What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World

Book Description
Praise for WHAT I LEARNED FROM SAM WALTON

"Michael Bergdahl's book presents unique insights into the staggering international success of Wal-Mart. Throughout the pages of this book, you can almost hear Sam Walton himself coaching and inspiring his legion of employees to greatness."
-Tracy Mullin, President and CEO, National Retail Federation

"Retailers, non-retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers will enjoy Bergdahl's insights into Wal-Mart's service culture and its leadership icon, Sam Walton."
-Roger J. Dow, Senior Vice President Global and Field SalesMarriott International, Inc.

Bergdahl outlines his competitive strategy with the acronym P.O.C.K.E.T.S.

P-Price: Don't try to compete on price; differentiate your product selection.

O-Operations: Break the retail "ready, shoot, aim" tactical orientation bydeveloping an actual strategy to compete.

C-Culture: Build a can-do culture with a strong sense of urgency. Communicate your values and beliefs over and over again to your employees.

K-Key Item Promotion/Product: Determine who you are and uniformly communicate your brand message to your entire team.

E-Expenses: Become obsessed about controlling costs.

T-Talent: Recruit constantly and hire people who have both experience and high potential.

S-Service: Never take your customer for granted. Empower your employees to make decisions involving customer concerns.


Download Description
A behind-the-scenes look at Wal-Mart's successful business strategies and tactics
What I Learned from Sam Walton unlocks the secrets to Wal-Mart's success and provides answers to these and many other questions. As a former Wal-Mart employee, author Michael Bergdahl had the opportunity to see the Wal-Mart executive team in action. He also had the chance to work directly with Sam Walton. These experiences have provided Bergdahl with a treasure trove of great lessons, experiences, and stories that he now shares throughout the pages of this book. Readers will be introduced to Wal-Mart's unique strategy for competitive success and through the strategy known as P.O.C.K.E.T.S. (Price, Operations, Culture, Key item promotion, Expenses, Talent, Service) will learn how to compete and survive in the shadow of the world's largest company. What I Learned from Sam Walton discloses a business legend's secret strategies for achieving long-lasting success and provides competitors with a road map to successful competition.
Michael Bergdahl (Pittsburgh, PA) worked for Wal-Mart, under Sam Walton. He has also worked as a turnaround specialist for American Eagle Outfitters. He gained experience on the supplier side working for PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Division.

From the Inside Flap
"Innovative ideas backed by visionary leadership and hard work can lead to transformational changes in the world in which we live."
–From the Introduction

The late Sam Walton began his march to retailing supremacy by building stores in rural areas across the southern United States. After establishing himself and gaining momentum, he began his expansion campaign in the west, north, and northeast–using his innovative business techniques to catch his competitors flatfooted. Walton was innovative, visionary, and hardworking, but these weren’t the only traits that enabled him to take Wal-Mart to the top of the retailing world.

If you want to compete in today’s Wal-Mart world, what better way to improve your business than to learn from the strongest and fastest competitor? In What I Learned from Sam Walton, author Michael Bergdahl uncovers and unravels the principles, culture, and secrets of Wal-Mart’s unprecedented success in a way that no one else can. As a former director under Sam Walton, Bergdahl draws upon his firsthand observations of Walton, his company, and its executive team to help you adapt Wal-Mart’s best practices and principles to your own organization.

With an insider’s perspective, Bergdahl peels back the cultural layers of Wal-Mart and gives you a glimpse into the mind of the founder of the world’s largest retailer. He also shares seven effective strategies you can take from Wal-Mart to build your business. These seven strategies are illustrated by the acronym P.O.C.K.E.T.S.–because to compete effectively you have to carve out a niche or business "pocket" for your company.

Each aspect of the P.O.C.K.E.T.S. strategy is fully examined, with the author devoting an entire chapter to each tactic, namely:

P – Price

O – Operations

C – Culture

K – Key Item Promotion/Product

E – Expenses

T – Talent

S – Service

In each chapter, you’ll be introduced to some of the inside strategies and tactics utilized by Sam Walton and Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart’s success strategies and tactics are easy to understand, yet hard to duplicate. What I Learned from Sam Walton offers a portrayal of Wal-Mart’s strengths and provides strategies, tactics, and ideas you can implement today that will enable you to compete.

From the Back Cover
Praise for WHAT I LEARNED FROM SAM WALTON

"Michael Bergdahl’s book presents unique insights into the staggering international success of Wal-Mart. Throughout the pages of this book, you can almost hear Sam Walton himself coaching and inspiring his legion of employees to greatness."
–Tracy Mullin, President and CEO, National Retail Federation

"Retailers, non-retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers will enjoy Bergdahl’s insights into Wal-Mart’s service culture and its leadership icon, Sam Walton."
–Roger J. Dow, SVP Global and Field Sales, Marriott International, Inc.

"Mike Bergdahl, in his book, What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World, has provided a complete digest and compilation of the various objectives, tactics, policies, procedures, mindsets, and culture used by the world’s largest retailer. This book offers any business person the opportunity to assess and evaluate the effort, drive, and commitment, one must have to effectively and profitably compete at retail today against a formidable and predatory competitor. The insights, strategies, and steps presented are a career of observations in successful marketing, business efficiency, human resource management, and customer focus. All retailers today, face the challege of becoming and maintaining relevant to the consumer today. This book offers clear and concise suggestions on what has been done by Wal-Mart and what could, and may be done by all other retailers seeking to become alternative shopping experiences for the consumer."
–J.H. Campbell Jr., President/CEO, Associated Grocers, Inc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana
past chairman of the Board of Directors, National Grocers Association

Bergdahl outlines his competitive strategy with the acronym P.O.C.K.E.T.S.

P – Price: Don’t try to compete on price; differentiate your product selection.

O – Operations: Break the retail "ready, shoot, aim" tactical orientation by developing an actual strategy to compete.

C – Culture: Build a can-do culture with a strong sense of urgency. Communicate your values and beliefs over and over again to your employees.

K – Key Item Promotion/Product: Determine who you are and uniformly communicate your brand message to your entire team.

E – Expenses: Become obsessed about controlling costs.

T – Talent: Recruit constantly and hire people who have both experience and high potential.

S – Service: Never take your customer for granted. Empower your employees to make decisions involving customer concerns.

About the Author
MICHAEL BERGDAHL has over twenty-five years of business experience working in a variety of business environments with outstanding business leaders. He has worked for three Fortune 500 companies and has been involved in two successful business turnarounds. His experiences in the restaurant, publishing, petrochemical, consumer packaged goods, discount retailing, specialty retailing, and waste industries provide the foundation for his interest in and knowledge of this topic. His years of retailing experience with companies like Frito-Lay, Wal-Mart, and American Eagle Outfitters provided the "business laboratory" for him to fine tune his understanding of business competition. His knowledge of Wal-Mart comes from firsthand experiences working at their home office–with Mr. Sam himself.