I understand as my wife is a publisher of academic books and was also involved in academic journals. I would just like to get examples of Paul's White Papers, of any type but perferably those mentioned in the book. Does anyone know how to located these or can the author provide a few for review and to use in working through the book.

Thanks

GW

Hey George;

Sometimes people write white papers and have them printed as contributed articles inside of magazines.

In this context, I guess you could say the paper is published.

Also, there are some papers that are published in trade journals. These tend to be more academic.

Mike

I thought this was the case, but I did find it unusual that during a recorded interview with Art Sobczak, a Telemarkeing/Sales Consultant, Paul said he had written a "White Paper" and gotten it published in a trade magazine. I would like to see examples of the "White Paper's Paul has written. Does anyone have them or know where they might be posted? I'm a little skeptical but still want to work through his book. In the book "Value Forward Selling" he says he got his "White Paper" published. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that these were self-published and then posted on his company's websites?

GW

George - All white papers are "self published" so to speak, - Mike

I have a copy of Paul's book and am beginning to work through it. In the book the author does describe the process for writing a "White Paper" as he defines it. However there are no real examples in the book or appendix. The author states the he has written several "White Papers" for tailored to different industries and had them published. Does anyone know if these were self-published or did they appear in industry magazines either printed or on-line? I would appreciate knowing where to find a couple of these, as this would help in working though the book.

GW

Paul;

I think we are in agreement.

The only issue is 3 pages or less.

Mike

Hi Michael.

I appreciate the input - but I stand by our model of using sales objection white papers as a tool to drive prospects to take sales action steps. Short to the point, describing how your offering helps the management team increase their business success is the key.


Regards,

Hey Paul;

First, welcome!

Second, I have your book.

Third, on page 73 it does say "Keep all white papers to a maximum of three pages."

You might not have noticed, but I also have a book. The topic--white papers. :)
I also founded the world's largest newsletter for white papers--WhitePaperSource (20,000+ readers). I have also written 100+ white papers directed to the C-suite for companies like Dow Jones, SAP, HP, FedEx, HP, Motorola, Microsoft, ...

So what I am about to say is based on proven experience.

Your statement is simply off mark. You just need to trust me that a 3 page white paper does not cut it.

5 pages yes. 6 to 8 is more the average for an effective paper.

You seem to misunderstand where white papers have gone. They are no longer 10 to 20 page technical documents.

By the way, I fully agree with your suggestions of titles and have no beef with your experience at all.

In fact, the essence of your teaching is very in line with mine. I just have issue with providing highly valuable content in as little a 3 pages.

Thanks again for stopping by Paul. I'll be happy to have my assistant send you over a copy of my book, just let me know.

Michael, I am the author of the book Value Forward Selling. Those commenting on the white paper description I discuss in my book need to read the book. It is not a traditional white paper I describe. It is called a Sales Objection White Paper. It is a short white paper that is 3-5 pages long that deals specifically with a sales objection given to a salesperson by a prospect. In a sales objection white paper you insert the title of the prospect, the prospect’s business vertical industry and the sales objection they give in the title of the white paper. For example, a sales objection white paper might be titled “7 Reasons Why CFOs in Manufacturing Need to Find Funding to Update Their Technology Needs.” By using this method, you communicate to the prospect specifically why they should read the white paper because it has their business title, their industry and the words they use in the vendor interactions in the title of the white paper. The rest of the white paper gives business case reasons why the prospect should take an action step and move forward in the sales cycle and describes how the vendor’s product or service increases income, decreases expenses or manages the prospect’s business risks.

This model is a very successful method of white paper communication to C level executives - who often will not read a 10-20 page technical document because they are too busy. My firm, Value Forward (www.valueforward.com) Consulting has 25 management consulting partners in four countries, coached over 500 companies on sales and marketing best practices (and on this white paper method) and has trained over 50,000 salespeople during the last 7 years and currently publishes the world’s largest sales newsletter (with 180,000 weekly subscribers in 120 countries (called BDM news www.bdmnews.com).

I hope this clarifies for your readers our white paper recommendations. If you would like a copy of my book Value Forward Selling – please drop me an email.

