Bag the Elephant [Paperback]

Steve Kaplan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2008

Now available in paperback, Steve Kaplan's Bag the Elephant, is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Business Week bestseller that has received praise from around the business community:
"Steve Kaplan's elephant strategy is right on the money, as long as you're willing to roll up your sleeves and go to work."—Daniel M. Snyder, Owner, Chairman of the Board, The Washington Redskins.

"Kaplan shows you how to think BIG, act BIG, and win BIG."—Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling.

"A terrific read! From now on, when I think about building business and sales, there's no way I'll ever forget the Elephant."—Harvey Mackay, author of Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.

Bag the Elephant is all about how smart businesspeople can woo and keep those all-important elephants—the big, make-or-break customers. Like its companion, the New York Times bestseller Be the Elephant, it is filled with dynamic advice and real-life examples, delivered in an energetic, straight-shooting fashion that gets right to the core of its powerful idea—how to land the account that will put you over the top. Here are six keys to achieving the elephant mindset and understanding the big customer. 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. Preparing yourself and your pitch. How to negotiate with elephants without losing your profit margins. And how to avoid the five killer mistakes, from mismanaging client expectations to losing sight of the numbers.

For small business owners, entrepreneurs, executives, and sales people, stalking and landing an elephant can be the most profitable adventure of your life, and Kaplan explains everything you need to know.

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

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; Reprint edition (March 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761145249
• ISBN-13: 978-0761145240
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.6 x 6.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #743,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars BAG THE ELEPHANT is NOT About Sales September 21, 2005

By Ben Mack

Format:Hardcover

I have no financial interest in the success of Bag The Elephant by Steve Kaplan. I have never met Steve nor John E. Peppers, the former P&G Chairman and CEO who wrote the forward.

Few books allow for the techniques of big business to be translated into scaleable tools and tactics, equally applicable to big and small businesses. When I come across books that transcend scale, I tell as many people as will listen or read my ideas.

I am a former Senior Vice President, Brand Strategy Director for BBDO Atlanta, working on Cingular with a half-billion-dollar advertising budget. Many people mistakenly think that this experience naturally lends itself to helping a local small business--few business skills transcend such disparity in scale.

What's applicable to a business of any size? Strategy and attitude. Bag The Elephant is about strategic thinking and a successful business attitude, elements Steve Kaplan points out are inseparable. Most books on attitude lack the strategic thinking to fortify a sustainable positive attitude. If you're the captain of the Titanic and you're on the deck as it's sinking, I guess the best thing is to keep your humor and smile. However, it is a whole lot easier to laugh that afternoon if the previous night you had decided to go slowly and avoid the icebergs. But, avoiding icebergs isn't enough to run a successful business; you need passengers for your financial journey.

When I share what I've learned from Bag The Elephant with friends, some explain that they don't need a book on sales techniques to win big clients. These folks explain that they're too busy with making this quarter's nut to change their overall sales strategy right now. But, maybe they'll read this book next quarter.

Bag The Elephant isn't about sales techniques for landing bigger clients. Yes, some specific tactics to that end are in the book. What I found was that Bag The Elephant is about approaching your business from a perspective that is systemically different from the way I see most people approach business.

I gave my copy of Bag The Elephant to my friend Rich Goidel who runs a five-person shop called Media Firma. Within a week he realized a $3,000 profit specifically attributable to reading this book. Why? He didn't learn a phrase that helped him close a deal; he was looking at his client's business differently, which helped him ask a question about his client's business. Increasing your sales isn't about becoming a better salesman, it's about becoming a better businessman, and that's what will be rewarded monetarily.

Seeing business differently will yield sustainable changes in effectiveness. This is mental synergy. Synergy, that business buzzword too often abused in meetings. R. Buckminster Fuller coined the word "synergy". The definition was 1700 pages long and contained in two books: Synergetics and Synergetics II. The shorthand of synergy is "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," but that doesn't always equal increased productivity. Synergy is about an internal restructuring where the new whole was unpredictable by looking at the original parts.

Bag The Elephant takes what you already know and helps you restructure these ideas. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this book is that Steve Kaplan doesn't use business buzzwords like synergy.

Ben Mack--

Recover Ad Executive;

Novelist: Poker Without Cards--

35 of 37 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 VINE™ VOICE

Format: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.

19 of 21 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

Format: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.