Supporting APEX Accelerators

I am a Senior Business Counselor with Two Rivers CDC Native PTAC servicing Native Enterprises in AK, ID, OR and WA. Like many others, I went into the last sessions of the conference with little for expectations. RSM Federal provided controversial suggestions and convincing arguments in an educational and entertaining way. . . you had more than a few gems that are going into my bag of tricks.”

Thank you RSM Federal for presenting the Advanced Teaming Strategies workshop at APTAC in St Louis earlier this month. It was by far the best presentation I attended all week and has made a significate impact on how I help businesses. Again, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to provide specific tools and direction to advise my PTAC clients on how to communicate their value so they can grow their business.”

As a Government Contracting Specialist (PTAC) consultant in the SBDC, Fort Lauderdale, FL, program, I provide contracting guidance for firms seeking federal, state and local contracts. Teaming is always a part of life for the more successful clients. That made me keenly interested in your scheduled presentation. Coincidentally, I am on the speaker docket for a major Government Contracting presentation in Miami on 15 Apr 2016. My topic? ‘Teaming/Joint Venture.’ My hope was to check the accuracy of my PPT. Your presentation led me to make several last minute enhancements and additions to my PPT, for which I thank you. I have an administrative comment. It centers on my opinion that the quality and efficacy of your presentation, as well as the value of the material, should have had this topic scheduled to a full house. By scheduling this topic on the last day of the conference, several of my colleagues missed this great learning opportunity. Of the twelve sessions in which I took notes, yours was the most prolific collection of ideas I can/will use in the future.”

I just wanted to follow up with you after last week’s APTAC Spring 2016 conference. I really enjoyed your breakout session on teaming strategies. I remember you keynoting the Utah PTAC Symposium a couple of years ago and was really looking forward to hearing from you again. I was not disappointed. Your suggestion to focus 80% of time on pre-acquisition activities was spot-on for companies who are maturing and gaining experience in government contracting. I especially appreciated your insight that clients should not be contacting potential teaming partners until they have first gained some level of competitive intelligence that will communicate value to a prospective partner. I was also pleased to hear your comments regarding 5 functional areas that primes/large companies use to evaluate potential small business partners. Each area, from market acumen and back-office maturity to the actual competencies and complimentary capabilities of the small business are the relevant elements that differentiate subs from one another. We would love to have RSM Federal come to northern California and address the NorCal PTAC small business community at some point in the future. Thanks again for your contributions to the PTAC and small business community.”

RSM Federal came up with great ideas for us to use with our clients. Even after 15 years of assisting clients in the federal marketplace, I walked away with some new thoughts and techniques on how the client is to present their Value in 45 seconds, teaming to create relationships, communication with your primes during the selection process. These ideas are sometimes overlooked and I look forward to bringing them to our clients.”

I am the Program Director & Government Contracting Adviser for the Bozeman Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at Montana State University. As a PTAC counselor, I help small businesses market and sell their products and services to federal state and local governments and prime government contractors. I had expected  presentation on “Advanced Teaming Strategies to Accelerate Small Business Government” to cover the pros and cons of joint ventures and teaming agreements and to provide the “usual advice” on how to create tailored “Capabilities Statements”. Thankfully, Josh’s presentation went well beyond the basics. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about his strategies to “sell the government and prime contractors your company’s value proposition during all of the acquisition phases, including pre-solicitation, proposal writing, source selection and after contract award. His presentation was professionally delivered, relevant, well organized and fast paced. Josh provided thoughtful analysis, insight and courses of action to help overcome common marketing challenges faced by small businesses. I have attended many government contracting classes over the last 25 years. His presentation, strategies and insight rank within the top one percent of all of the courses that I have attended throughout my professional career. I highly recommend you attend an RSM Federal presentation and seek advice on how to gain a competitive advantage in the government marketplace. You will be glad you did.”

Bozeman PTAC at Montana State University, Commander, US Navy (Retired)

Your presentation on Advanced Teaming Strategies at the spring 2016 APTAC Conference in St Louis was eye opening and thought provoking. Your emphasis on capture strategies and market intelligence along with relationship focus was so on target it immediately addressed references to my business, personal and work life. As an SBDC employee, Josh you deflated my taught culture of Differentiation, where we advocate our clients to acquire and use, from the SBA training on down we suggest, indicate socio-economic status, if they have one. You not only challenged us but open hand-slapped us to ‘go against the grain’ in counseling our clients, don’t preach differentiate until after they can valuate themselves! “It’s not what they sell. It’s not their socio-economic status. It’s the Value that their products and services provide.” Man, in your face no time to waste, ability to communicate! So obviously simple, I loved the interaction and was thinking, ‘if I personally had a company that was able to enter the government arena, I WOULD CERTAINLY HIRE RSM FEDERAL TO HELP ME!’ Josh, your 45 second introduction was so simple and succinct that anyone would kick themselves for NOT using it. This insight was like an energy drink laced Espresso ice-mocha latte with a Crème Brule chaser! What a rush! Thank you for the engaging content!”

APTAC learned a valuable lesson during our Spring 2016 Training Event. Don’t schedule Joshua Frank with RSM Federal as the last speaker of the conference. Joshua’s presentation was one of the best sessions offered to our attendees. He was able to engage our attendees and left them wanting MORE!”