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

The difference between a winning proposal and one that comes in second is only two to five points on a 100-point scale. Designed to narrow that gap, this book supplies all the tools needed to generate consistently successful proposals that elicit new clients and contracts and win over peers and senior management on a new project. The secret is in the authors' systematic, easy-to-understand method currently used to train hundreds of consultants at A.T. Kearney and KPMG Peat Marwick. It shows how to crystallize and develop key proposal messages and themes. And it uses an extensive selection of worksheets to help organize and sequence the key psychological decisions necessary to move the buyer-of the proposed service, product, or idea-from the current situation to the desired outcome.

"Forces you to think strategically about the proposal itself before jumping in and starting to write (or worst still, resorting to the paste pot!). Should be part of every new consultant's training (and retraining of a few oldsters as well)."

"Combines psychological with logical aspects to defuse objections and answer questions before they arise. could help you to double your acceptance rate."

"...certainly the most thorough treatment of the subject that we've seen." - Jim Kennedy, Publisher, Consultants News

"Writing Winning Business Proposals deserves the attention not only of all who write proposals but also all who teach business/technical/professional writing. Certainly the best treatment of audience analysis that we have, and hands down the best treatment of proposal writing on the market. This book is required reading for teachers, writers, and executives." - Charlotte Thralls, Professor of Rhetoric, Iowa State University