A retired US Army company commander turned business owner, Jon Tellier shares how he started and his insights about the importance of business development in the government marketplace.

BACKGROUND

Jon Tellier is the President of JetCo Solutions, a business development and marketing firm that provides specialized services for companies entering the government marketplace. The company has earned a strong reputation among the Michigan defense industry community through winning contracts valued at over $4 billion.

Tellier is also a respected community and business leader for more than two decades because of his service in the US Army as a retired company commander and being part of several committees and boards supporting youth, veterans, and other businesses. 

Currently, he represents several congressional districts (MI02, MI03 and MI06) as a Military Academy Liaison Officer.

JETCO SOLUTIONS

Building JetCo Solutions, his wife as the proposal writer and him doing the business development, they are basically unemployed. The company provides a different service back then and for months, they haven’t gotten any contracts yet. However, they continued on their business until they landed a government contract and their clients grew in the following months. 

During that time, nobody would give them a huge amount of money but with that, they learned to properly manage their cash flow and to only buy what is needed. 

“We realized, you know, we don’t really need that because we’ll cash flow this and if we can’t afford it, then we won’t buy it.” 

Consequently, the transition of their business from the automotive industry to being a business development firm was when someone pointed out that there’s a need for people who could help write proposals and other services regarding government contracting. 

“At that point I was like, there’s something. And that was the moment that I’m like, ‘Hey, we can, there’s a need for this and there’s people that need our expertise and we can monetize this.’”

So, in making sure that they provide the best business development services, JetCo Solutions help their clients diversify and get into different markets. 

“We’re very proud of helping both, you know, small, medium and large businesses help win in the government space… ‘cause there’s really no book out there for folks to, you know, ‘Hey, do this and you’ll win.’”

GETTING A GSA SCHEDULE

Jon Tellier’s company also helps businesses get on a GSA schedule but he also provides them advice if it’s the best thing to do because a GSA schedule can be a good contract vehicle but there’s a lot of misconception and misinformation about it. 

“We asked the question and we’ll even do some research to back it up to make sure that the GSA schedule is something that you should invest in because if the government isn’t buying the product or service that you sell using a GSA contract, then there’s no sense in spending the time and resources to get one.”

Also, consider that the GSA has a procedure to follow and if you get rejected, you need to fix your requirements and resubmit again. 

Then, after being accepted, you need to follow the process of uploading all of your products, doing your quarterly reporting, and navigating their platform in order to really take advantage of what it can offer as well as being compliant to their rules and regulations.

Hence, if you are not ready for such processes and you are just new in the market, it is best to save your money and do other courses of action in learning the government marketplace first. 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Jon Tellier as he shares how he started and his insights about the importance of business development in the government marketplace, then be sure to click the links down below.

038 : Jon Tellier, JetCo Solutions – An Extension of the Sales and Marketing Team for Businesses

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/jon-tellier-jetco-solutions-an-extension-of-the-sales-and-marketing-team-for-businesses/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SE80So3pq4&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=33