Is Your Capabilities Statement Sending The Right Message?

Here is a quick tutorial on how to prepare a Capabilities Statement.

A Capability Statement is a written summary highlighting your company’s overall experience, expertise, resources and specific services or products you provide. The Statement should tell your reader who you are, what you do and why a client should choose you. It should be customized for your target market in much the same way you would your resume. The Statement is a factual presentation of your company and should be one to two pages in length. Your capabilities statement should include: Your logo Address, name of primary contact, phone & fax numbers, and e-mail address NAICS codes Cage code ---- (Commercial and Government Entity code is a five-character ID number used extensively within the federal government. If you don’t have one, it is automatically assigned when you do your SAM.gov registration.) D&B number Certifications (Both certifications such as 8(a) or DBE, but also industry specific certifications such as ISO 9000 or other quality assurance certifications) Provide a business summary – It should be a paragraph that tells your reader who you are & what you do. Capabilities: Areas of expertise – type of work you can do for your client. Use short sentences or bullet statements. This should not be a long narrative about your capabilities or areas of expertise. Facilities and Equipment: -- List all facilities, equipment and resources used to manufacture the products or provide the service(s). Include unique qualifications, techniques and approaches used to perform work, including any state-of-the-art equipment or capabilities that are part of your business. Expertise: --- A brief summary of your expertise, as well as that of your key personnel/staff, highlighting their education and technical experience as it relates to your business. Customers: --- Provide a list of at least three or four of your key customers, past or present. Company names are sufficient. The Capabilities Statement should be on your business stationary and titled Capability Statement. Keep it simple, but tell the reader what makes you special and why they should choose to do business with you. This can be used as a stand-alone document to market your business, or attached to any pertinent literature you may already have. This along with a simple cover letter can introduce your company to any government agency or large business. Once you have your capabilities statement, you are ready to get out there and begin to develop relationships.