West Third Group

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The billion-dollar government market can be very competitive, especially for small businesses with limited resources. In order to compete most effectively, you need to identify all the qualified projects for your business to expand your revenue potential into a broader market.

West Third Group, a marketing and advertising agency of 2 people, is the perfect example of a small business that knows how important it is to get thorough coverage of RFPs in order to gain more ground in the government market. Greg Brooks, Principal of West Third Group, previously worked for a larger public relations agency for 15 years and says, "I used to identify government projects by getting on bid lists…it was an incredibly slow process and an inefficient use of our time. We weren't able to capture all the RFPs that were out there."

When Brooks formed West Third Group, he knew that he needed to find a comprehensive way to identify RFPs nationally for marketing and public relations services. "For a small or mid-size public relations firm, it's impossible to look nationally on a comprehensive level. West Third Group needed to gain more leverage and grow business with increased exposure to more proposals," Brooks says.

After evaluating Onvia's coverage of more than 89,000 procurement offices across the nation, Brooks subscribed to nationwide coverage of the Onvia Guide, which delivers daily notifications of RFPs and other project opportunities. Every day, Onvia monitors the government market and delivers the type of marketing and public relations projects that apply to West Third Group. "With Onvia, I now know when RFPs are coming up. I get a lot more leverage and I can spend more time turning in winning proposals," says Brooks. In addition to notifications about government projects, Brooks also receives notices of pre-bid meetings. "I can get a good idea of who might go after the same project by seeing who attends the pre-bid meetings," says Brooks.

Because of the Onvia Guide, West Third Group increased its market exposure and annual revenue. Brooks says, "Onvia helps us gain more exposure. For a small or mid-size public relations firm, you can't look on a national level and find the comprehensive information that is needed. We can now chase business nationally, which gives us a lot more leverage." West Third Group can measure its success with Onvia in dollars. "In about a 12 month span, we won three projects and one re-bid, totaling $90,000. One-third of West Third Group's annual income for 2006 can be tied back to Onvia," says Brooks.

When it comes to return on investment, Brooks points out that "My $3,000 Onvia investment wound up returning $90,000 in sales. There's nothing else out there that will produce a stronger ROI." Onvia has helped West Third Group grow into a more powerful player nationwide.