The Shredder Test: a step-by-step guide to writing winning proposals

The Shredder Test: a step-by-step guide to writing winning proposals
Author: Robyn Haydon
Publisher: Durbin Professionals Press
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2012-11-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0987352776

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes, with dozens of bids, proposals or tender responses to assess. It’s a daunting and difficult job. Despite the hours you have spent writing your proposal, it’s just one among many. What does it take to be successful in this hyper-competitive environment? What will make your proposal rise to the top of the pile? In this concise and easy to read book, proposal writing expert Robyn Haydon explains why most proposals end up on the reject pile – and how to make sure yours is a winner. Whether you write proposals for a living – or just need help to finish a proposal today – you will find practical advice here on proposal structure, readability, writing techniques, selling your capability, making a compelling offer, and avoiding elimination traps. Ideal for entrepreneurs, professional service providers and small business owners, as well as sales and marketing specialist, grant writers and proposal professionals who work in commercial and not for profit environments. “A quick way to learn a great deal about proposal writing…excellent value…highly recommended.”- Australian Marketing Institute “What's your strike rate when it comes to successful submissions? If it's less than 100%, you could learn something from The Shredder Test. The chapter summaries are excellent…a concise, useful read.” - The Age Newspaper “Straightforward and easy to read, this book is applicable worldwide for companies bidding in open business-to-business environments.” - Association of Proposal Management Professionals (USA) “Strategies, tactics, how-to's and tips that any business can use.” - Herald Sun Newspaper

Winning Again

Winning Again
Author: Robyn Haydon
Publisher: Durbin Professionals Press
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0992521637

BEAT INCUMBENCY DISEASE, MAKE COMPETITORS IRRELEVANT & STAY NO. 1 WITH YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CONTRACTS AND CUSTOMERS When you win business through a formal bid or tender, you will need to retain it that way too. But only about 50% of incumbent contract holders actually keep their contracts when it comes time to re-compete. That’s a scary number, and usually it isn’t because they are doing a bad job – in fact, most are doing quite a good job. Incumbents lose because they’re still doing the same job as they were at the start of the contract, and this just doesn’t cut it with customers any more. The prospect of failing on a re-compete bid is always a reality. But if you’re a CEO, business owner or senior manager with revenue responsibility, clearly this is not an option. The work and thought that positions you as the clear winner needs to start well before the Request for Tender, and incumbency is only an advantage if you choose to use it. Winning Again shows you how to leverage your incumbency advantage, put com­pelling new ideas in front of the customer, and retain the business you simply can’t afford to lose. “If losing a big account is not an option, Winning Again shows you how to keep competitors out and seal the deal a second time.” - Jill Konrath, author of Agile Selling and SNAP Selling Praise for Haydon’s first book The Shredder Test: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Winning Proposals: “A quick way to learn a great deal about proposal writing…excellent value…highly recommended.” Australian Marketing Institute “What’s your strike rate when it comes to successful submissions? If it’s less than 100%, you could learn something from The Shredder Test. The chapter summaries are excellent…a concise, useful read.” The Age Newspaper “Strategies, tactics, how-to’s and tips that any business can use.” Herald Sun Newspaper

Value

Value
Author: Robyn Haydon
Publisher: Durbin Professionals Press
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2016-06-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1925457168

Why is it so hard to win new business? That’s a good question – and this book is designed to help you answer it. Value is for people who work in services industries and in services-based professions like human services, professional services, and complex technical services. In order to use your expertise to help others, to do good work, and to make a difference, we must first convince them that they need our help; we have to convince them to buy from us. And this isn’t always as easy as it should be. This book will help you to look at what you do in an entirely new way; from the perspective of how it creates commercial value for customers. If you have ever missed out on an opportunity that you really deserved to win, ever struggled to explain what you offer to people who just don’t seem to understand, or if you’ve ever seen prospective customers stubbornly go down a path that you know is not right for them – then this book is for you. Value is the final book in Robyn’s Winning Business series, which also includes Winning Again and the Australian Institute of Management bestseller The Shredder Test. About the Author: Robyn Haydon is a business development advisor specialising in value creation for major contracts and customers that are won through competitive bids and tenders. Her clients have won and retained hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of business with many of Australia’s largest corporate and government buyers. Robyn is on a mission to break down artificial barriers that keep buyers and sellers from creating value together, and to bring cooperation, energy, and enthusiasm back to the field of business development. She is a sought-after business development speaker, mentor, trainer, facilitator and coach, known for her engaging, practical approach to complex topics.

The Shredder Test

The Shredder Test
Author: Robyn Haydon
Publisher: Bookpod
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2012-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780975147436

Offers a simple diagnosis for a universal problem - why most sales proposals don't survive a first reading. Through a series of examples and anecdotes based on real-life problems, the author exposes the truth about how and why most sales proposals strike out.

Writing Winning Business Proposals, Third Edition

Writing Winning Business Proposals, Third Edition
Author: Richard C. Freed
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2010-11-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0071742336

Winning proposals that turn prospects into clients Based on the proposal-writing system used at A.T. Kearney and KPMG Peat Marwick, Writing Winning Business Proposals features proven strategies, along with worksheets and other tools that clearly show clients what they want and will easily seal the deal. Thoroughly updated, the third edition offers general guidelines that apply to all business proposals making this the must-have proposal-writing book to have on hand. Writing Winning Business Proposals features: Winning formula from top consultants proven to work for any proposal Complete step-by-step process, walking you through all the difficulties Up-to-date, user-friendly redesign with new worksheets and charts Updates on fees and collaboration If you're seeking approval for projects, or want a client to buy, invest or do something, Writing Winning Business Proposals is the reference you need to get you to get them to do what you want.

