I’m trying to come up with a tag line for my Consulting Business. This came up during the design of my new business cards. The company name is Pierce Consulting, Inc., which communicates nothing about the type of consulting I do. On the back of the card (and for uses elsewhere) I want a tag line to accompany what I already use, which is “Federal Contract Services” – (I might mention I’m not tied to that either.) There’s two of us in the company so we’re small, and we do no outbound marketing. All our business comes from referrals – and it’s plenty for now, and has been for the last 7 years. We work with commercial industry companies of any size, from the giants in telecommunications, document production, and express shipping to the smallest resellers and integrators that want to sell their wares and services to the federal government. Our specialty is securing these companies what’s called a GSA (General Services Administration) Schedule Contract, which is a contract vehicle that limits competition, and generally simplifies the government purchase process. The GSA has a Schedules program for just about anything you can imagine, for everything the Government buys, from granola bars and tunafish, to Information Technology, Office supplies to Air Craft Carriers to Neurosurgical Navigation equipment. We prepare a proposal for the company (in accordance with the incredibly confusing, ridiculously long – 100-300 pages of strict instructions and requirements of the GSA’s solicitations), and negotiate terms, conditions, and pricing on behalf of our clients. It’s about a six month process when you know what you’re doing, and we do, and a year or more, or never because your offer is rejected for non-compliance, if you don’t. Companies don’t have the luxury of time to work through the administrivia and red tape, or deal with the varied personalities of GSA’s personnel, they just want the contract quickly so they can go forth and sell. Not glamorous consulting, but in high demand. There are lots of large consulting firms and legal entities that do this, especially here in the Nation’s Capital. We’re not the biggest, not the cheapest, but we are personally
committed to each client, de-mystifying the process from proposal prep to contract award – and we do the majority of the work required throughout the process. What six or seven words convey all that?
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Jay’s Answer: Thanks for a very thorough background to your problem!
You’re right that your business name does nothing to help clarify what you do.
“Federal Contract Services” is vague but does describes what area you operate in. A tagline needs to focus on the benefit to what you do. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Cutting Through Federal Contract Services’ Red Tape (note: “cutting through” can be a play on “pierce”)
- Simplifying GSA proposals
- Improving B2G (Business-To-Government) Sales