Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions 2018-07-14T01:54:01+00:00
How will the ACEL360 program increase our company’s competitiveness? 2017-12-18T11:54:28+00:00

Doing business in the vast, $1.5+ billion Federal marketplace can be richly rewarding—and tough. The ACEL360 program helps you meet the challenges by supercharging your business development capabilities. It prepares you to garner the right market intelligence, cultivate potential customers, keep up with evolving requirements and contract vehicles, identify the right opportunities earlier, invest wisely in pursuit and capture, partner judiciously, craft differentiated solutions and winning pricing stratagems,  wage the task-order war, and recompete successfully to retain business.

Who from our company should participate in ACEL360? 2017-12-18T12:07:42+00:00

The ACEL360 program is designed for those with ultimate responsibility for setting their organization’s strategic course, positioning their organization in the marketplace, and ensuring that business development efforts pay off. In most cases we recommend that your CEO, president, or other top executive be the lead participant. However, you may choose to have your chief business development officer or other senior leader take this role.

Will I have time to participate meaningfully in a 16-week program and still stay on top of my business? 2017-12-18T12:10:09+00:00

The ACEL360 program is designed for participants to work in their business as they work on it. Individual work sessions take place at your location. Mentoring sessions are scheduled at your convenience. Most clinics and other cohort-based events take place during convenient times—either late Thursday or early on Friday.

In addition, you will want to have selected team members involved in many of the working sessions and events, either along with you or in your stead.

Please see our detailed program agenda for dates, times, and more information.

What is our financial investment? 2017-12-18T12:11:28+00:00

You pay a firm, all-inclusive fee for yourself/your lead participant and all others from your company who participate in the ACEL360 program. We offer a convenient partial payment arrangement, and you may also be able to take advantage of a special ACEL360 promotion or other discounts available to companies based on their socioeconomic status.

In any case, your cost will be far less than the $100,000+ you would pay if you were to invest in each program element separately—and likely less than you would pay a mid-level business development employee or business development consultant over the 16-week period. Yet the program’s value will play out across your enterprise, multiplying the effectiveness of everyone involved in business development and generating returns every year going forward.

Please contact Bill Yarnoff at 703.944.9492 or bill@acel360.com for more information.

What will be the make-up of my program cohort? 2017-12-18T12:13:50+00:00

ACEL360 cohorts are limited to no more than 10 companies to ensure that program content can be custom-fit to the needs and priorities of each company. Cohort members will vary somewhat in market domain focus, size, and stage of growth. Some will be specialty and outsourced services providers; others, solutions providers.

Members of a given cohort will not be market competitors. They will be committed to exchanging knowledge, testing ideas, and sharing successes, challenges, and lessons learned for the benefit of all cohort members—at their discretion and under strict terms of confidentiality.

What can we expect from the mentoring element of the program? 2017-12-18T12:15:56+00:00

Throughout the program, you will have the benefit of biweekly, hour-long mentoring sessions scheduled at your convenience. Before program launch, we will assign, with your input, a lead mentor “custom fit” to bring the right knowledge and experience to bear on your company’s needs and priorities. Whether coming from the buy or sell side of the Federal marketplace, your lead mentor will be a seasoned executive who has encountered, assessed, and overcome challenges similar to those you face. He or she will be committed to working full out to help you reach your individual goals and objectives—and may bring in one or more augmenting mentors to focus on specific concerns.

Your lead mentor will track your progress, answer your questions, and make sure you are getting the most out of your participation in the program. Beyond that, she or he will be your dedicated resource in confronting specific business development challenges such as overcoming past performance limitations, expanding your unique value proposition, or attracting and retaining the right talent.

What other individualized consultation will we benefit from? 2017-12-18T12:16:41+00:00

Expert industry practitioners will work hand-in-hand with you, using our proprietary methodologies and tools. You will emerge with a sound, data-driven market valuation for your enterprise, a reality-based assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your current pipeline, a robust, pre-qualified 36-month pipeline focused on a highly promising government end customer, and the ability to replicate the process vis-à-vis other end customers. You will also be guided in obtaining and utilizing the best market intelligence and improving your capture and bid & proposal processes.

What exposure and introductions will we gain from the ACEL360 program? 2017-12-18T12:17:29+00:00

Work sessions, presentations, and events throughout the program will give you opportunities to interact with a wide range of individuals whose expertise can contribute to your success. You will meet leaders who have built billion-dollar enterprises in the Federal marketplace,  buyers and policy makers who are shaping the marketplace, and thought leaders with insight into where the market is heading.

We will also arrange one-on-one introductions to launch you in executing the competitive strategies and pursuing the pipeline opportunities you develop through the program. You will meet with prospective customer representatives, prime contractor or other partners, lenders, advisors, and other resources as appropriate.

How might I contribute my expertise to the ACEL360 program as a mentor, presenter, or sponsor? 2017-12-18T12:24:19+00:00

If you have a proven track record of success in the Federal marketplace, buy side or sell side, and can devote time to working with an ACEL360 participant company on a biweekly basis, we invite you to explore serving as a program mentor.

If you have specialized GovCon expertise and seek broader exposure in the marketplace, we welcome your interest in participating as a specialized “on call” mentor, session presenter or panelist, or networking participant.

To discuss opportunities to participate, please get in touch with Bill Yarnoff at 703.944.9492; bill@acel360.com.