Maryland Electric
For small and medium sized businesses, there is nothing better than getting in front of one or more of their “dream” clients – the ones who can award a contract or buy a service that takes their business up to new heights of success. It was exactly that goal – the desire to take her business to the next level – that prompted Rita Dancey to come to the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center at the University of Central Florida (Florida PTAC at UCF) for assistance with government contracting.
Dancey is the CEO of Maryland Electric Company, Inc., a commercial and industrial electrical contractor serving a wide range of customers on a variety of projects including commercial and retail construction, industrial facilities, data centers, universities, hospitals, military bases, airports and more. Headquartered in Clarksville, Tennessee, the company is licensed to do business across the Southeast and is focused on growing in Florida.
“I came to PTAC to get us from where we are – our business has sort of plateaued – to the next level,” recalls Dancey. “While we already do government contracting work, they have helped us fill in a lot of the gaps we had related to topics we hadn’t been exposed to. And they helped me brush up on some of the things we are already doing. With help from our PTAC Specialist Kara Vernon, we learned how to facilitate our proposals a little bit better, how to make sure we dotted all our i’s and crossed our t’s and really delivered a professional product.”
Dancey also took advantage of PTAC’s Government Contracting Reverse Trade Show, an annual networking event with a twist. The PTAC at UCF turns the tables and gives small businesses the opportunity to market their services and products directly to government agencies and prime contractors! At a reverse trade show, suppliers come to meet with buyers as opposed to the other way around.
“The Reverse Trade Show is probably the best event that I’ve attended yet with PTAC,” says Dancey. “Out of 28 different agencies and primes, I was able to interview with 11 of them, delivering my elevator speech and Capabilities Statement. I targeted the clients and it was a true success. Of the 11 companies or agencies I saw, 7 have contacted us to talk about doing business together.”
“The people you get to network with at PTAC’s Reverse Trade Show are amazing,” continued Dancey. If ever there was a room of people you wanted to walk into to do business, theirs was the one. I was exposed to some of my dream clients – NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin — thanks to PTAC at UCF.”
“‘Endless opportunity’ is what PTAC has provided Maryland Electrical Company,” concluded Dancey. “They will assist you with all the resources that you could possibly use to enhance your business and make it more successful. Since starting with them, we have seen a plethora of new quote requests come in. I’d encourage anyone to work with PTAC. The depth of resources is wonderful.”
For information about Maryland Electric Company, please visit http://www.maryland-electric.com/.
