How to Sell Product Ideas to the Military
Selling to the military can seem daunting at first. Fortunately, the services have programs in place to assist small businesses in marketing their products and ideas to the services.
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Instructions
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Contact the small business specialist at the nearest military station. The SBS will work for the post's contracting office. Make an appointment with that individual, and she will be able to help you accomplish everything. The SBS will also be your point of contact when you go to market your product to the military.
All advertising to military units must go through the contracting office, but it also will help you perform market research and will make sure it gets your product in front of the right customers.
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Get a General Services Administration (GSA) vendor account. The GSA is the main clearinghouse for all government purchases. The vast majority of acquisitions are small purchases conducted by individual units. Every unit has an International Merchant Purchasing and Acceptance Card (IMPAC) credit card that is used to buy things such as as office supplies, training materials, paper towels and fitness equipment. The IMPAC cards usually can only be used with GSA vendors, so you will need to sign up with the GSA.
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Determine your product's Federal Supply Class. The FSC is how the government categorizes the products and services it solicits for government contracts. It is also how products are organized on the GSA Advantage website where cardholders go to find things they're after.
If your product is incorrectly categorized, it won't ever be found by your customers.
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Tips & Warnings
If your product is merely an idea, the military will probably not be interested unless you are an established defense contractor. A better approach would be to contact a representative of a defense contractor with your idea to see if there is interest. Subcontracting opportunities are always available.
The military solicits ideas for products or it wants by posting them to www.fedbizopps.gov. Companies bid on the contracts by making proposals.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit military image by T.Tulic from Fotolia.com
