Earnest Consulting Group

The first bottleneck in most government sales pipelines is the founder.

April 28, 2026 | Business Development

Not the schedule. Not the buyer. Not the proposal. You. We've seen it for 20 years. The founder is researching, writing, calling, teaming, and quoting. The pipeline grows until the founder runs out of hours, then it freezes. Time is finite. 24 Hours in a Day 365 Days in a Year. You can't create more. Pick one thing this week that is not yours anymore. Hand it off, even imperfectly. That is one thing we help our clients. Transitioning from working in the business to working on the business Schedule a strategy call with me. Bring your bottlenecks. I’ll give…

Conferences go beyond the agenda

April 20, 2026 | Uncategorized

The agenda is the decoy. Most people sit through the panels, collect a tote bag, and fly home thinking they worked the conference. The real stuff happens in the hallway. The coffee line. The bar at 9pm when a contracting officer mentions something their agency has been quietly struggling with for eight months. We've seen clients land meetings at breakfast that would've taken six months to schedule cold. Show up early. Stay late. Skip a session if you have to. The agenda tells you where to sit. It doesn't tell you where the work gets done. On Monday June 1st,…

One exhausted hero does not win government contracts.

April 15, 2026 | Uncategorized

A functioning team does. We have all seen it. One person carrying the entire proposal is like the world’s strongest man hauling a couch up three flights of stairs. Impressive. Unnecessary. Someone is going to pull something. Sustainable teams win. Check your bench this week. Stay strategic.

Our book launch is right around the corner… close enough that we can smell it,

April 14, 2026 | Business Development

but not close enough to take it out of the oven yet. Which is ironic… because for 20 years I’ve been telling people to stop over-researching and just execute. And then I spent months writing a book. We’re aware. After working with 3,000+ companies and $14.5 billion in contracts, we had enough material for a library. You’re getting one book. You’re welcome. No fluff. No theory. Just the framework we use every day. Targeting an early May release. And like a slow cooker brisket, We're not pulling it out early just because someone is hungry. Sign up here on…

Most proposal fire drills are self inflicted

April 13, 2026 | Uncategorized

A proposal fire drill feels like an emergency. It is usually not. The RFP did not sneak up on you like a raccoon in a parking garage. It was on SAM.gov. There was a draft RFP. There were industry days. We just did not start early enough. No capture. No pricing models. No strategy sessions. No customer conversations. Just vibes. Then the RFP drops and suddenly everyone is a hero eating cold pizza at midnight. Start earlier. The fire drill is optional. Stay strategic.

Working nights on a proposal means the plan failed weeks ago.

April 8, 2026 | Uncategorized

Here is the fix: Research early. Know the agency's priorities before the solicitation posts. Not the night it drops. Position before the RFP. If the agency does not know you yet, the proposal is just a very expensive cold call. Build the capture plan now. A good capture plan is like a slow cooker, set it early and dinner is ready on time. Skip it and you are ordering pizza at midnight wondering where it all went wrong. Daytime proposals win. Midnight proposals survive. Stay strategic.

If suffering is part of your strategy, something’s broken.

April 6, 2026 | Uncategorized

If suffering is part of your strategy, something's broken. We see it every week. Companies grind through proposals, chasing every opportunity, burning out their teams and calling it hustle. That's not a strategy. That's desperation with a calendar. The companies winning government contracts aren't working harder. They're working in their lane. They know their buyer. They know their value. They bid to win, not to stay busy. Suffering isn't a badge of honor in this market. It's a signal. Fix the strategy. The suffering goes away on its own.