How to Write a Proposal – How to Write a Proposal

Introduction

I’ve had several careers, often concurrently. I’ve consulted with Fortune 1000 organizations globally; delivered keynote speeches before large audiences; written more than 40 books; become a consultant to consultants as a mentor and coach; and formed worldwide communities of entrepreneurs. Throughout those experiences one issue arose, which was equivalent to a synapse in the brain, passing electrical signals: the critical nature of the proposal that spanned the conceptual agreement and the relationship with the buyer, and the formal agreement to proceed with stipulated fees and their payment terms.

Unlike those instantaneous brain waves, however, I found that many entrepreneurs’ proposals created not linkages but blockages, and they created movement only slightly slower than a receding glacier.

We’ve all seen the “coffee table” proposals, with 30 pages of résumés (“John en- joys fly-fishing”), 20 pages of credibility (“Winner of the Greater Tacoma Not Shrinking Company Award, Honorable Mention”), and 10 pages of nonsensical flowcharts and graphs that look like the innards of the Hubble Telescope. On the other extreme are those who boast of a “handshake proposal,” which holds up nicely until the buyer leaves, the conditions change, or the memories grow short. In this book (which is the modern iteration of my classic How to Write a Proposal That’s Accepted Every Time, first written in 2002, which sold for $149), you’ll learn how to write a proposal in about 45 minutes that is 2.5 pages long, no matter how big the project. The proposal will incorporate subtle features providing for an 80 percent or better success rate, and with maximum protection for you. You’ll avoid legal departments, maximize your fees, and create a passionate commitment on the part of your client.

Sound useful?

People who have taken this approach have sent me all kinds of positive examples and accolades, and the average income in additional fees the first six months of using it is $40,000. Just a month before writing this introduction I helped a technology consultant raise his highest options from $77,000 to $377,000, which was accepted by his client with 50 percent paid on acceptance.

And that’s not unusual.

We’ve been able to completely recast this book (it’s 75 percent different) from its predecessor; provide an online, evolving appendix; and lower the price by more than $100! That’s because John Wiley & Sons and I have a long and happy history together, and the editors and I believe this book can change lives.

Please proceed with an open mind. What I’ve created may seem extremely simple. There’s a good reason for that perception.

It is.

—Alan Weiss, PhD
East Greenwich, RI
June 2011

Category: How to Write a Proposal

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Business Vows

Chapter 2: Five Steps Toward Great Leaps

Chapter 3: Avoiding Gatekeepers, Intermediaries, and Goblins

Chapter 4: The Architecture of Successful Proposals

Chapter 5: One Dozen Golden Rules for Presenting Proposals

Chapter 6: Why Bad Things Happen to Good People Who Wait

Chapter 7: First, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers

CHAPTER 8: THE DREADED RFP (REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS)

CHAPTER 9: RETAINERS ARE TO PROJECTS AS MONTRACHET IS TO THUNDERBIRD

Chapter 10: In the Unlikely Event You Need Oxygen

Introduction