When I first heard from my friend Daniel Waldschmidt that I “…had to read this book, it is the best ever…” I was immediately skeptical. I have a lot of respect for Daniel, but he’s a superlative guy and things are measured at “worst” or “best” only with know other evaluation scores considered.

But, he was right.

Klaff takes the reader through his core ideas of gaining the upper hand in tough sales presentations, recognizing dead-ends and idea-stealing meetings. As well as how to keep your composure when the buyer is hoping to break it. Trust me, it’s not all negative and fighting for your life skills training. However, Oren comes from the world of pitching ideas to the jaded venture capitalist and private investor market and these guys are “Shark Tank” on a cocktail of steroids and RedBull™.

If you sell complex deals to very senior executives, you want to download or order this book today. I am working through my 2nd reading of it, (never do that), and I have highlighted something on about every page.

Oren’s site is: http://www.pitchanything.net

You can buy “Pitch Anything” on Amazon:

The latest stop on my book tour/media blitz was with Ian Brodie, one of the best sales consultants across the pond. Ian works with professional service firms–consultants, lawyers, accountants, surveyors, architects and coaches–to help them attract more clients and win more new business. You can check out the interview on his site, IanBrodie.com.

Thanks, Ian!

Ian Lurie of Conversation Marketing had a look at RFPs Suck! and decided the topic was worth an interview on his site.  Call me biased, but I have to agree.  He asked some great and important questions on RFPs and I’d like to share the answers with you here.

Below is an excerpt from the article.  Read the whole thing here.

RFPs Suck-Don’t take my word for it…

RFPs are like a colonoscopy: Someone you don’t even know gets to inspect you from the inside out.

Sorry, I prefer to have dinner first.

Thankfully, I’m no longer raving alone. Tom Searcy has written an excellent book titled, guess what, RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business.

Unlike me, he provides excellent help to navigate the RFP process. In fact, I used some of his advice in an RFP, and are now in the running for the contract. So his stuff works.

Tom was kind enough to do an interview with me about the book and RFPs in general. Here it is:

1. What inspired you to write the book? I know why I’d write it – because RFPs really do suck. But clearly you’ve seen great success responding to RFP’s.

Over the past five years, governance requirements, aggressive cost-cutting measures and more powerful purchasing departments have been driving deals into the RFP process–even the smaller deals that may not have required one before. As such, the number of deals that require an RFP process has increased exponentially.

Read on…

Hi All,

Just a quick note to let you know that my new book RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and For All to Win Big Business is now available on Kindle. If Kindle is your format of choice, well then, please go forth and order!

The Kindle edition is available HERE.

Thanks and enjoy!
Tom

Well, everyone, a collective sigh of relief just left the Hunt Big Sales headquarters (or “clubhouse” as we prefer to call it). Why? My new book—which you are all no doubt familiar with, thanks to your immense help in choosing the cover—just came out!

RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a slew of other places. In about a week, it will be available on Kindle so if that’s your format of choice, just let me know and I’ll send you an update when it’s ready. And if its mere existence isn’t enough to convince you to grab a copy, you can find more details about the book at RFPsSuckTheBook.com.

The Vitals:

Hardcover: 160 pages

Price: $29.95
(Yeah, it’s a bit more than your average run-of –the-mill book but that’s because it’s not your average run-of-the-mill book. And anyway, your boss should be buying this for you.)

Publisher: Channel V Books

How you can help:

• Refer it to everyone you know.
• Buy it for everyone in your office. (Hey, it makes a great stocking stuffer!)
• Leave an online review at Amazon or Barnes & Noble if you’ve read the e-book or after you read the full length version. (Links are above.)
• Vote on other peoples’ reviews that are particularly helpful (on Amazon).
• Think happy, positive thoughts about it every now and then.

Background:
As many of you know, this book is the extended version of my e-book Landing Big Sales with an RFP.

[After the jump I’ve included the full Table of Contents so you can view the massive amounts of new information, RFP samples and processes I’ve added to this new hardcover version.]

