Matt McAvoy Book Review

From the outset, I should state that this is an exceptionally niche book.  It is geared toward and will be of appeal to those readers with a very specific and vested interest in federal contract procurement.  It focuses heavily on success versus failure in the first instance; if your foundations and roots are not firmly secured, well thought through and well executed, you will waste time and money.  That said, I don’t feel the narrative gets off on a specific foot, and that it doesn’t particularly prepare context for you, the assumption of the author probably being that if you pick up the book you already know its context, and it is thus: prepare your business’s infrastructure, your brand, your product and indeed your own mindset before you even think about investing in the activity of tendering or bidding.  It is about knowing the potential client, the potential relationship, the field itself and, importantly, the competition.  For a large part of the book, I found myself at a bit of a loss, primarily because I didn’t feel I had grasped the premise or the context early on of the information I was reading. 

This was not a book aimed at the likes of me; it is for businesses and boardrooms who want to compete at the highest corporate level.  As for those readers, I couldn’t say how valuable a resource it is in comparison; I simply haven’t read enough of them.  In that respect, it has its own inherent value as a default, as an authoritative guide to federal corporate contract tendering, probably with a handful of USPs – and I’m sure that Go-To-Guy is a suitably well-informed, educated person to deliver the information.  He is also a good, articulate writer, and it is clear that he has taken great pains to ensure his book is presented to the highest professional standard.  In all these respects, it is a quality product, and it would be immensely unfair to judge the book based on my own lack of knowledge in the subject matter.  This is perhaps relevant, though; I would have liked to be a little more prepared for the content and context, particularly from a book which, ironically, is fundamentally about preparedness.  I didn’t see the cover before reading, and therefore the tagline, and I don’t often read the blurb in advance, so I genuinely thought I was about to read a book about mountaineering or hiking in some central Asian region.  That said, for potential readers, it is clear what you’re getting if you properly read the cover.

At the very least, though, from the layman’s point of view, the book is a valuable motivational tool for anyone starting out in business – though I would suggest maybe for the more novice, if not those specifically after corporate or government contracts; it is clear that Guy is a passionate business author with a lot to offer and share.  For those people, I would say it’s certainly worth a look, with some definite nuggets to mull over.