Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Business: Using Knowledge Management to Win Government, Private-Sector, and International Contracts (Book & CD) [Hardcover]

Robert S. Frey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1580533329 | ISBN-13: 978-1580533324 | Publication Date: April 2002 | Edition: 3

Expanded and revised again for its Third Edition, this popular book and its companion CD-ROM are highly accessible, self-contained desktop references developed to be informative, practical, and easy to use. They help small and mid-sized businesses as well as non-profit organizations and public-sector agencies to achieve effective, efficient, and disciplined business development, proposal development, and knowledge management (KM) processes. These, in turn, contribute to increased contract awards and enhanced levels of revenue. Using this book, any small company or organization with a viable product or service can learn how to gain and keep a client's attention, even when working only a few employees. Entrepreneurs can use this resource to assist in the establishment of best-of-breed business development, proposal development, knowledge management, and publications infrastructures and processes within their organizations. In many ways, a small company's future performance in the marketplace will be a direct result of how effectively it chooses to implement the disciplined business development, proposal development, and KM processes and methodologies as well as the modes of thinking presented in this work. All 18 chapters have been updated and expanded to provide you with the very latest guidance on effective proposaling—so essential to the growth and development of your organization.

CD-ROM Included! Features useful proposal templates in Adobe Acrobat, platform-independent format; HTML pointers to Small Business Web Sites; a comprehensive, fully searchable listing Proposal and Contract Acronyms; and a sample architecture for a knowledge base or proposal library.

Recent reviews of the Second Edition of this work have been published in Business Week (New York); Minorities and Women in Business (Washington, D.C.); Canada One Magazine; E-merging Business magazine (Pacific Palisades, California); Small Business Advisor (Los Angeles); and Women's Business of South Florida (Hollywood, Florida). Amazon.com, where it ranks in the top 1% of sellers, includes 10 exemplary reviews of the Second Edition of the book, as well.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert S. Frey, M.A., serves as the vice president of knowledge management & proposal development for RS Information Systems, Inc. (RSIS). During the past 2 years, RSIS has become one of the premier small businesses in the country as measured by its national ranking in Inc. magazine and #62 standing in Washington Technology’s Top 100 Federal Prime Contracting Firms, as well as the dozens of quality, performance, and leadership awards the company has received. In 2000, RSIS was selected as NASA’s Minority Contractor of the Year. As a highly successful prime contractor with projected CY01 revenues of $140 million and a funded contract backlog of $800 million, the company’s 1,150 professional staff support 80 prime contracts and 125,000 users spanning defense, civilian, intelligence, and law enforcement federal agencies. With a sustained proposal win rate of 75%--40% above industry average—RSIS is clearly an example of a successful small business destined to become! a stable, long-term Fortune 1000 company. Robert S. Frey has leveraged knowledge management processes to perform rapid proposal prototyping for RSIS. In addition, he serves as an Instructor in technology management at UCLA in Westwood, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 526 pages
• Publisher: Artech Print on Demand; 3 edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580533329
• ISBN-13: 978-1580533324
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,859,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fellow Small Business CEOs, Institutionalize this Material!!, December 9, 2002

By 

Gerald W. Tritle (Beavercreek, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Business: Using Knowledge Management to Win Government, Private-Sector, and International Contracts (Book & CD) (Hardcover)

In this blue-ribbon edition, Robert Frey provides enough valuable proposal management detail to establish your proposal department, to write your proposal manager's job description, to outline your proposal team's functions, to produce topflight and winning proposals, and to measure the proposal team's success. And if that were not enough, Frey offers his bravura insights into knowledge management and how this wonderful concept can be realistically and incrementally applied to the proposal development process.

Frey mentors you to success with regard to every aspect of proposal management. Frey's style is not staid and wooden. To the contrary, his love for his audience and his desire for their proposal management success shines forth. I would pay twice as much for the book. My company's proposal win rate this year alone proves the worth of the material in these pages. Invest in it, do what it says, and prepare for the reward.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Source of Proposal Management Information, November 19, 2002

By 

Len Duffy "Proposal Designer" (Towson, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Business: Using Knowledge Management to Win Government, Private-Sector, and International Contracts (Book & CD) (Hardcover)

Bob Frey has again created a valuable source of information that should be on every Business Development professional's desk. It presents a clear and concise approach to properly managing the proposal business acquisition process, including creating a winning proposal. The use of Knowledge Management approach to leveraging intellectual property provides an excellent approach to crafting a winning strategy and incorporating it in the proposal. I highly recommend this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indispensible Resource for Small Govenment Contractors, May 21, 2002

By 

Richard Isaacman "Vice President, ADNET Syste... (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Business: Using Knowledge Management to Win Government, Private-Sector, and International Contracts (Book & CD) (Hardcover)

The previous editions of Robert Frey's invaluable book "Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Businesses" have already established this title as a virtual bible of proposal development for small business government contractors, particularly in the support services. Now, with this third edition, some 20% longer and with extensive new material, Frey expands the utility of this important book by integrating his approach with the emerging discipline of Knowledge Management.

In addition to his complete yet concise discussion of nuts-and-bolts proposal issues such as organization of the proposal volumes, establishing the role of the proposal manager, and so on, Frey demonstrates how an effective organization of corporate intellectual capital can be a critical resource in the marketing proposal process. Importantly, he provides step-by-step procedures for creating such an added-value environment.

As in the previous two editions, Frey's approach is very highly application-oriented. He lays out theory when necessary, but his principal goal -- which he achieves admirably -- is to equip the reader with an exhaustively complete set of marketing and proposal development procedures and tools (all the way down to a template for phone lists!).

If I have any complaints at all, it is that the sequence of chapters could use some rearranging; a chapter on internatiohnal proposals seems to be placed unexpectedly, and there is one very brief chapter on private-sector solicitations that could be easily merged with another chapter or deleted altogether. But these are quibbles. This book has garnered a well-deserved reputation as arguably the premier reference work in this field. It is inadequate to state that it deserves a place in every small government contractor's library; it would be more accurate to say that such firms cannot afford *not* to have this book and pay close attention to it!