If you’re one of the 10,000 students over the past eight years who have seen Eileen Kent teach on behalf of Fedmarket 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.  For over nine years, Eileen has taught (sometimes quarterly) in Atlanta, Chicago, Vegas, LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, New York, Boston, St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and, of course Washington, DC.  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 through her own small, woman-owned company, Custom Keynotes, LLC by customizing training for your team which will combine the most important aspects of all the classes she has taught over the years. Your class will be a high powered, information-rich event and 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:

“Federal Sales 101: Winning Government Business,”

“Writing and Managing Winning Proposals,”

“Federal Contracting Action Plan-Lead Development Workshop, “ 

“GSA eLAB Plus,” “GSA 101: Demystifying GSA Schedules,”

“GSA 201: Modifying Your Contract,”

“Audit Proof Your GSA Schedule,”

“Understanding IDIQ, BPA, BOA, GWAC and GSA Contracts, “

“Selling to the Government from Your Own Back Yard,”

“Selling to the Military from Your Own Back Yard,”

“Selling Small, Winning BIG,”

“Teach Your Onsite Contract Employees to Sell and Win,”

“Teach Your Onsite Contract Employees to Write Task Order Proposals,”

“Katrina Emergency Contracting,” and many more. 

She has brought these classes to audiences in person, onsite at private events, at national sales meetings, in webinars and netcasts. GSA has even featured Eileen Kent as a Keynote Speaker in San Diego, St. Louis and Washington DC.  GSA holds an “Industry Days” event in St. Louis and she 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 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 the “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. One project was the Bean Federal Center featured at the GSA website. Kent, at the time, was the National Contracts Manager-GSA for Tecta America and personally uncovered this opportunity a year prior, pursued it for Tecta, coached the local Indianapolis Office to partner with the prime, which resulted in a $9M win for this roofing company. This was one of the largest and most high profile roofing opportunities in the US during the ARRA spending time and Kent was there when it was merely an vision in a project manager’s head.

TESTIMONIALS:

“Eileen did a terrific job as National Manager for Federal Contracts at Tecta. We first hired Eileen to train our sales organization on how to do business with the Federal Government and then hired her to help us launch our federal sales operation. She did a wonderful job showing our organization how to best position ourselves to work with contracting officers in the federal organization. Our federal business is strong and we have high hopes for the future in large part due to the work we did with Eileen.” Mark Santacrouse, Former CEO, Tecta America Corp.

“Eileen is the gift that keeps on giving! We have attended at least three trainings with Eileen–both on site and through webinars. She just keeps us coming back for more! After one training with Eileen, she is yours forever! If she doesn’t know the answer she will find the answer and no question is too small. Eileen has never failed us and many times has gone above and beyond what anyone would expect in helping our company navigate the federal procurement system and plan an effective strategy. She brings an intense amount of energy and sincere caring to her work. Relationship building is what Eileen Kent is all about.” Barbara Rodriguez, President, TransFluenci.

“Over the past years I have heard Eileen Kent speak at the annual GSA Industry Days in Kansas City. Being multi talented, she talks to us at a level we can understand. The content of her speeches are always germane to the event and at the level of people in the audience.  For those who aren’t familiar with Eileen, put her down on your checklist of “who do I really want to hear speak.” When you do, remember you heard it here and you will walk away with new ideas and the positive inspiration she creates behind it.” Martin Steinlauf, Vice President, AllFoam Products, GSA Marketing Committee Chair.

“Eileen is truly one of the best. She’s a Sherpa for government contractors! I have known her for 5 yrs now and when I joined the Governor’s Administration in Indiana to ramp up our defense industry, she was the 1st one I brought in to train our Indiana companies and we just completed another session in which she again demystified the government procurement process for nearly 60 small companies.” Jason Lovell, Former Director for State of Indiana Office of Defense Development.

“Eileen is versatile, perceptive, passionate, and achievement-driven Sales Professional with proven success in development and delivery of highly successful sales programs. Eileen is a gifted teacher and well respected SME in her field. Over the years, she acquired a strong following of professionals fortunate to experience her winning presentations.” Alex George, Founder, The Federal Contractor Network.

“Eileen’s insight and knowledge have been extremely helpful to us in our federal work pursuits. The energy and excitement she maintains throughout the session is refreshing and her professionalism and ability to present the information in a way that is both engaging and informative is very effective. It has been a pleasure having Eileen Kent speak on both occasions and would recommend her training sessions on Federal Sales and Marketing to anyone. Thanks again!” Jared Fuller, Marketing Director, Yates Construction.

“I recently worked with Eileen to develop a market intelligence and strategy training session for my executive sales team. The task was highly complex because it had to encompass all corporate divisions and customer sales channels in scope and applicability. Eileen created and delivered what I believe was the perfect catalyst for my sales team to both unite forces and also expand sales intel to maximize our overall potential moving forward. It was an honor as well as a pleasure working with Eileen and I look forward to working with her again in the near future. To anyone that is in high need of an experienced business channel and market intelligence analyst look no further than Eileen Kent! She’s definitely one of the best out there and I’d highly recommend her for any business or market intelligence training challenge you may have!” CJ Lange, VP, Industries for the Blind-Milwaukee.

“I recently attended one of the federal sales classes conducted by Ms. Eileen Kent this past July. I wanted to bring to your attention how pleased I am at the return on my investment from the class as well as the class itself. Ms. Kent was very knowledge in the subject, provided real world experiences and unlike other business classes that I’ve attended in the past, she really listened to and understood the nature of my business and each of the businesses represented by other class attendees. She introduced many ideas on how to navigate within the Federal sales world, outlining correct and efficient paths and noting paths and strategies that can thwart business prospecting efforts. Kudos to Eileen! She is fantastic.” Victor A. Furnells, Director, Business Development, OneSpring.

“I have had the great fortune to work with Eileen in several capacities over the past twelve years. First and foremost, Eileen was my first sales manager. She taught me everything I know about selling and building lasting relationships. Eileen’s style is teaching by example and encouraging to think unconventionally. She is a tactical sales person as well as a solution provider. The integrity she brings to the table is unparalleled. She is honest in her approach and the entire sales process.  Secondly, I have had the privilege to take one of her Fedmarket classes. She is methodic in her delivery and extremely engaging….. You won’t fall asleep in her class!!! She is professional and entertains questions until everyone feels comfortable with the material. You will walk out feeling like an expert!  Lastly, I have enjoyed her company on a newly created networking group in the Chicago area. She has paved the way for a great group of professionals with only the same target market in common to come together and exchange ideas and knowledge. Her leadership in this group has resulted in business. The common theme when working with Eileen is you will get consistent professionalism with uncompromising integrity. She is a creative thinker who inspires people to reach that next level. She commands respect and the bottom line is, she is just a really likeable person!” Mary Mannucci, District Sales Manager, Brook Furniture Rental.