Posted by Jon
I’m generally disappointed in the quality of the books on the market about proposal management. (And yes, before you shout, BJ and I know we ought to get on and write one. Just find another 50 hours for us each week and we’ll get there, we promise).
But there’s one that really stands out from the pack, and that’s Mike Parkinson’s “Billion dollar business graphics”. As Mike’s a good friend, I may stand accused of bias, and as such I’ve refrained in the past from posting about the book. But a couple of unsolicited emails from clients to whom I’ve recommended it convinced me to write a commendation for it here.
The first comes from a Bid Manager in a major (FTSE-250) company in the UK:
I’m generally disappointed in the quality of the books on the market about proposal management. (And yes, before you shout, BJ and I know we ought to get on and write one. Just find another 50 hours for us each week and we’ll get there, we promise).
But there’s one that really stands out from the pack, and that’s Mike Parkinson’s “Billion dollar business graphics”. As Mike’s a good friend, I may stand accused of bias, and as such I’ve refrained in the past from posting about the book. But a couple of unsolicited emails from clients to whom I’ve recommended it convinced me to write a commendation for it here.
The first comes from a Bid Manager in a major (FTSE-250) company in the UK:
“Hello Jon,
We met in June when you gave an APMP practitioners course at [our company]. On the course you recommended the book ‘Billion Dollar Business Graphics’.
I have bought it and am actively using it. It is amazing. Thanks for telling me about it.
At the moment I’m using it to generate my own high-impact but simple graphics (because I’m in a gap between big bids). When the next major bid comes up I’m sure it will help me get more from the graphic designer I use.
So thanks again.”
The other came a little while back from the highly successful proposal centre in one of the UK’s leading financial companies:
Quite simply, the book has caught everyone’s imagination in the team – the proposal writers are using it to understand when to use graphics and how to brief the designers and the designers are using it to revolutionise what they produce.
We’re now seeing graphics in a completely new light – as a means to influence emotions, aid decisions and communicate benefits. We’re getting the designers involved in storyboarding sessions – never thought of doing that before – and the results are amazing. I’d say that buying this book has been by far the best decision we’ve made this year.