G-cloud supplier tips for success

To date, G-Cloud has enabled hundreds of SMEs and new players to gain a foothold in the public sector ICT market. However, with around 1850 suppliers and close to 20,000 services on offer, it's becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd.

Memset is an SME supplier of hosting services who has been on the G-Cloud framework since it first launched in February 2012. We’ve quickly become recognised as a new breed of SMEsupplying hosting services to central & local governments with customers such as The Cabinet Office, Home Office, Public Health Agency, Department of Climate Change, Staffordshire County Council and more.

Sales on G-Cloud recently topped £591m and the number continues to rise. Here’s our tips on what you can do to guarantee your G-Cloud success;

• Selling to government customers is not the same as selling to commercial ones - there are a whole bunch of things you have to do for government that are quite complex, like the security accreditations and billing processes to simply understand their requirements.

• Just because you are on the framework doesn’t mean you can do away with the need forsales and marketing. People don’t magically know about your service - you have to get out there and do your sales job and go and talk to customers. The conversations have usually started long before they are searching the Digital Marketplace for solutions.

• Make sure your entries on the Digital Marketplace are up to scratch - think like an SEO expert and make sure you are using the right terminology and keywords in your service description copy.

• In for the long haul - make sure you understand the sales process and not be too optimistic about how long it will take. In some situations the sales cycle could be as long as a year.

• Partner for success - Initially we started selling direct but soon realised that we needed to work with partners and SIs. Sometimes the only way to get through the door is to buddy up with an incumbent. There is also an appetite by the incumbents to work with SMEs too, so aligning yourself with them one of them may pay dividends.

• Start following the government’s Digital Marketplace blog for up to date news and tips to help you on the road to success.