Tom Sant

Biography

An internationally known expert in proposal writing, the American Management Association has called Tom Sant "America`s foremost practitioner of proposal writing." He has trained thousands of sales people, executives, and other professionals to write winning proposals, deliver effective presentations, and manage complex communication projects in a career that spans more than 25 years.

He is the author of Persuasive Business Proposals, which has sold more than 40,000 copies and which was reissued by AMACOM in a new edition in December 2003. In 2001, he was named the first-ever Fellow of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) for lifetime contributions to the profession of proposal writing. Tom has spoken to audiences around the world and worked with hundreds of companies to improve their proposal writing, presentation skills, and business capture processes.

Publications

Persuasive Business Proposals
2nd Edition

It`s the all-time best selling book on proposal writing, now in a completely updated second edition. Persuasive Business Proposals revolutionized the way sales proposals are written. Adopted by major corporations around the world, it spells out step-by-step how to improve your win ratio by delivering your message more effectively.

Titles

Driving Waste Out of Sales
Work faster? Work smarter? This presentation shows you how to harness cutting-edge technology with old-fashioned common sense to sell more efficiently and more effectively. Your business will get the biggest possible ROI when sales people do the right things in the right ways. The result: more wins - faster!

The Four Ideas that Revolutionized Selling
Four core ideas revolutionized professional sales early in the twentieth century. They remain just as relevant and effective today. It`s time to go back to the fundamentals so we can keep winning in the future.

Winning by a NOSE
This presentation covers the seven questions you must answer to develop a client-centered sales message every time, then shows you how to structure that message to win more business. (Hint: starting out with your company history isn`t part of the winning formula.)

The Value Proposition: Show Me the Money!
People don`t buy products, they buy impact. They want to know what makes you different and whether those differentiators add any value. This presentation shows the difference between a true value proposition, one that motivates the customer to buy, and a generic marketing claim. And it shows you how to use the differentiators that support your specific value propositions the best all the way from initial contact through final proposal.

What Language Do You Speak?
Get rid of the Fluff, Guff, Geek and Weasel. Those languages don`t work! To sell effectively we need to communicate clearly. In this hilarious overview of the best and worst in sales messaging--both written and spoken--Tom provides you with tips for improving your win ratio by improving the way you communicate.

The Seven Deadly Sins of the Sales Proposal
Here are the worst mistakes sales people make in their sales proposals. More importantly, here`s how to avoid them and what to do instead. Filled with hilarious examples of mistakes that everyone recognizes, this presentation also focuses on what really matters in delivering a persuasive message--regardless of the format.

Selling the Decision Point: Why the Inuit Hunt Whales
The moment of truth in sales occurs when the customer makes a decision. Recent research into the decision making process has revealed seven specific decision heuristics that everyone uses. Understanding these processes and how to influence them will increase your win ratio and shorten your sales cycle.