Robyn Haydon: Proposal strategist and writer

Melbourne, Victoria
www.winningwords.com.au

Robyn loves what most people hate; writing tender responses, pitch documents and sales proposals.

Robyn started her own consultancy, Winning Words, in 2001, capitalising on a career in senior industrial sales & marketing roles. Her services are constantly in demand with good reason; she has helped her clients to win and retain hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business and to be shortlisted for widely advertised and competitive tenders.

Robyn is a respected speaker and author on sales and marketing topics. Her first book The Shredder Test – the Australian Guide to Writing Winning Proposals was published in May 2007 and her articles have also been published by the Australian Institute of Marketing, the British Association of Communicators in Business, the Australian Professional Services Marketing Association & MarketingProfs.com.

Robyn's memorable quote
"How you sell is becoming as important as what you sell." Barry Trailer, CSO Insights

Articles by Robyn

• Advice for entering small business awards

  A business award is a publicity bonanza for the lucky winners, with many reaping huge benefits such as cash injections, interest from potential business partners and more customers. So how do you go about getting on a small business awards shortlist?

  • 02 February 09
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 5 Comments

• 6 ways to weather an economic downturn

  Unless you have been living under a rock you will realise that Australia is in the grip of an economic downturn. Yet according to Flying Solo’s August poll, most of us see negative talk on the business outlook as ‘boring’ or nothing to worry about.

  • 15 September 08
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 8 Comments

• Renewing passion for your business

  For a soloist, ‘working on your business’ inevitably means working on yourself, something I realised had not been a priority. In this article I discuss ways you can renew passion for your business.

  • 11 August 08
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 9 Comments

• Boost referrals with a memorable introduction

  Positive word-of-mouth is the main source of new business for many soloists, and networking is a good way to build it. But people have to remember you to refer clients, so how you introduce yourself to people you meet is important to boost referrals.

  • 03 March 08
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 23 Comments

• Why specialist positioning matters

  Typically, the smaller a business is, the more important it is to specialise, and you can’t get much smaller than solo. For a soloist, specialist positioning is a powerful target marketing and business management tool.

  • 25 January 08
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 8 Comments

• Nine tips for improving negotiation skills

  Professional salespeople love negotiation, but many soloists are more comfortable doing their job rather than negotiating about it. Here are nine tips for improving your negotiation skills.

  • 10 December 07
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 8 Comments

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  Pricing strategies: Deciding on price setting

  Price setting is tricky for new soloists to master. Do you charge on a project, daily or hourly basis? Do you base your pricing startegies on what others charge, what you’d like to earn or what you think the market and/or prospect will bear?

  • 10 October 07
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 15 Comments

• Choosing the right customers

  Most of us see the decision to buy as the customer’s. But us soloists are, to a degree, defined by who we do business with, so our part in the decision is equally important. This short exercise will help you to focus on choosing the right customers.

  • 07 September 07
  • Robyn Haydon
  • 4 Comments