If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know I'm a big fan of Tom Searcy's new book RFPs Suck! It's the first real coverage of how to win business by effectively responding to Requests for Proposals and Tenders.

As all professionals know: RFPs and tenders are becoming increasingly common. It's no longer possible to ignore or avoid them and focus on relationship approaches to developing business. More and more large companies and government organisations are mandating the use of formalised RFP processes. If you want to win big projects, you have to know how to win tenders and RFPs. And Tom's book is by far the best guide I've seen to doing so.

I caught up with Tom via teleconference recently and asked him a few questions on how professionals can improve the way they deal with RFPs. Tom gave some great insights into RFP-winning strategies we can all learn from. A couple of the areas covered include:

• How to decide which RFPs to respond to and which to avoid
• How to overcome barriers to accessing key personnel
• How to differentiate your response from your competitors
• How to overcome large companies fears of dealing with small professional firms

The line is a bit crackly – but the content is sparkling!

You can get a copy of the book in the UK here: RFPs Suck!

Or in the US here: RFPs Suck!

Tom's site Hunt Big Sales contains a load of great articles, blog posts and free e-books. It's well worth a look.

PS Tom's just emailed to say that the book is now available in paperback in the US: RFPs Suck! in paperback

* Disclosure: The links are amazon affiliate links. If you buy through those links I get a few pennies.