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Be the Elephant: Build a Bigger, Better Business

Steve Kaplan
2007
ISBN: 076114448X
English  
224 pages
PDF, MOBI, EPUB
25.9 MB


In business, there's no standing still. The trick is to become an elephant—big enough to make a difference, healthy enough to withstand financial currents, strong enough to influence your market—and smart enough to avoid the pitfalls of growth.

With Be the Elephant, bestselling author Steve Kaplan provides the business-growing playbook for every entrepreneur, CEO, sales professional, small business owner, and manager alike. The strategy, the process, the toolbox.

Written in a friendly, no-nonsense style, Be the Elephant takes the mystery and the fear out of growing bigger. It shows you how to address potential downsides, point by point, and provides a 25-question quiz to gauge your business's current health. There are lessons in strengthening sales, a business's front line. Vertical and horizontal growth. Risk versus reward. How to avoid the twin dilemmas inherent in growth—grow too slowly and wither, or grow too fast and lose control. And finally, how to chart it and start it, from developing an all-important USP—unique selling proposition—to avoiding the Five Killer Mistakes that can ruin a company.

And from there, how to go forth and Be the Elephant

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

Steve Kaplan
2008
ISBN: 0761145249  
English
188 pages
PDF, MOBI, EPUB
9 MB

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.