NPR (NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO) interviews NIMS Services Inc. at SBA Business Matchmaking Event in Chicago, Illinois

 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112953544

The above link will direct you to NPR.com.  An SBA Business Matchmaking Event was held in Chicago, Illinois September 16th, 2009.  Michael Nicholas of NIMS Services, Inc. was asked to participate by NPR (National Public Radio) in an interview discussing his business strategies and successes.  NIMS Services Inc.was awarded a contract with American Airlines, Lockheed Martin and DESC ( Defense Energy Support Center) through previous SBA Business Matchmaking events. 

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Business Matchmaking In Chicago

by Adriene Hill

September 18, 2009

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September 18, 2009

The flagging economy has created a legion of entrepreneurs — veterans, students and retirees among them. In Chicago they're coming together for a speed dating-style business matchmaking event. Chicago Public Radio's Adriene Hill reports.

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

You've probably heard about speed dating. You meet very briefly, check the other person out, see if you have any chemistry and move on. That same model is now being applied to small businesses trying to make quick connections with potential buyers of their products. From Chicago Public Radio, Adriene Hill has the story.

ADRIENE HILL: (Singing) Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match.

All right. I absolutely shouldn't be singing on the radio, but here at a business matchmaking event just outside of Chicago it's hard not to think of this song. It's basically speed dating for businesses. This is the sound of just about 70 business meetings going on all at once. Small business owners have 15 minutes to make their to private and public sector buyers.

Mr. MICHAEL NICHOLAS (President, NIMS Services, Incorporated): I want to sell you fuel, lubricants, oils, greases, hydraulic fluids.

HILL: That's Michael Nicholas. He owns NIMS Services, Incorporated, a small business in Washington, D.C. I watch as he chats up a representative from the U.S. General Services Administration in a large ballroom at this convention center. There'll be about 1,000 of these meetings at this event. At the end of each there's a signal that means it's time to move on.

(Soundbite of bell ringing)

His next meeting is with a private company. He navigates using the numbers posted on the tables and organizers pair the buyers and sellers. Nicholas is a bit of a pro here. He says he's been to more than a dozen such events.

Mr. NICHOLAS: You have to go in directly knowing your customer, what they generally will be looking for as far as products and services, and attack and attack it hard for the first 15 minutes.

HILL: Nicholas says his company will generate about $10 million in revenue this year. Eighty percent, he estimates, he's won through connections he's made at these events.

But Dan Sturdevant, who's here as a buyer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, says a small business won't get work just by showing up.

Mr. DAN STURDEVANT (Buyer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security): Anybody who comes here looking for a contract is making a grave mistake.

HILL: He says like speed dating this first meeting is only the beginning of a possible relationship. After that, you have to get to know each other. Actually getting the contract, that's commitment, much like getting a ring.

Mr. STURDEVANT: It is a marriage. It is a marriage. You are now in bed with this agency, doing what they ask you to do, and you do it and they're doing what you ask them to do for the next five years. And if you're lucky enough to continue the relationship the contract is renewed over and over again.

HILL: It's a good time to be a small business owner looking for that sort of partnership, especially with the federal government. The Small Business Administration says the stimulus package will likely result in tens of billions of additional dollars in contracts available to small businesses. Overall, the federal government aims to hand out nearly a quarter of its contracts to small business owners.

USHUSTER: The overwhelming majority would be totally intimidated, and find ridiculous, the concept of I think I'll go to Washington and I'll knock on the door at Homeland Security, find out if they want to buy office supplies from me.

HILL: That's Chuck Ashman, who heads up Business Matchmaking. He runs it as a nonprofit. The event is free for buyers and for sellers. Corporate sponsors pay to underwrite these events. And this group holds about four of them around the country every year. Ashman says demand is at an all-time high. There's lots of money out there right now and even more businesses looking for a second date.

For NPR News, I'm Adriene Hill in Chicago.

(Soundbite of music)

MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.

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