Step 1 - KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER

Know your Customer

At first glance the Australian Government market might seem like a maze of different departments, restrictive processes and bewildering jargon.

However, selling to a Government agency doesn’t have to be difficult if you understand your market and focus your efforts.

To successfully sell to an Australian Government agency, you need to:

• identify the right customers
• understand what they want
• know how they operate and
• offer them best value for money.

Who are the players?

For most products, there is no single procurement market at the Australian Government level, rather a diverse range of undertakings by the many Government agencies. One exception is coordinated procurement where a whole of government approach is being adopted for selected goods and services.

There are currently more than 120 Australian Government departments, agencies, authorities and companies subject to the Guidelines. For the purposes of this guide, all these government bodies will be referred to as agencies.

While the Guidelines set out the overall framework for Australian Government procurement, individual departments and agencies are generally responsible for their own business decisions and processes.

Amongst these agencies, there are often many different areas responsible for buying private sector goods and services. This means that for most products there is no single ‘government market’, but many agencies effectively operating as separate markets.

There are literally thousands of people across Australia making purchasing decisions on behalf of the Australian Government.

It is worth investing the time to get to know the particular business requirements of different agencies so you can better target the most relevant markets for your business.