Lessons Learned for Small Business and HBCUs

1. Lessons Learned for Small Business and HBCUs Austin Boyd Business Development Science Applications International Corporation

2. Austin Boyd’s 12 Step Program for Overcoming Shrinking Revenue Share- or- Seven Habits of Highly Effective Business

3. Introduction • Business Development, SAIC Huntsville • 256-971-6640 (Work) austin.w.boyd@saic.com • $6B technical services company • Software engineering, systems engineering • Modeling and simulation, systems analysis • Army AMCOM, NASA, MDA local business • Seeking innovative small business partners with initiative and desire to grow the technical services business

4. Why 12 Steps? • Meet many small businesses and HBCUs with interest in growth, but… • They don’t all grow or even survive… why? • Seeking business partners to grow into small business arena and capture HBCU share of federal business • Strong interest in mentoring partners from small business as future team mates of SAIC

5. 12 Steps • Put others first • Think strategically • Communicate • Develop relationships • Partner with your customer • Take your customer to market • Mine opportunity sources • Move fast and decisively • Develop responsive business processes • Think out of the box • Think big… Act Big… Win Big

6. Put Others First • The nice guys always win… in the end • You can accomplish great things if you don’t care who gets the credit • Make your customer a hero and she will remember you one day when it matters • Share it, don’t snare it • 10% of a win >> 100% of a loss • Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

7. Think Strategically • Strategic planning is not 12 months out… • Where do you want to be in five years? • What are your strengths and what strengths to you need to reach your goal? • Who do you need to partner with to get to your goal? • What investments do you need to make? • What are your major thrusts? • Who are your customers? Who are your competitors? Your strengths, weaknesses?

8. Communicate • Network… in town, in your professional community… inside your customer contractor base… inside your company • All email and all phone calls do not demand a response… practice good information management • Tell others about opportunities that they may have missed, even if they are competitors • Become an information resource for others seeking help or solutions to short problems

9. Develop Relationships • Customer relationship management (CRM) means get to know the customer as a friend and an associate, not a money-bag • What are their preferences, who are their families, what causes pain in their job, what are their major areas of distress, what do they need to succeed? • Earn the right to be heard… earn the right to sell your product or service • Relationships take months and years to develop… this is strategic planning

10. Partner with Your Customer • Seek CRADA opportunities • Mentor your customer on how the business community works • Help your customer to identify sources of $ • Team with your customer on procurements… YES, you CAN do this! • Ask your customer to mentor you if this is appropriate • Communicate with your local small business office OFTEN

11. Take Your Customer to Market • Invest the money and time to find sources of revenue for your customer • Before you do this make sure you have a vehicle to use the money you take to them • Lead your customer or mentor her to make inroads into new funding sources • Seek and win Congressional earmarks • Share business insights with your customer for no other reason than making her a success

12. Mine Opportunity Sources • You MUST mine FedBizOps every day • Locate a competitive intelligence firm and set up a relationship • Watch Federal, Army, Air Force and Navy web sites announcing new business opportunities… all have them • Get into a mentor-protégé relationship with a large business and use their information mine to your benefit • Visit your small business office OFTEN and get out of town to see other SDB offices

13. Move Fast and Decisively • Be the small business that large businesses envy… make quick decisions and deliver on what you promise • Avoid even a hint of bureaucracy • When on task order contracts, always respond ahead of time, dependably • Publish proposal schedules; stick to them • Have a point of contact who can be reached for large business interface with your unit • Be willing to say ‘NO’ and move on

14. Responsive Business Processes • Put a STRONG focus on finance and cost accounting processes… stick by your rates • Link your business development and marketing processes to your finance/cost accounting and recruiting • Pursue ISO and SEI CMMI assessments… learn EVMS… practice Earned Quality (EQ) • Institute a Business Pipeline tracking system; track your metrics • Hire hardworking dependable personnel for contracts and insist on responsiveness

15. Think Out of the Box • Team non-exclusively if it will not hurt your position or credibility • If you lose, negotiate your way onto the winning team… YES, you CAN do this! • Everything is negotiable… everything • Find large businesses that have large unfilled funded job openings… offer to fill them for short term until they hire a full timer • Team with government on government procurements, particularly the large ones • Give others the work… take the pass through

16. Think Big… Act Big… Win Big • You are only as good as you think you are… and only as good as you act • You are more influential than you give yourself credit for… • Get outside yourself… don’t be afraid to tackle the big one • Always always tie your pursuit to your strategic plan… and plan for growth • Don’t ever sell yourself short • The glass is always half full

17. Summary • Sell what the customer is buying • There are virtually no limits to growth, but you may break your culture to get there… is that worth it? • Think strategically • Think out of the box, don’t think small • Develop relationships over the long term • Be fast, be agile, be willing to take risks and take advantage of split second opportunities • Share the work, share the credit • Rule #1. Put other people first

18. Points of Contact • Business Development, SAIC Huntsville • 256-971-6640 (W) austin.w.boyd@saic.com • Also: Karen Rogers 256-971-6518 • Glad to provide more detail on any area in this presentation… call for support • SAIC is seeking HBCU/MI partners on all federal procurements… call and talk to me • I answer email and phones, but I travel more than an airline pilot… so, please be patient.