So you have a GSA Contract and you have your catalog of products
and/or services uploaded to GSA Advantage!, hopefully. Just the presence
of your catalog on GSA Advantage! though may not be enough to drive the
government buyers to your site to purchase your products and/or
services. The more information you have listed, the better the buyers
will be able to you. First and foremost, you must make sure that your
contact information is up-to-date. In my marketing efforts, I have come
across many companies who have been awarded a new schedule within a few
months and the email address is not correctly listed. If I cannot make
the contact, then how will any buyers make contact if they are possibly
sourcing you out as a potential supplier on a contract? How will they be
able to place orders if the email address is not correct? Always proof
your company information to make sure everything is correct. The initial
company information is entered by your contracting officer upon award
of your contract and yes, errors can be made!
Now let's talk about your catalog. It is important that even if you just have products that you also upload a text file for your Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions file is also known as your FSS which should have been generated after your award. The FSS contains roughly 26 points of information containing such items as: Minimum order, Points of Production, Warranty, etc. This Terms and Conditions file should be very eye appealing as this can be used as your marketing material to advertise your GSA search Contract. It should be uploaded along with your products so potential buyers can get a glimpse of your awarded terms. If you only offer services, these are captured in this very same text file and uploaded as your catalog.
Product files are very tricky as this is where you are building the very information that your buyers will be searching for. A good strong description is very important. You have the option for a total of 1,000 characters for a description, utilize as many as possible. You also have the option to add keywords, again, utilize this to your advantage. Buyers who are looking to purchase your product are going to search GSA Advantage! just like you or I would use Google. For example, if we wanted to purchase a light, we probably wouldn't just use the search term light, we may narrow it down to specifically what we want such as 'hand held fluorescent light'. Thinking along these lines, this is exactly how you want to set up your search words for your products. Take some time and do some searching in GSA Advantage!, use some specific keywords and see how your products fair. If you have alot of competition for your products, and you are not ranking as high, you may want to consider revamping your catalog to get the best possible placement.
Also, it is a very good idea to post pictures for your products. This gives the buyer a better snapshot of your product, remember a picture can be worth a million words or maybe in this case, a million dollars!
To keep on top of your competition, it is always a good idea to monitor pricing. If you're pricing is much lower than your competitions, consider doing an EPA. If you want to do a push for sales, consider doing a temporary price reduction.
You have 6 months from date of award to have your catalog posted on GSA Advantage! You have gone through the painstaking process of getting a GSA Contract, why wouldn't you now post your catalog and start getting some sales!
Know more: GSA search
Now let's talk about your catalog. It is important that even if you just have products that you also upload a text file for your Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions file is also known as your FSS which should have been generated after your award. The FSS contains roughly 26 points of information containing such items as: Minimum order, Points of Production, Warranty, etc. This Terms and Conditions file should be very eye appealing as this can be used as your marketing material to advertise your GSA search Contract. It should be uploaded along with your products so potential buyers can get a glimpse of your awarded terms. If you only offer services, these are captured in this very same text file and uploaded as your catalog.
Product files are very tricky as this is where you are building the very information that your buyers will be searching for. A good strong description is very important. You have the option for a total of 1,000 characters for a description, utilize as many as possible. You also have the option to add keywords, again, utilize this to your advantage. Buyers who are looking to purchase your product are going to search GSA Advantage! just like you or I would use Google. For example, if we wanted to purchase a light, we probably wouldn't just use the search term light, we may narrow it down to specifically what we want such as 'hand held fluorescent light'. Thinking along these lines, this is exactly how you want to set up your search words for your products. Take some time and do some searching in GSA Advantage!, use some specific keywords and see how your products fair. If you have alot of competition for your products, and you are not ranking as high, you may want to consider revamping your catalog to get the best possible placement.
Also, it is a very good idea to post pictures for your products. This gives the buyer a better snapshot of your product, remember a picture can be worth a million words or maybe in this case, a million dollars!
To keep on top of your competition, it is always a good idea to monitor pricing. If you're pricing is much lower than your competitions, consider doing an EPA. If you want to do a push for sales, consider doing a temporary price reduction.
You have 6 months from date of award to have your catalog posted on GSA Advantage! You have gone through the painstaking process of getting a GSA Contract, why wouldn't you now post your catalog and start getting some sales!
Know more: GSA search
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