Tom Sant
1 The Only Proposal Book You'll Need
The second edition of Sant's book picks up where the original left off. It's well-writen, easy to follow and nicely organized. I've written more proposals in my day than I care to admit, but I found Sant's advice added to my own knowledge and my proposal writing efforts got measurably better.
After the introductory material, Sant goes into a discussion of how to use the tools of persuasion in a written document. His advice is clear and readers may find tips that they've forgotten, or never knew.
He then describes how to manage a proposal process from beginning to end, and finishes the book with some rules on writing and language that make a proposal even more powerful.
Sant uses lots of examples and sample proposals to illustrate his points, which brings his concepts to life for the reader.
Overall, the book is a great read. If you write proposals, you should have this book on your shelf.
Michael McLaughlin, coauthor with Jay Conrad Levinson, Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants.
2 Great resource for business proposals
This is a great book full of practical advice on how to improve your sales proposals. Most business books tell you what you should be doing. This book tells you how to do it. It covers traditional business proposals and Request for Proposal responses. If you're looking for help with business plans, this isn't a book for you. But if you want to improve your sales proposals and win more business, this book is great! I saw Tom Sant speak at a sales conference last year and he was terrific. I also recommend his email newsletter!
3 A bottom-line enhancing reader
Now in an updated second edition, Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing To Win More Customers, Clients, And Contracts passes on the practical insights and experience-based wisdom of proposal consultant Tom Saint, a business communications expert whose clients include everything from small entrepreneurial businesses to Global 500 companies (including General Electric, Microsoft, Accenture and other Fortune 500 companies). A "must-have" business writer's guide that scrutinizes the proposal development process; offers a wealth of tips, tricks, techniques; alerts the reader to what common pitfalls to avoid; and then ties it all in with solid advice for instantly hooking the reader's attention with ideas, Persuasive Business Proposals is very highly recommended, bottom-line enhancing reader for any corporate manager seeking to expand a client list and who is faced with increasing competition, shrinking budgets, stiffer governmental regulations.
4 I think Cicero would have been proud...
Engineers like me need to be reminded. Sure the technology we're selling is amazing, but it's not about us. An effective proposal needs to focus on what the customer needs. This is what Tom Sant drives home so effectively in his book, "Persuasive Business Proposals." I've been using (and preaching to my colleagues) Sant's approach for more than ten years and have given away more than 20 copies of his first edition. The new edition is even better than the first.
Focusing on the customer sounds simple enough, but I regularly refer to the examples in Sant's book to get started. I also frequently open the chapter on word choice. It's a useful complement to the proposal tips, and it helps me confidently use words like complement. (Or should it be compliment? It's in the book!)
Sant quotes Cicero in his book to drive home the persuasion point. Hopefully both Cicero and Sant would accept this attempt at a persuasive close: Engineers need help to write persuasively. Persuasive proposals must focus on the readers' needs. Sant's book delivers practical examples for how to meet these needs. "Persuasive Business Proposals" is so well-organized and fun to read that proposal writers will use it as a frequent reference. Ultimately, engineers (who write proposals) simply need sales from winning proposals. Sant's methods are sure to deliver more wins. If you sell, you should read and use this book.
5 I wish I had read this earlier in my career!
I have read many business books in my career and I was expecting this to be yet another "how to" book about the mechanics of writing. Boy was I wrong. Yes, writing techniques are covered thoroughly in Section IV. But first, you are firmly grounded in the customer point of view and the art of persuasion, learn how to distinguish between those "deals" you should go after and those you should forego, and gain insight into methods for organizing your thoughts and the whole proposal writing process. Before closing, the author leaves you with metrics to analyze and measure the success of your proposals so that you can incorporate "lessons learned" into future proposals.
I was looking for ways to improve my proposals but ended up with so much more... in fact, after reading this book, I plan to be more discriminating in responding to RFPs and when I do, I will use the techniques Tom offers in this book to make them more specific,customer-focused,and concise. I recommend this book to any person who is involved in the proposal process and wants to improve the effectiveness of their proposals.
6 The "Write" way to become a sales superstar!
Tom shows you in a clear and distinct manner how to convey to customers the value you can provide them. He demonstrates via numerous real-life examples how to make your proposal appealing to the different types of customers that will review them (purchasing agent, technical buyer, manager, president, ceo, and the like). He also makes you rethink how you conduct your sales call so you can gather the necessary information to make custom-tailor, value-driven proposals instead of generic boilerplates. The book reflects Tom's years of successfully working with sales forces and their customers worldwide to develop proposals that justify the solution and value proposition.
7 Improving on a classic
For ten years Tom Sant's book has been a classic in business communication. It provided the clearest and most effective means of writing a winning sales proposal. This book gives you a clear structure to follow. It has step by step instructions on how to make a more persuasive proposal. The 2nd edition adds chapters of new content like the chapter on decision making which helped me to think about how my customers choose a vendor. I especially liked Chapter 15 that talks about how to deal with bad news. Another new chapter gave me a blueprint for setting up a proposal center at our company. Best of all, there are new samples of proposal writing that you can use instantly. This is a solid business book. Buy it and you'll use it.
