Customer Reviews

Writing Winning Business Proposals: Your Guide to Landing the Client, Making the Sale, Persuading the Boss

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The book takes you through a step-by-step methodology for creating a business proposal. It focuses on meeting the clients needs to create a winning proposal. It lacks a convincing example that could go with the current market requirements.The templates for creating the proposal are a good help and I would recommend this book to new and seasoned proposal writers.

This is an outstanding instructional on how to create effective communications, particularly with clients/customers. It is aimed at consultants, but really applies to communications broadly--whether you're presenting a proposal to a prospective client, or trying to convince your boss to give you a raise.

It takes the essence of Barbara Minto's "pyramid principle" of organization and adds to it audience evaluations, audience perspectives, and general guidance on how to make your communication well-received. It highlights common assumptions and errors on the part of any author, and truly makes a writer put him/herself in the shoes of the audience.

It's an easy read at a bargain price, and I've recommended it to everyone with whom I work. Well worth the price!

This book is really good for you... just like eating your vegatables. Unfortunately, its not easily digested. This book provides a great method of preparing strategic proposals. The method is largely based on the Mento "Pyramid Principle" a book which is itself not an easy read (however, it is required reading at McKinsey, BCG, and other major strategy consulting firms. This fact should tell you instantly just how powerful a concept it is). However, if you're willing to hold your nose and chew slowly (I'm not willing to give up on the "eat your vegatables" analogy just yet), you and your proposals will be much more competitive. Since the book is far from an easy read, I'd suggest that you tackle it chapter-by-chapter with some time for rest and contemplation in between (divide it into "bite-sized" pieces, in other words). If you're looking for fast-food proposal fair, I'd like to suggest Robert Kantin's "Proposal Kit For Dummies" which, despite the title, is a terrific book on proposal writing for professionals -- particularly consultants. Overall grade: A-/B+.

Since my book is mentioned in a couple of these reviews, I thought I would respond.

I used Rich Freed's book for years in my consulting practice and MBA classes. It's a great book, and I *highly* recommend it. It's clearly one of the best treatments on writing business proposals available.

But comparing my book on proposals to Freed's is like comparing apples and oranges. My book is aimed at people who work in scientific and technical disciplines. Freed's book is written toward business applications. These two books are designed to work in two completely different arenas.

Buy this book. As an experienced proposal writer and consultant, I believe it's the best book on writing business proposals. It's truly innovative, and it offers wonderful strategies for winning contracts in highly competitive business environments.

I had no idea how to write a business proposal. I followed this book to the tee...I now write major proposals for my company and my proposal kicked the ass of a couple of MBA's. There were a lot of red faces when I showed up my with version of a proposal. I essentially went from having no idea how to write a proposal to setting the bar on how to write a proposal, thanks to this excellent book.

I just read "WWBP" and was quite smitten by its approach, methodology, and especially the "psychologics" - clearly a home run.

I'm a Silicon Valley technology guy - not a business person - and I have never written a business proposal or plan. I required a formal proposal, so I did the research and bought 9 top-rated books on business proposals. I wasted my money on 8 of them. "WWBP" was the only book I needed.

The authors present a clear, easy-to-follow approach with examples that include not only the required proposal elements, but also address the psychology of the buyers. And, it's written from the client's perspective. Invaluable!

This is a first class book. Written by people who worked in high level positions where short cuts were out of the question. In my mind, there are 2 kinds of books that I would qualify as advisory or "how to" books. The first group usually means well, can contain some good ideas and suggestions but tends not to set a specific methodology with a very high standard. Then there are the books such as this one: people who have honed a craft from often decades of practical knowledge and experience and have uncovered an actual methodology...something the books in the first group above really do not give you. The difference is the first group leave you weaker at proposal writing and this one should set you up to win most of the time.

This is not a totally easy read: that is why it has so much merit. It lets the reader acquire a mindset that will best prepare him/her to see the proposal process from both sides of the fence: what are the buyers really looking for and how to meticulously go about making this case 100%. By using the process in this book, you should increase your success, income and satisfaction at what you do. And because many times your competition will resort to a less formal approach, you should be in good shape. This book forces you to think very hard about all the angles and will turn you into a professional in your field. I look at it as a one time effort that gives a lifelong advantage.

The authors do a great job of showing, not just telling how to create great proposals. While many books are all words this book guides you with diagrams step-by-step through each sequence needed to develop the proposal. You can even download the worksheets to get you going immediately which is a nice benefit that many other books lack. The principles included in the book have even helped me improve my writing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that does not only need to create winning proposals in addition to getting others to their way of thinking.

A logical, detailed and relevant explanation of the psychology and methodology for approaching numerous types of sales proposals. Highly recommended reading for any sales team. It works!

I've used this book in my proposal writing classes for years. As the previous reviewer says, the book is written in a glad-handing style that probably has to do with its primary audience, businesspeople who are worried about writing proposals. But get past that and you find a solid, complex method for multidimensional audience analysis.

The book is in two parts. In the first, Freed discusses audience analysis - not the simplistic kind of audience analysis we often get in introductory writing courses, but a complex kind that helps you see your audience as composed of stakeholders who don't necessarily have the same background, goals, or criteria. Freed breaks down this process expertly, using worksheets to help you track the complex moving pieces of the proposal. By the end of the first section, you should have a good understanding of the dynamics and you should be able to identify and weight criteria that your audience might not even be able to name.

In the second part, Freed takes you through the steps of developing a proposal based on these worksheets. Freed is interested in argument structure and layering persuasion here, and his process allows you to make sure that your argument is coherent, consistent, and responsive to complex audience concerns throughout. One key insight Freed emphasizes is that most people won't read the whole proposal - some may be asked to just read the methods, the budget, or the benefits, for instance. So it's critical to ensure that the basic argument shows up in any given section. (It may help to think in terms of fractals here.) In my experience, students quickly generate decent proposals if they've taken the time to do the worksheets.

Even though I've given the book five stars, it's not perfect. But it's far and away the best expression of deep, multidimensional audience analysis I've seen in a textbook. If you're interested in writing persuasive proposals, take a look.