Eileen Kent, Federal Sales Guide, Advisor, Advocate, Trainer, Industry Leader
If you're one of the 10,000 students over the past 20 years who have seen Eileen Kent through a booked keynote, a public class or in a webinar, you know she is passionate about helping executives learn the game of how to win federal contracts. Eileen has taught in Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, California and even Hawaii. When training, Eileen’s personal focus is to modify the material for her audience so that she will always: "Educate the New, Motivate the Frustrated and Validate the Experienced."
Now, Eileen is bringing her knowledge to you as the “Federal Sales Guide” and she can offer your group a custom training event – or - work with your team one-on-one providing detailed federal sales competitive intelligence and building an action plan based on her findings for your team to execute and win. Either way, Kent will give you a high powered, information-rich program, which is based on real-world opportunities with the federal customers. We will discuss, in detail: the players, the rules, the coaches, the partners, the competition, the field conditions, the strategy to win, the contracting bridges, the closing mechanisms, the proposals and much more.
Here are just a few of her most popular classes she has taught over the years:
- “The Federal Sales Game, How to Play to WIN!”
- “Custom Competitive Analysis Report”
- “Custom Federal Sales Action Plan”
- “Selling to the Government from Your Own Back Yard”
- “Building Blocks of a Winning Proposal”
- “To Bid or Not to Bid-That’s the $65,000 Question”
- “Disrupt the Incumbent”
- “Seven Truths of Federal Contracting”
- “Marketing Tools that Open Doors for Federal Sales”
- “Teach Your Onsite Project Managers How to Build their Book of Business”
- “SAM AD HOC Report Hands-On Training”
- ...And Many, Many More
She has brought these classes to audiences in person, onsite at private events, at national sales meetings, webinars, and even podcasts.
GSA has even featured Eileen Kent as a Keynote Speaker in San Diego, St. Louis and Washington DC. GSA held annual “Industry Days” events in St. Louis and Eileen has been asked back three years in a row to perform “Marketing Your GSA Schedule” in standing-room-only breakout sessions, which attendees have deemed her breakouts to be the “Best of the entire Industry Days.” For that reason, GSA asks her back time and time again. She has spoken in front of 400 at the GSA’s QPC Holiday event on Networking in Crystal City, in front of 250 at the GSA FAS “Green Event” on the topic of “It Isn’t Easy Buying Green,” and in front of over 100 at the GSA Expo for the Hardware Superstore on the topic of “Selling to the Government from Your Own Back Yard.”
National Organizations, Corporations Large and Small, have also asked Eileen to speak at their government sales events including: SYNNEX CORPORATION(4 Events), TECTA AMERICA(1 Event), KMC CONTROLS(2 Events), ALLSTEEL FURNITURE(1 Event), WG YATES CONSTRUCTION(2 Events), NATIONAL INDUSTRIES FOR THE BLIND-MILWAUKEE(2 Events), SIGNS UNLIMITED(1 Event), MDA Information Systems, ICM SYSTEMS, ASSOCIATION OF PROCUREMENT ASSISTANCE CENTERS(3 Events), APEX ACCELERATORS(12 Events) and many more.
The unique angle Eileen Kent brings to the classroom is real experience selling to the federal government which includes her own personal stories in the field, her costly “detours” and how to avoid them yourself. Kent’s claim to fame includes setting up the first 30 workstations in an “undisclosed location” of the Department of Homeland Security. Another claim to fame is managing a national sales effort for a large Midwest roofing contractor which captured over $65M in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding between February 2009 and December 2010.
In 2012, Eileen Kent founded Custom Keynotes, LLC when potential clients approached her for help to guide them in the marketplace. That’s when she built the first Three-Step Program and has delivered over 350 custom competitive analyses and federal sales action plans to a wide variety of industry players, partners and winners.
When asked why she hasn’t authored a book in federal contracting, she says, “I’ve written 350 federal sales action plans customized for individual companies over the years. Federal Contractors need a custom guide and an experienced federal sales guide to lead them into this marketplace. A general book about the rules will never be enough information for a business to step off. Each federal contractor needs an expert to train the team, perform the research, and build a map. As their federal sales guide, that’s what I bring as my superpower to individual clients. I have no time to write a book. I’m walking the talk every single day with my clients.”
If you are ready to hit the ground running, contact Eileen Kent, The Federal Sales Guide, at 312-636-5381.