pratical tips for focusing sales efforts and cutting costs using visiblethread and clarity grader

Fairfield Technologies Inc. “Customer-Focused, Results-Driven.” SM

CMMI Level 3 ● HUBZone

Practical Tips forFocusing Sales Efforts and Cutting

Costs Using VisibleThread and Clarity Grader

VisibleThread Users ConferenceNovember 17, 2016

November 17, 20162016 VisibleThread Users Conference

Copyright 2016, Fairfield Technologies Inc. www.fairfieldtech.com

Agenda• Session Objective and Agenda• Background (Fairfield Technologies, in one slide)• 1) Improving Your Market Intelligence and Sales Focus

– What do your customers really care about?– Do your proposals and collateral match up? Why (or why not)?

• 2) Increasing Proposal Delivery Speed, Effectiveness– Increased recruiting efficiency (focus)– Increased proposal response efficiency (compliance)

• Conclusions• Q&A



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The Key Question• Results matter, regardless of organization size• Small companies must deliver equal/better

performance as large, “name brand” competitors• How do you do this with far fewer resources?



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The Answer…

• Work smarter (also harder), using trained people and the right tools (say, VisibleThread and Clarity Grader)

• This session presents case studies and practical tips to improve your market intelligence and focus, increase your proposal delivery speed and overall compliance

• Presented from a small company, Federal contractor perspective, but applies equally to any organization without an unlimited budget



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Fairfield in One SlideOur

Mission“Customer-Focused, Results-Driven.” SM

We Build, Modernize, Secure, and Support Federal IT Systems

Our Company

Fairfield Technologies Inc. (FTI), an award-winning Federal contractor with 26 years’ experience delivering lifecycle information technology & mission support. CMMI Level 3 ● HUBZone ● 2015 DHS Small Business Achievement Award2016 HUBZone Corporate Citizen of the Year - HUBZone National Council

Customer Focus

•National Security – Defense, Intelligence, Homeland Security, Law Enforcement•The Sciences – Space, Weather, Environment, Healthcare Fact - FTI is prime contractor on 75% of our projects

Major Clients

DHS/USSS, DoD (Army, Navy, Air Force, Natl. Guard, DIA, NGA), FBI, DOJ, NASA, Commerce (NOAA, NWS, USPTO), USDA/FS, DOI/FWS, HHS/NIH

Focus ServiceAreas

1) Agile SW Development; 2) Enterprise IT Services - Infrastructure moderniza-tion, integration, virtualization, cloud migration, virtualization, cost reduction; 3) Cybersecurity; 4) Mission Support - Program management, BPR, QA/testing, surge, acquisition/business/mission support, data mining/visualization, geospatial

Why Fairfield?(Differen-tiators)

1) We know our customers (mission & technology); 2) Best practices (CMMI, Agile, ISO, ITIL, 6σ, EVM, PMBOK, CISSP, technical certifications) = better results, delivered faster & cheaper; 3) Awesome people (94% retention rate); 4) Highly-selective recruiting, intensive training = ongoing client satisfaction



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1) Improve Market Intelligence• What do your customers care about?



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How Do We Match Up?• Not bad, but could be better…



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Quick Look at the Website?• Top levels: Pretty good…

• …let’s dig into the details…November 17, 2016

2016 VisibleThread Users Conference Copyright 2016, Fairfield Technologies Inc.

www.fairfieldtech.com8

Excellent! Excellent! Pretty Good Needs Work..

Practical Improvements?• Detailed pages need to be more readable? Yes…

• What’s the problem? Ask Clarity Grader…November 17, 2016



And the Problem is…

• Press releases written by PhDs, not Marketing!November 17, 2016



To Be Fair, Some TopicsAre Just More Complex…



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2) Increasing ProposalDelivery Speed, Effectiveness

• VisibleThread helps in recruiting qualified staff:



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Identify Key TermsIn Job Description Identify Key Themes

To Look for in Candidate Resumes

VisibleThread: A Critical Proposal Compliance Tool



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Step 1: Identify Key TermsThat Signify Proposal “Must Haves”

Proposal Compliance(contd.)

• Compliance matrix exported to MS Excel and ready for response detail



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Step 2: RespondTo TermsIn Context

Proposal Compliance(contd.)

• Critical for effective, fully-compliant proposal response

• Very time-consuming when done manually• Challenging to be done well (or even at all) if

your proposal team is just you and your critical staff, working nights and weekends

• VisibleThread is key to our ability to respond quickly and well to our customers’ needs



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Conclusion

• Regardless of organization size or focus, results always matter!

• There is no “silver bullet” for getting results• However, investing in trained people, “best

practices”, and excellent tools can help across the entire organization



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Questions?



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Contact Information

Contact Mr. Kenneth Fried, PMPCEO/President

Phone (703) 968-7800, x101

Email [email protected]

Address 520 William Street, Suite D, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401-5775

Website http://www.fairfieldtech.com

http://www.linkedin.com/company/fairfield-technologies

@FairfieldTech



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