How your PMs are killing deals without knowing it

You're in your quarterly business review. On-contract growth is flat. Your chief growth officer is pressing: "Are our project managers growing these programs or just delivering them?"

Your program manager walks into a customer meeting carrying that pressure. The branch chief, three weeks in the role, mentions they can't figure out the approval chain. "I know this used to flow through Jeff, but I'm not sure who anymore."

Your PM sees an opening. Thinks about your quarterly business review and says: "Speaking of processes, we should start discussing the recompete strategy. I want to get ahead of it.

The branch chief cuts them off: "I can't think about that right now. I'm just trying to keep my head above water."

Awkward silence.

This was the moment to show they cared more about people than the pipeline. Your PM chose wrong. That branch chief will remember who offered help and who made them uncomfortable. Six months from now, when they need to expand the program, they won't be calling your team.

What Your PMs See That You Don't

The federal workforce exodus accelerated dramatically in late 2025. Retirement buyouts, DOGE initiatives, and workforce reductions compounded the long-predicted silver tsunami. The GS-15 who navigated acquisitions? Took the buyout. The branch chief with institutional knowledge? Gone. The contracting specialists who mentored new COs? Left.

In their place: dedicated public servants promoted multiple layers, learning aspects of their role they've never done. Everyone they'd go to for guidance? Also gone. The specialists around them? Also learning. They care deeply about the mission, but they don't have the support system previous generations had.

Your Relationships Are Gone. Here's How to Rebuild Them (And Why It Matters for Revenue)

When your GS-15 contact retired, you lost your relationship. The person who trusted you, took your calls, and gave you early warnings? Gone.

The branch chief who replaced them? You've never worked together. They don't know you. You're starting from zero.

Most contractors are still trying to "maintain" relationships with people who no longer exist, while competitors build new relationships with the people making decisions now.

When you help someone, they remember. Six months later, when they need help again, they call the person who previously helped them, not the person who pushed for a recompete meeting when they were drowning.

That phone call is how you get early budget warnings, leadership insights, heads-up on competitors, and first call on adjacencies.

What Your Competitors Can't Copy

Your competitor can match your technical solution. They can copy your methodology. What they can't replicate is a team that genuinely cares about the people they work with.

We call it Hi-Q: human intelligence. The emotional intelligence to recognize when someone is too overwhelmed to have the conversation you need. The wisdom to help first and talk business later. The genuine empathy that says, "How can I make your day easier?" rather than "Let's discuss the recompete."

When your PM sees that the Branch Chief is struggling and offers help, they're not executing a strategy. They're being human. And here's what happens when you treat people like people: they remember. They trust you. And when people feel heard and helped, they naturally want to help you back.

That's not manipulation. That's reciprocity. It's how relationships actually work.

Your competitor's PM walks in with a presentation and an agenda. Your PM walks in, recognizing that the person across the table is learning a new job without a mentor, and asks, "What can I do to help?" One is transactional. The other is human.

When you build relationships based on genuine care, the intelligence flows naturally. People share what's really happening because they trust you. They call you first. Not because you were tactical, but because you cared when it mattered.

The Multiplier Effect

Your entire team (PMs, SMEs, technical leads) are already there, seeing dedicated public servants learning new roles without support. When they learn to recognize when someone needs help and genuinely offer it, you create relationships and trust that generate insights competitors can't match.

Have you trained them to recognize those moments? Or trained them to see every conversation as a pipeline opportunity?

In 2026, contractors who win won't be the ones who pushed hardest for meetings. They'll be the ones who built relationships by genuinely helping. Those relationships generate the intelligence that wins recompetes and identifies growth.

Your PMs are already in the room with these new leaders. They have access. They know. The question is: Have you trained them to recognize when someone needs help? Or have you trained them to always be closing?

The answer to that question is already showing up in your pipeline.

Nic Coppings is Senior Partner at Hi-Q Group, where he helps government contractors transform customer engagement into competitive advantage. With more than 20 years of experience in federal contracting, Nic has worked with hundreds of contractors to develop what he calls Hi-Q (human intelligence)—the capabilities that drive on-contract growth, win recompetes, and identify adjacencies competitors never see. He can be reached at ncoppings@hi-qgroup.com