Sure I kicked and shoved when my marketing team told me that I should write an e-book on RFPs and offer it to readers for free (free?!) on my website. After all, this was the stuff that my clients pay me adult money to coach them through. But I knew that arguing with them would be a losing battle so, like all other battle-scarred soldiers before me, I raised my white flag, buried my head, and jotted down a variety of my favorite RFP-defeating techniques to share with the world.

Thousands of downloads and seemingly hundreds of “Thank You” notes later, and I realized that the demand for this type of material was strong and growing. And so I’ve expanded what was once limited material into what I like to think of as the ultimate guide to conquering RFPs—whether government, private, or public—by adding several additional winning techniques and a number of sample RFP responses (with critiques). I also did my due diligence by surveying my audience about the mysteries and troubles they’ve encountered in their RFP traumas, err, experiences and addressed them here.

Read on for the full Table of Contents…

I: Qualify the RFP

Chapter 1: The RFP System is Not Built for You
Chapter 2: Seven Signs of Readiness
Chapter 3: RFPs to Avoid
Chapter 4: How Do I Get in the Game?

II: Understand the RFP

Chapter 5: It Takes a Village…
Chapter 6: Open Meetings: Opportunity or Trap?
Chapter 7: Think Like a Big Prospect
Chapter 8: Why Do Buyers Change Providers?
Chapter 9: How Do Buyers Narrow Down the Field?
Chapter 10: How Do Buyers Differentiate Among Competitors?
Chapter 11: Why Do Buyers Buy?
Chapter 12: Learn the Language Big Prospects Want to Hear
Chapter 13: 10% Leverage
Chapter 14: Create Your Theme
Chapter 15: Tactics for “Breaking” an RFP

III: Write the RFP Response

Chapter 16: Organizing and Writing the RFP Response
Chapter 17: Cover Letter
Chapter 18: Executive Summary
Chapter 19: Final Proposal Checklist

IV: Evaluate the RFP Response

Chapter 20: How Will My RFP Be Evaluated?

V: Turning Theory Into Action: Sample RFP Responses With Analysis

Chapter 21: RFP Review Rubric

Chapter 22: Sample I: A learning management system provider and custom e-course development company is bidding on an RFP from a national association of college and university housing officers for career-enhancing materials for professionals.

Chapter 23: Sample II: A consulting company that teaches Capability Maturity Model Integration in software engineering and organizational development through a series of workshops. The company is bidding on an RFP from a larger consulting firm to offer services to its clients.

Chapter 24: Sample III: A web design company is bidding on an RFP to develop three websites for a large specialty coffee company.

Chapter 25: Sample IV: A strategic communications marketing firm is answering an RFP from the state housing authority to assist a city in promoting its emphasis on homelessness, affordable housing and the creation of vibrant neighborhoods.

Chapter 26: Sample V: A group of investment managers is bidding on an RFP from the state judicial retirement system for a U.S. Domestic Large Capitalization Equity project.

Chapter 27: Sample VI: A non profit historical research and consulting firm is bidding on an RFP from the state purchasing department to research, design, fabricate and install an exhibit in the state capitol building. Intended audience: 4th graders and others visitors to the capitol.

Chapter 28: Sample VII: A public relations and communications firm is bidding on an RFP to manage public relations for a growing software company for one year.

Read It for (dot) Me has put a twist on the old Cliff’s Notes for the modern business books by combining animation, voice-over and an interview with the author into a 10- minute program for the business book reader. The company just summarized Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company coauthored by Barbara Weaver Smith and me. We did an accompanying interview with Steve Cunningham, the creator of the program.

The 10-minute Whale Hunting piece serves as a refresher for the thousands of people who have bought and read the book.  For your colleagues and others who may not have read it yet, the piece is a good intro to the book and provides some context to all of the things you have been trying to get them to understand.

Read It for (dot) Me is really worth your time.  And I promise, you can actually stomach listening to the 10-minute pieces.  Check it out.

Wow. I can’t thank you all enough for the incredible feedback you left for me last week. As a result of your comments, suggestions and votes we’re down to the four final covers—a couple of which are new, slightly-altered renditions of the older ones, and one of which will be the final cover.

