Becoming a Trusted Advisor

What does it mean to be a Trusted Advisor? Not to make it too complicated, because it is not. Being a Trusted Advisor means that you have that person’s trust and you are providing a service to them by offering opinions, solutions or maybe introductions to solve a problem that they may have.

To make it a bit more complicated, being a Trusted Advisor is often characterized by “Creating Value at a Strategic Level”.

Government Contracting is NOT complicated. Yes, the request for proposal (RFP) process is sometimes cumbersome. There is more competition in the markets than there has ever been. It is difficult to get to the decision makers. In today’s workforce, staffing and retaining talented employees at a reasonable cost is a real challenge. While winning contracts is not complicated, it is a LOT of hard work.

Think of your everyday life. Who do you trust with some of life’s important decisions? Your significant other? Maybe you rely on a financial professional to manage your retirement savings or maybe you lean heavily on your favorite realtor when you are purchasing a home. The answer to this question is you do business with people you trust. It is no different in #GovCON.

In our day to day lives as Business Development professionals we encounter different types of people on a regular basis. Teaming Partners, Current Customers, Contracting Officials, Program Managers and Subject Matter Experts. We need to strive to become Trusted Advisors to each of these types of people.

There are many companies that are “RFP Machines”. They are responding to every task order that is issued on the various GWAC’s they can. They sometimes do this without any knowledge of the customer or what problem they are trying to solve. We all see the same RFP and it’s associated Section C, Section L and Section M. It describes the work in a general sense but often it doesn’t describe the work 100% in the vision of the end user or customer. These RFP Machines do win work, whether it is by sheer luck, or by aggressive pricing strategies or sometimes it is through a Protest strategy. If they didn’t win some work, they would have gone out of business a long time ago. You may ask the question why you wouldn’t just be a RFP Machine yourself?

We as Government Contractors need to strive to BRING VALUE to our customers or potential customers. In my vision this can only be accomplished by constantly working to being a Trusted Advisor in that ecosystem.

Here are three basic steps to becoming a Trusted Advisor to most people in the procurement lifecycle.

Step 1 – Listen More, Talk Less

We all like to hear ourselves talk. I know I do, or I wouldn’t be writing this article. 🙂 But we need to LISTEN to people and don’t rush to offer advice on the problem statement that is being discussed. If you engage and empathize with the other person, they are going to tell you what their challenges are. Whether it is a technical problem, a managerial challenge or a strategic vision.

Step 2 – Analysis of Alternatives

As you are wrapping up the dialogue with the person, you will want to reiterate what you heard from them and validate that you understand what their problem is. Let them know that you are going to do some research and get back to them in a certain timeframe with some suggestions. This provides you with a strategic advantage. #1 You are setting the stage for continuing the conversation at a later date and #2 You are portraying that you are willing to HELP the person with their specific problem at NO OBLIGATION to them. They don’t have to pay you for your time, there are no contractual obligations as a result of the conversation and hopefully they see that you are trying to bring value to them by helping them solve their problem.

Step 3 – Be Consistent and Communicate

As you head back to your office and spend the next few hours or days researching their problem, keep the initial conversation in your mind. This will help you focus on the true root cause of the problem. Once you have done your research, document the top two or three solutions to the problem. I like to characterize these as the Cadillac, Sports Car and Economy solutions.

When you get back in front of the person for the follow up meeting, giving them options on what is satisfactory, good or excellent solutions will give that person the perception that you are there to bring value while keeping some of their constraints in mind. They may not have the time or the funding to do the best solution and they may need to settle for a lesser solution due to some of these constraints.

Conclusion:

There are many more steps to becoming a true Trusted Advisor but these three basics will get you started down the right path. If we LISTEN, ANALYZE and COMMUNICATE with people, it will result in a stronger relationship moving forward. As you have a few of these interactions with similar outcomes you will eventually be viewed as a Trusted Advisor.