A Guide to Business Continuity Planning

A Guide to Business Continuity Planning
Author: James C. Barnes
Publisher: Wiley
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2001-06-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780471530152

The interest in Business Continuity has gained significant momentum in the last few years, especially with the Y2K non-event, the increasing corporate dependence on computer systems and the growing levels of devastation associated with recent disasters. This book takes an organization interested in continuity planning through the processes needed to develop an effective plan. "Jim Barnes has succeeded in providing us a much-needed tool, with which we can condidently face many of the day-to-day challenges of business contingency planning ... With this book, he has taken an important step in removing much of the guesswork and frustration from the business continuity implementation project." From the Foreword by Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI, President of Rothstein Associates Inc., Publisher of The Rothstein Catalog on Disaster Recovery, 2001

Agile Selling

Agile Selling
Author: Jill Konrath
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2015-07-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1591847915

Being an agile seller virtually guarantees a prosperous career. When salespeople are promoted, switch jobs, or face new business conditions, they need to learn lots of new information and skills quickly. It's a daunting task, compounded by the fact that they're under intense pressure to deliver immediate results. What Jill Konrath calls agile selling is the ability to quickly learn all this new info and then leverage it for maximum impact. Having an agile mindset, one that keeps you going through challenging times, is the crucial starting point. You also need a rapid-learning plan that helps you establish situational credibility with your targeted or existing customers in just thirty days. In Agile Selling, you'll discover numerous strategies to help you become an overnight sales expert, slashing your path to proficiency. Jill Konrath's fresh sales strategies, provocative insights, and practical advice help sellers win business with today's crazy-busy prospects.

Results

Results
Author: Bruce A. Pasternack
Publisher: Crown Business
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2005-10-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0307337316

Every company has a personality. Does yours help or hinder your results? Does it make you fit for growth? Find out by taking the quiz that’s helped 50,000 people better understand their organizations at OrgDNA.com and to learn more about Organizational DNA. Just as you can understand an individual’s personality, so too can you understand a company’s type—what makes it tick, what’s good and bad about it. Results explains why some organizations bob and weave and roll with the punches to consistently deliver on commitments and produce great results, while others can’t leave their corner of the ring without tripping on their own shoelaces. Gary Neilson and Bruce Pasternack help you identify which of the seven company types you work for—and how to keep what’s good and fix what’s wrong. You’ll feel the shock of recognition (“That’s me, that’s my company”) as you find out whether your organization is: • Passive-Aggressive (“everyone agrees, smiles, and nods, but nothing changes”): entrenched underground resistance makes getting anything done like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall • Fits-and-Starts (“let 1,000 flowers bloom”): filled with smart people pulling in different directions • Outgrown (“the good old days meet a brave new world”): reacts slowly to market developments, since it’s too hard to run new ideas up the flagpole • Overmanaged (“we’re from corporate and we’re here to help”): more reporting than working, as managers check on their subordinates’ work so they can in turn report to their bosses • Just-in-Time (“succeeding, but by the skin of our teeth”): can turn on a dime and create real breakthroughs but also tends to burn out its best and brightest • Military Precision (“flying in formation”): executes brilliant strategies but usually does not deal well with events not in the playbook • Resilient (“as good as it gets”): flexible, forward-looking, and fun; bounces back when it hits a bump in the road and never, ever rests on its laurels For anyone who’s ever said, “Wow, that’s a great idea, but it’ll never happen here” or “Whew, we pulled it off again, but I’m tired of all this sprinting,” Results provides robust, practical ideas for becoming and remaining a resilient business. Also available as an eBook From the Hardcover edition.

Germania

Germania
Author: Brendan McNally
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2009-02-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1416559221

In their youth, Manni and Franzi, together with their brothers, Ziggy and Sebastian, captured Germany's collective imagination as the Flying Magical Loerber Brothers -- one of the most popular vaudeville acts of the old Weimar days. The ensuing years have, however, found the Jewish brothers estranged and ensconced in various occupations as the war is drawing near its end and a German surrender is imminent. Manni is traveling through the Ruhr Valley with Albert Speer, who is intent on subverting Hitler's apocalyptic plan to destroy the German industrial heartland before the Allies arrive; Franzi has become inextricably attached to Heinrich Himmler's entourage as astrologer and masseur; and Ziggy and Sebastian have each been employed in pursuits that threaten to compromise irrevocably their own safety and ideologies. Now, with the Russian noose tightening around Berlin and the remnants of the Nazi government fleeing north to Flensburg, the Loerber brothers are unexpectedly reunited. As Himmler and Speer vie to become the next Führer, deluded into believing they can strike a bargain with Eisenhower and escape their criminal fates, the Loerbers must employ all their talents -- and whatever magic they possess -- to rescue themselves and one another. Deftly written and darkly funny, Germania is an astounding adventure tale -- with subplots involving a hidden cache of Nazi gold, Hitler's miracle U-boats, and Speer's secret plan to live out his days hunting walrus in Greenland -- and a remarkably imaginative novel from a gifted new writing talent.