Bag the Elephant!: How to Win and Keep Big Customers [Hardcover]

Steve Kaplan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2005

Bag the Elephant! is more than a strategy book; it's packed with proven guidelines, tools, and techniques. Throughout the book you'll find stories, derived from the author's real-world experience, that show you how to put the strategy to work.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Bag an Elephant—and Begin the Most Profitable Adventure of Your Life

It's the strategy, it's the nuts and bolts, it's everything smart businesspeople need to win and keep those all-important Elephants‚ the big make-or-break customers that can dramatically increase your revenue, profits, and success. Packed with dynamic advice for all sales professionals, small-business owners, entrepreneurs, and executives:

• How to map and use a big company's red tape to your advantage
• Why the Elephant needs you as much as you need it
• Six keys for successful big-customer focus
• How to negotiate with an Elephant without giving away your profit margins
• How to avoid the five killer mistakes, from mismanaging client expectations to losing sight of the numbers

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Steve Kaplan is a serial entrepreneur and author of the national bestsellers Bag the Elephant! and Be the Elephant. He currently spends his time helping businesses and sales professionals grow. He is a highly sought-after public speaker and business consultant who has appeared on a variety of national media. His website is www.stevekaplanlive.com. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Bard Press (July 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885167628
• ISBN-13: 978-1885167620
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on how a David can capture a Goliath., September 16, 2005

By 

R. Shaff "Velocipede" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bag the Elephant!: How to Win and Keep Big Customers (Hardcover)

As a business owner for nearly two decades, I am always on the hunt for a great new business book. Many hit narrow points, but few encompass a concept and wrap it with sound writing skills communicating the concept clearly and succinctly. In BAG THE ELEPHANT, Steve Kaplan has quite successfully captured the latter.

For those not oriented toward this type of jargon, an "Elephant" has, for many years, been the synonym for a large client/customer. In my field, consulting, obtaining an elephant client is daunting, difficult, exciting, and more than anything else, a helluva challenge. However, the potential rewards are incredible. (NOTE: I am not a major proponent of a business built around a couple of elephants or a handful of smaller elephants. The simple reason is attrition; it happens to everyone and if your clientele numbers are few, the departure of one elephant can cause extreme hardship on the basic operations of one's business. My advice is to build a client base with many small-to-medium size clients and sprinkle in an elephant or two once your foundation is established. Attrition is much more palatable under these circumstances.)

As noted, Kaplan has effectively and succinctly described his concept of bagging an elephant. His basic premise outlines various strategies for business owners seeking to enter the realm of the larger client/customer (i.e. the elephants). Kaplan divides the book into five parts, which effectively and humorously, describes the process of bagging the elephant:

Part I - "Your Elephant is Waiting" - Kaplan describes various strategies for aligning your business with elephants, and how to gauge success in obtaining an elephant.

Part II - "What to know about Elephants" - Kaplan compares and contrasts the characteristics and attributes of small and large businesses, and describes the challenges of bridging the gap between the two (i.e. cutting through the bureaucratic red tape).

Part III - "Romancing your Elephant" - Kaplan describes various methods of getting one's foot in the corporate door. This is handled quite effectively with a graphical flow chart of procedural "to dos."

Part IV - "Leveraging your Elephant's Power" - Kaplan lays out a conceptual plan to keep your elephant once you've gotten it. This is probably one of the more important sections (concepts) in the book as this is the final litmus test of your business's ability to handle, on an ongoing basis, the daily trials of dealing with a larger business. Inasmuch as the corporate cultures will be disparate, the small business owner must become a chameleon.

Part V - "Five Killer Mistakes" - Read this section very carefully. If you've been in business long enough, you may know each of these personally.

All in all, Kaplan has successfully captured the essence and nuances of being David in a Goliath arena. This is quite simply daunting however, simple reminders of why one decided upon entrepreneurship vs. the corporate life will present a grounding effect for the seemingly insurmountable task of bagging an elephant. This is a great book for any business owner. Highly recommended.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding! The art and science of building a business empire, September 20, 2005

By 

Dr. Nazareth V. Asorian "Precious Souls: A Cu... (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bag the Elephant!: How to Win and Keep Big Customers (Hardcover)

Steve Kaplan has successfully intertwined his vast experiences with a set of sensible protocols, giving business tools to companies on a long term vision for success -- real success -- big success -- well planned success.

He has tried to eliminate the intimidation factor, opening the way to aggressive but cautious solicitation of larger companies for more substantial orders. He goes explaining in detail, how to approach contacts despite the bureaucratic red tape, using business psychology, as well as knowledge in procuring deals. He advises learning to live with established obstacles and work around them -- by mail, telephone calls, visits, etc., and repeating the steps as necessary but judicously.

He outlines the art of being confident in indentifing targets, knocking doors, and getting access to the "elephant dealer", and all the time focusing on coming face to face with the REAL ELEPHANT. The description of the different personalaties of salesmen (The sage, the pal, the pit bull) are appropriately analyzed in dealing with them.

And what happens after negotiating with the "elephant" and even making the big deals? The process in the aftermath of success...and how to avoid problems? The book describes, step by step, issues that could derail a successful operation, as he considers the following measures:
>Biting more than you can chew.
>Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
>Remember your champions(people who have helped)
>Calculate profit margins accurately (its what you keep and not what you sell that counts)
>Partnership is a two-way street.
>The budget (Review, objectives, strategy, tactics, implimentation)
>Killer mistakes and fumbling a client crises.

The book is smoothly integrated and easy to read. It is very much like an algorithm that can be followed on a chart.

I recommend it highly for anyone interested in improving a business operation, with a bold and long-term vision for success.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where's the beef: a lot of sizzle, very little meat here, October 7, 2007

By 

Russ Emrick (Monument, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bag the Elephant!: How to Win and Keep Big Customers (Hardcover)

The over-the-top positive reviews here astound me because while this book has some merit it is certainly not the best book on the topic and offers very little for the labor of reading it. The book's format is a classic sizzle over the steak sales technique: colors, pictures and odd printing over content, verbosity over wisdom. This book has little to offer field salespeople and nothing to offer non-B2B companies.

Certain ideas are useful for managers, such as: execute flawlessly, one mistake you're out, excellent customer service will keep the business, and team selling is critical even necessary for winning big accounts. Much of the wisdom is common sense: selling to a big company results in substantial growth; be careful about putting all your eggs in one basket; and mismanaging customer expectations can cost you the business and all the hard work that went into getting it.

On the positive side this author is clearly a sales professional. If you need to learn how professionals act in corporate sales there are tips and insights here. Large account selling is very different than the kind of selling say Brian Tracey or Tom Hopkins teach about. Planning, targeting, clarity of message and pricing, flawless execution and relentless follow-through and documentation are all needed. If you're new to corporate sales start with "Strategic Selling" and then perhaps this book. If you're in corporate sales and you don't already know this material, or act and look like Kaplan, you're in for a tough slog.

For overcoming the real challenges of prospecting and B2B selling that every salesperson can use I recommend "Selling to Big Companies" and "Value Forward Selling." As Sandler pointed out in his selling methodology, most systems will work if they are applied consistently and well. Getting in the door to develop the relationship and the sale is the critical step. Both of those books specialize in that, as does "Selling against the goal."