Details

<p>Acknowledgments ix</p> <p>Introduction xi</p> <p><b>Chapter 1 Business Vows: What Is a Proposal and Why It Is Necessary 1</b></p> <p>What They Can Do and What They Can’t Do 1</p> <p>Their Place in Your Business Model 5</p> <p>Why You Don’t Provide Proposals for Just Anyone 9</p> <p>The Role of Conceptual Agreement 12</p> <p>The Concept of Value (Not Time and Materials) 14</p> <p>Notes 18</p> <p><b>Chapter 2 Five Steps Toward Great Leaps: How to Prepare Yourself and the Client 19</b></p> <p>Determining the Economic Buyer 19</p> <p>Developing Trusting Relationships 23</p> <p>Establishing Outcome-Based Business Objectives 27</p> <p>Establishing Metrics for Progress and Success 30</p> <p>Establishing Value and Impact 33</p> <p>Notes 37</p> <p><b>Chapter 3 Avoiding Gatekeepers, Intermediaries, and Goblins: Accepting Rejection and Rejecting Acceptance 39</b></p> <p>Utilizing Mutual, Enlightened Self-Interest 39</p> <p>Using Guile and Other Art Forms 43</p> <p>Using Explosives 46</p> <p>Avoiding Delegation 50</p> <p>Ensuring Support 54</p> <p>Note 56</p> <p><b>Chapter 4 The Architecture of Successful Proposals: The Million Dollar Consulting^® Proposal Structure 57</b></p> <p>The Nine Key Components 57</p> <p>Notes 75</p> <p><b>Chapter 5 One Dozen Golden Rules for Presenting Proposals: Steak and Sizzle Are Hard to Beat 77</b></p> <p>Speed and Responsiveness 77</p> <p>Accurate Re-creations 81</p> <p>Counterintuitive: No Pitch or Promotion 85</p> <p>To Be or Not to Be (In Person) 89</p> <p>Definitive Dates and Times 93</p> <p>Notes 96</p> <p><b>Chapter 6 Why Bad Things Happen to Good People Who Wait: Moving Mountains 97</b></p> <p>How and When to Follow Up 97</p> <p>What to Anticipate and How to Cope 100</p> <p>Overcoming Last-Minute Objections 104</p> <p>Overcoming Legitimate Obstacles 108</p> <p>Creating a Signature (or Something Else) 111</p> <p>Notes 114</p> <p><b>Chapter 7 First, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers: Shakespeare Really Meant That We Needed Them 115</b></p> <p>Dealing With the Legal Department 115</p> <p>How to Avoid the Legal Department 118</p> <p>Utilizing Your Own Attorney 122</p> <p>Effective and Ineffective Compromise 125</p> <p>The Golden Handshake 129</p> <p>Notes 133</p> <p><b>Chapter 8 The Dreaded RFP (Request for Proposals): Why Fill Out the Truly Boring in Triplicate? 135</b></p> <p>The Beauties of Being a Sole-Source Provider 135</p> <p>How to Massage RFPs so That They Look Like You 139</p> <p>How to Offer Additional Value 142</p> <p>How to Use Public Meetings for Leverage 145</p> <p>When to Run for the Hills 149</p> <p>Notes 152</p> <p><b>Chapter 9 Retainers Are to Projects as Montrachet Is to Thunderbird: The Wonder of Access to Your Smarts 153</b></p> <p>The Three Variables of a Retainer 153</p> <p>The Need to Control Scope Creep and Scope Seep 157</p> <p>How to Assertively Pursue Renewals 160</p> <p>How to Stimulate More Retainers 164</p> <p><b>Chapter 10 In the Unlikely Event You Need Oxygen: We Don’t Anticipate a Crash, But There are Some Things You Ought to Know 171</b></p> <p>What to Do With Requests for Delays Based on Time and Money 171</p> <p>What to Do If Rejected 175</p> <p>How to Improve Your Proposals Constantly 178</p> <p>How to Maximize Your Successes and Fees 181</p> <p>When to Stop Writing Proposals 185</p> <p>Note 187</p> <p>Virtual Appendix 188</p> <p>Sample Proposals 189</p> <p>Index 203</p>

<b>Alan Weiss, PhD,</b> is a consultant, speaker, and bestselling author. He has the strongest independent consulting brand in the world and his firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, and more than 500 other leading organizations. His prolific publishing career includes forty-five books, some of which have been on university curricula and translated into nine languages. The <i>New York Post</i> calls him "one of the most highly regarded independent consultants in America."

<b>The bestselling author of Million Dollar Consulting shares the secrets of writing winning proposals</b> <p><b>Million Dollar Consulting® Proposals</b> forever ends the time-consuming and often frustrating process of writing a consulting proposal. Weiss offers step-by-step advice on the essential elements of a million dollar consultancy, including the nine key components of a Million Dollar Consulting proposal structure and the Golden Rules for presenting it. You'll also learn how to get past the goblins at the gate, establish trusting relationships, and time your follow-ups with precision. Acquire the skills to effectively deal with legal departments, secure retainers, and constantly hone your technique.</p> <p>Alan Weiss's expert guidance can lead your consulting business to unprecedented success, and it all starts with a million dollar proposal.</p> <p>"Where other consultants complicate and jargon-ize, Alan provides simple, counterintuitive common sense. He poses basic questions (like 'What is a proposal?') that we think we know the answer to only to find out that we don't. There is no denying the unmistakable rationale that pervades the principles laid out in this book. Yet so many of us do not follow these principles because of bad habits we have picked up over time. Alan's advice helped us build growth and value in our business and sustain it over many years. The advice contained in this book will help many others do the same."—Dr. Joe Zammit-Lucia, artist, author, entrepreneur, and founder and President ofWeb of Life Foundation (www.wolfoundation.org)</p>

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