If you are selling a solution to the public safety market and do not understand the role Federal, Private, and State Grants play in your success, you are risking the long-term success of your business and career. In my 20 plus years of selling, marketing, and consulting in the public safety market, I have seen companies close their business because they didn’t take the time to learn how the grant funding game works. We first need to look at the public safety market and understand what is going on.
For 20 plus years, the problem is still the same. State and Local Government End Users need and want either equipment, software, or training. Businesses educate end-users on their solutions. Finally, the end-user commits to making a purchase. However, the end-users do not understand how and where to find the money. The result for public safety agencies is continuing to perform their duties and responsibilities without the best equipment that:
- Save Time
- Save Money
- Reduce Liability
- Save Lives
The sales pipeline fills up quickly and easily for businesses on the business side of the transaction and closes extremely slowly because the end-users do not know how and where to find the money.
When a business understands the grant funding process for the public safety market, it provides them the following advantages:
- Expands and strengthens your sales team skills to sell your products and services by offering grant assistance.
- Improves the business’s ability to track sales because they are actively involved in all aspects of the sales process.
- When sales reporting is accurate from the field sales levels, the reporting to the leadership will be the same.
- It gives your business the certainty of knowing when sales revenue is coming in. This information provides your company a better understanding of what to do with this income to grow your business.
Understanding the grant funding process also has a positive impact on the relationship with the public safety end-users.
- They need your solutions, yet they don’t have the time to properly play the “purchasing or grant game” to obtain them.
- Understanding the grant game deepens the relationship between you and your prospects. In addition, it provides a level of service about 2% of the businesses understand in the market.
Understand, they did not become Public Safety Workers to play the “purchasing or grant game.” But, unfortunately, it has come with the job since 9/11.
Below are a couple of questions for you to think about when it comes to understanding the grant funding process.
- On a scale of 1 – 10, 10 being the highest, how confident are you that the opportunities in your sales pipeline are going to close?
- What do you do differently than your competitors when it comes to selling?
- How well do you understand and appreciate the end user’s challenges in purchasing products and services?
- How are you currently helping them solve these challenges?
If you want to solve the public safety market’s problems successfully, you need to not only have the best solutions. In addition, you must understand where the funding is for your solutions.
I have consulted and taught 1000s of public safety agencies and businesses how to play the grant funding game. Please feel free to contact me or come to one of my FREE Grant Funding Assistance Strategy Classes to learn more.
My goal is simple: To solve the public safety funding problem!