Our first major project was to run an
interagency group of federal scientific and technical information
managers, which we have continued to do for 14 years.
- 4. We expanded our main business areas today to
- Managing 14 libraries and information centers for the federal
government.
- Operating three secretariats for interagency and international
groups in STI
- Managing information technology infrastructures, including
network and communications management, software development,
and web site production.
- Administering education and training customer service support
programs.
- Providing strategic planning support for major Department
of Defense research and development investments.
- It's important to highlight our main
business areas to try to match the potential clients interests.
If you know anything about the client, key into their interests!
By the way, you don't have to know everything about IIa-we are
big enough now that no one does. If questions get too specific
or technical, just tell the person you'll have an expert get back
with them.
- 5. Our main clients are DOE, USGS, NASA, DoD, Air Force, and
DOL, but we also work for many other agencies, as well as the
private sector.
- We have many satisfied clients and
have recommendations from many agencies. As we market to agencies,
we can show some existing work in many of them.
|
- 6. We have top secret (DOE Q) cleared staff, a corporate FOCI
(Foreign Ownership, Control and Influence) clearance, and work
for the military and civilian intelligence agencies.
-
- Security clearances are often at a premium
for some clients and may become increasingly more so with the
rise of homeland security issues. Clearances are important commodities.
- 7. Our competitive niche-we work both at the federal agency
policy level in senior consulting capacities as well as at the
operating level with hands on management of facilities and technologies.
-
- This allows our company to anticipate
what is happening in federal policies and relate that to operational
needs. We have been very successful in helping our clients with
policy agendas. We make sure our staff in operations understand
the context of what they are doing.
- 8. We have outstanding past performance credentials.
-
- In business as in all aspects of life,
actions speak louder than words. That we have been the secretariat
of a federal interagency managers group for 14 years speaks volumes
about the quality of work we perform. In competitive procurements,
our ratings are excellent. Our clients are prepared to recommend
us. (You can read all about our clients enthusiams for our work
in our newsletters!)
- 9. We offer competitive pricing with a best value alternative
-
- Although in procurements we are often
the low bidder, our best value approach means that what we offer
in our price, whether lowest or not, is quality of work, outstanding
staff, and a strong management approach. More and more, government
is realizing that low bid is not necessarily the best alternative.
The concept of best value is!
- 10. We are a goal-oriented company, targeted, to grow through
hiring and retaining the best qualified personnel to achieve the
highest customer satisfaction.
-
- IIa recognizes that to grow and improve,
you have to set reachable goals. A key part our anticipated growth
is hire and retain "good" people by growing their skills
and their loyalty to the company. That's why we show such greatpride
in our employees whoadvance their
 education,
or their roles in the company and in the community. You are
in the elevator and your example is our best story.
|
|