I must say, I’ve been staring at these covers for over a week now and they’re beginning to look like one big blur to me, so I’m really, really counting on your help to make this decision once and for all! (This is both my way of guilting you into voting and thanking you immensely in advance for doing so!)

A few notes about the changes we made before I unveil the four final choices:

• We heard pretty consistently that my name needs to be smaller, with which I agree, so that’s going to be a definite.
• A couple people mentioned that the title should be a little bit more professional. In particular, they didn’t like the word “Sucks.” My feeling is that business books don’t have to be boring just because they’re educational. This title is a nod to that as well as to the fact that, well, RFPs really do suck, which is no doubt a sentiment shared universally. I also feel that the title—whether loved or hate—is provocative enough to pull people in for a closer look. From there, I hope the content will speak for itself.
• A couple of you mentioned that you liked the little HBS man inside the “O” in my first name, so we’ve tried to incorporate that more. By the way, this was surprising to me as I didn’t think much of it, but hey, the masses have spoken and I’m going to listen.
• The most popular covers were covers 1 and 6. Before I read your comments, I was dead-set on Cover 6, but your votes have led me to seriously consider Cover 1 (or a rendition thereof). The following options are different plays on those two covers.

Oh, one more thing: I know that a few people liked the covers that featured the title being literally sucked away, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around them so I had to make an executive decision: Vetoed! (Sorry if those were your favorites.)

Now, without further ado, I present you with our four finalists…

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

Cover 4

[poll id="2"]

]]> http://www.huntingbigsales.com/2009/07/08/the-final-verdict-which-cover-will-it-be/feed/ 4 http://www.huntingbigsales.com/2009/07/01/help-me-choose-my-next-book-cover/ http://www.huntingbigsales.com/2009/07/01/help-me-choose-my-next-book-cover/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:48:02 +0000 Tom Searcy http://huntingbigsales.com/?p=723

Hey, Everyone!

My publisher sent me a bunch of book covers for my upcoming RFP book and I can’t decide which one I like best. I’m hoping you can help! Below I’ve posted the six cover options followed by a simple multiple choice poll.  All you have to do is take a look and then vote for your knee-jerk reaction.

By the way, you might notice that some look pretty similar, so please take into account the different fonts, colors and type sizes. And if you have any suggestions on individual elements you would change or swap, please leave me a note in the comments.

Oh, and note that the Cover number options apply to the book above them. Ah, spacing issues.

As always, thanks for your insight and help. I’ll announce the winning cover in the next few days and keep you updated on the book’s release!

Tom

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

Cover 4

Cover 5

Cover 6

[poll id="1"]

Thank you so much for all of the great suggestions!

What I’ve realized going through these is that while there are some really great and catchy titles here, there’s still something missing. The problem I had when I tried to name the book myself was adequately capturing the content of the book. And now that I see you having the same issues, I realize that there is actually a much larger issue: I’m not describing the book well enough. I need to be able to describe the book better so you can have a fair shot (and so I can eventually sell it!).

So, I still have the Kindle and I still want to give it away. Can we try this again once I come up with a better description? Thank you all again. You can’t imagine how popular I felt having all of these comments on my blog. I should give you all a Kindle just for that short-lived ego boost!

Blog readers and enthusiasts,

I am going to give a Kindle 2.0 to the winner of the following contest:

I’m publishing three books (three!) between now and the end of summer. One of these books is on how to be more effective using all of the tools out there for prospecting large accounts. It is the much-expanded version of my most recent e-book, How to Get Into Bigger Companies for Bigger Sales.

My publisher and I agree that this particular title stinks. Not only is it tepid, but if you’ve read the e-book, you know that there’s a lot more to it, including an entire how-to on using specific social media platforms for prospecting and “listening.” That said, I’m looking for a more provocative and accurate title that elicits the reaction: “I want to buy this book for every single person in my company!”

So, you have one week. If your suggested title is the one I choose for the book, you win the Kindle 2.0. I have one, and it is flippin’ phenomenal.

Post your entries as comments to this post and, who knows, a week from now I might have a new title and you might have a new Kindle 2.0!

All the best,
Tom