Page 16 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Introduction 7

their arsenal. Your challenge now is to persuade me, your potential client, using
all the tools and techniques at your disposal.
Writing always involves choices, always decisions among options, and the
more options you consider, the better your chance of selecting the most appro-
priate one for a given situation. Even the rule-bound writer has made a decision,
but what I call a “nondecision decision,” an unconsidered one. I’ll show you how
to make better decisions, thoughtful ones, considered ones. And remember that
what worked well in one situation will not necessarily work as well in another.
Even if the questions are identical. Even if the industry issues are identical. If pre-
paring winning proposals were that easy, there’d be no need for this book.
I’m willing to teach you if you’re willing to learn. I challenge you to think hard
about the concepts presented. Some of them will make almost immediate sense
because they will provide guidelines for what you already know, and these frame-
works will allow you to use your knowledge more consistently and effectively.
Other concepts will be more difficult to master, because proposals are difficult to
master. I’ve spent over 30 years trying to master this beast called proposals. I’m
closer to doing so than I used to be, and, if you work with me, I’ll help you get far
closer than you’ve ever been.
Let our journey begin!