A New Event for Government Sales and Marketing Professionals

We’ve been hearing it quite a bit from our manufacturer clients and channel partners recently: it’s tough out there. Companies that sell technology to the government have faced one challenge after another. Most of us survived Sequestration, continuing resolutions, and the shutdown — often with some scars to show for it — and we hope those are in the rear-view mirror for good.

Uncle Sam is still spending a lot of money on technology products and services, but that growth curve has flattened, and budget pressures have increased competition for every order. Add to that the significant shifts we’ve seen in technology requirements, acquisition methods, the movement towards lowest-price technically acceptable (LPTA) procurements, difficulty in meeting face-to-face with customers…and the increased pressure you’ve probably seen from your corporate office to exceed revenue goals while cutting back on personnel, marketing, and other resources. There’s a long list of reasons for those in our industry to lose sleep.

Luckily, it’s not all doom and gloom. Pockets of technology, like cyber security, remain strong with growing demand. The state and local market is heating up. While some agencies and programs face budget cuts, others are expected to invest more heavily in IT products and services. There are reasons to be optimistic, but you have to know where to look … and what to look for.

That led us to an idea: why not host a major event that helps technology companies figure out how to thrive in difficult times? Not another rubber-chicken conference at which the same government speakers talk to the same government audiences about high-level policies and long-term trends. We wanted to build an event specifically for the IT sales and marketing community — one that would help technology companies grow in a flat federal market.

And the Government IT Sales Summit was born.

The Summit will be held at the McLean Hilton on November 20, 2014. It is focused exclusively on companies that sell technology to the public sector: software vendors, hardware manufacturers, solution providers, resellers, and systems integrators. And it’s for the revenue drivers within those organizations: executives, managers, and demand creators in public sector sales, marketing, channel management, business development, capture, and more.

Those that attend (and sponsor) will benefit from a full day of networking, actionable information, useful tools, and relevant insights into market opportunities from other manufacturers and channel partners, current and former government executives, and immixGroup’s own industry experts. You’ll improve your ability to:

• Build stronger relationships with hundreds of people representing channel partners, vendors, and integrators
• Get the tools you need to fill your pipeline with qualified leads
• Prepare yourself (and your team) for success in the coming government fiscal year
• Re-connect with old friends and make new ones

Through market intelligence briefings, panel discussions, networking events, and a vendor tabletop expo, the Summit will cover areas such as:

• Market intelligence on which programs are spending, what they’re buying (and why), who to contact, and how to position your solutions
• Where the sales opportunities are across the federal government and at the state and local level
• How procurement and acquisition changes will impact your near-term sales
• What’s working for other vendors, channel partners, and systems integrators, and how you can work together more effectively to pursue new business
• New ideas to improve your public sector marketing and protect recurring revenue streams
• Teaming opportunities, new products, and channel programs from event sponsors
• Guidance from government officials on how to more effectively sell solutions in cyber security, cloud, infrastructure, mobility, data/analytics, and more
• Networking, networking, and more networking!

This will be YOUR event — one you won’t want to miss. Please mark your calendar for November 20.  Registration is open and sponsorships are available. We’ll share more information as it develops. Visit www.govitsalessummit.com to learn more.

Got an idea for a topic or session we should include? Add it to this blog post or contact me at allan_rubin@immixGroup.com.