Bud Fox Style Elephant Hunting

Yeah! Woooo! I just bagged the elephant! – Bud Fox, Wallstreet (1987)

Admit it. You have a wee bit of Bud Fox in you.

In the original Wall Street Bud had his sights on the Elephant Gordon Gekko.

Every wholesaler wants to bag a Gordon Gekko-like Elephant, the huge producer, the corner office king.

Why?

Because an Elephant can single handedly make your year, catapult you up the production ranking and make you a hero in the Firm damn fast.

One year I had a producer who got tied into a layoff at a major utility company in Southern CA. He was able to position himself in an extraordinary consultative environment as folks were looking for counsel about their retirement plans.

He was a huge producer for me before – that year he became a bona fide Elephant.

$18 million worth of sales in one year.

That’s an Elephant in my book, how about yours?

So how are you landing your Elephant?

Bud befriended Gordon’s assistant, brought Cuban cigars and finally got the meeting.

How are you getting your Elephant’s attention to tell your story?

Real Elephants are often surrounded by gate keepers.

They have their screens in place and their defenses up.

Here are six ideas that came to mind:

1. Choose a path to get to the Elephant that is different than the rest of the wholesalers in the great Sea of Sameness. Head to the stationary store (remember those?) and buy some heavy bond, high end note cards. Use these cards to make your appointment request in writing.

Also, choose your delivery method. The card will get noticed. It will get noticed faster if it’s FedEx’d. It will get noticed faster still if it’s sent via messenger.

2. In my live presentations I discuss the Five New Realities – one of which is that folks don’t trust you. It’s not personal. The Great Meltdown has eroded the trust equation. In order to bridge the trust gap faster you need intelligence that will give you a leg up.

One of the best ways to gather your Elephant intelligence is via Google Reader. As we have discussed before, the useful information you can collect is limitless. If Bud had this technology when he was doing his Gekko homework he would have saved a bunch of time.

3. Use LinkedIn to scope out the points of connectivity you have with the Elephant. Alma mater, LinkedIn group memberships, former employers, and current contacts all offer clues to ways you might bridge the gap.

4. Facebook offers another set of clues even if you are not friends.

5. Attend the next seminar that the Elephant is hosting. No, don’t go as a wholesaler. Go as an interested investor and learn the message and the products that the Elephant promotes.

Edgier move? Sure – and to bag the big game that’s what it may take.

6. Scour the Elephant’s website looking for clues. This includes subscribing to the Elephant’s newsletter if they have one.

Six ideas that will help you bag an Elephant – what additional ideas do you have?

Coming this fall in ICTB: All I Want For Christmas is Your Job, Attn. Wholesalers: You Are Being Judged, Adapt or Die: The Secret of the Mega-Successful and so much more.

tagged as Bud Fox, Facebook, google reader, Gordon Gekko, i carry the bag, linkedin, Wall Street