The Shredder Test – The Australian guide
to writing winning proposals
By Robyn Haydon. Published by Monterey Press, Carlton North, Victoria, 2007. Paper back, 162 pages. RRP $27.50. ISBN 978 0 9751474 3 6. Available online at www.winningwords.com.au and at selected bookshops
Proposal writing is not usually considered a core skill for marketers, but when those RFIs, EOIs, RFPs, RFTs(1) keep landing on your desk you begin to realise that you had better get good at it quickly.
The Shredder Test provides a quick way to learn a great deal about proposal writing. Melbourne author Robyn Haydon has written a concise, well-structured and easy-to-read book that imparts what she has learned and developed during a career in corporate sales and marketing and more than six years as an independent proposal-writing consultant.
Haydon’s emphasis is not on the writing as such (“If you can speak, you can write a proposal”), but on the thinking and structure behind compiling a proposal. She’s had a bit of fun devising her chapter structure, making it fit into the word ‘shredder’.
Chapter 1: Signs – is the prospect ready to buy?
Chapter 2: Half-baked – the pitfalls of cutting corners
Chapter 3: Readability – writing a proposal that is easy to understand
Chapter 4: Expertise – convincing purchasers of your credentials
Chapter 5: Desirability – conveying a compelling offer
Chapter 6: Decision makers – pitching the right way to the right people
Chapter 7: Elimination traps – writing to get ahead rather than to ‘win’
Chapter 8: Reviews – finishing strongly and learning from experience
Each chapter ends with a 1-2 page ‘Lessons from The Shredder Test’ (in big type), which summarises the 5-10 main points. These are valuable just by themselves and good memory prompts for the chapter content.
Haydon’s structure works and I found every chapter to be both informative and unforced. I particularly liked chapter 1, on how to judge whether a prospect is ready to buy. Haydon analyses the stages of the sales process and shows how the words “send me a proposal” waste a great deal of time for many hopeful business owners. It may be basic information for a sales or marketing professional, but it provides important insights for small business owners.
There are a lot of positives about The Shredder Test. It is written for and about the Australian business environment, its style is informal and readable, it uses interesting case study examples, and it provides several very good, small-scale methodologies to aid thinking and information preparation. But best of all, it is short; there’s no getting lost in mountains of words.
The Shredder Test will be excellent value for marketers, salespeople and small-medium business owners whose organisations need to win competitive tenders to generate new business. Even an experienced bid proposal team in a large organisation could use this book to double check that its process is hitting all the right marks. Highly recommended.
Footnote:
1. RFI = Request for information; EOI = Expression of interest;
RFP = Request for proposal; RFT = Request for tender.
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