Best Regards,

raspberries, it is a beech log. by year. think Street I'd hoped The hollow and eat rich flavor. years later. magnificent

Three pages is pretty damned short; I'd be tempted to call it a "Brief" and leave it at that.

I will say I get pushback from my non high-tech clients to the term white paper -- the less technical immediately assume a protracted, drawn-out document.

Jonathan - Thanks for the input! I concur! - Mike

Yes, that makes sense.

Susan,

From my perspective, it depends on how knowledgeable your financial audience is and whether there is a need to provide some degree of baseline background information to either educate that financial audience or broaden the marketing reach of that white paper.

From a technical perspective, I can tell you that most business executives need several pages to be brought up to speed on background and challenge issues before they can be in a position to better understand the specific solution content that is presented.

I'm curious. Have any of you studied white papers in the financial services industry?

Do you think the same guidelines apply across all industries?

The issue isn't finding a way to fit a specific number of words into a specific number of pages and come up with a firm white paper formula.

The issue is devoting enough pages to effectively educate a non-informed reader to a particular topic. Three pages just doesn't do it. If you restrict a white paper to three pages you are doing both your company/client and reader a collective disservice and wasting your money.

Ok, so the argument really goes like this:

The right number of words, to do the things that a good (English) white paper needs to do, is at least 2,400, typically around 3,600, and at most 4,800.

There is no good way to format 2,400 words (never mind more) in 3 (letter-sized) pages.

Thus, a 3-page white paper isn't a (good) white paper at all.
That seems reasonably compelling, I think.

In Microsoft Word, using the default margin settings of 1.5" inches on the left and right, and a font size of 10 pts. you can fit about 400 words on a page.

With those dimensions, a three page white paper would be about 1200 words, or about the length of an average magazine article. Certainly not enough room to provide the level of detail that is required for a typical white paper.

Paul - I do not agree. When some says "No longer than 3 pages," they mean very few words.

Sure if I used size 5 font I could add a lot to three pages, but no one could read it.

Isn't the crucial question the total number of words (or words per page)? After all, the same number of words could be crammed into 3 pages as spread out into 9 pages, depending on the design.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on white papers.

I agree with Jonathan on this one.

I DO NOT think three pages is enough room to have content that is perceived to be valuable to the reader.

Perhaps if all you are writing is a brochure, then fine. But lets be honest, a brochure is NOT a white paper.

Mike

Jim,
I like your point!
Susan

I say let the topic (emotion) be the judge! If you can get the message across and get the rreader to do what you are expecting them to do as a result of reading it... then more power to you! The whole purpose is to get them to act.... or maybe not!

I quote -"A white paper is an authoritative report. White papers are used to educate customers, collect leads for a company or help people make decisions. They can also be a government report outlining policy." - Wikipedia.

It boils down to what the white paper is intended to do. The length of the paper is entirely arbitary.

I work for a demanding but highly effective boss as his Executive Assistant. Hie brief to me is simple. If I can not give a report to him of one page containing a maximum of four paragraphs, I need not bother him.

I agree with Jonathan. Three pages are not enough to build a case. Buyers who read white papers want to learn about the details of their problems and solutions. And that takes a bit of space, a tad more than three pages.

I've written white papers as short as 2 pages. But my white papers typically run longer because their topics are complex.

Especially in the financial field, there's often a page or more of disclosures required by compliance. My longest white paper was a 6-pager for Fidelity, which was followed by two pages of disclosure.

Mike,

I think what's going on here is an attempt to produce a white paper on the "cheap". I'm against anything shorter than six pages. A three page white paper is typically focused exclusively on the solution attributes. As a result, the reader is left feeling oversold.

Selling a solution in a white paper is a process of educating the reader to as much background information as possible, so they can better appreciate the solution message. This means dedicating several pages to this process, thereby increasing the overall page length to at least six pages.

Jonathan

Three pages? Wow. I totally disagree. If I'm getting a white paper, I'm looking for 15+ pages.

Three pages? Maybe for a detailed case study, but never a white paper.