Do You Hunt, Farm, Trap or Forage?
By Steve Hill
You may have heard sales people referred to as either Hunters or Farmers. What do these descriptions mean?
- A Hunter. Opens and closes new accounts but is neither good nor comfortable at maintaining on-going relationships.
- A Farmer. Is good at maintaining relationships but neither good nor comfortable at prospecting and closing new business.
You may look at these two roles and agree that your sales team falls into these two categories - and you may also feel that having the right balance for your company provides the required success from your team.
But are these two types exclusive - or can you train your sales team to be both, which is surely a more powerful option?
Some experienced sales managers will say they cannot be one and the same person, the Hunter and the Framer require different personality types and skills. But is this any longer the case?
There is a train of thought that suggests this viewpoint is changing and the future will see dual roles for each sales person.
It is becoming evermore apparent in the 21szt century that cold calling is becoming less effective. It is now harder to get through to people with whom you don’t already have some kind of relationship.
With rapid improvements in sales technology we now see relationship building prior to the sales contact: lead nurturing, trigger events, harvesting data from website, etc.
The result? The “hunter” is becoming a “trapper”, with more emphasis on understanding the prospect.
This is becoming increasingly the method we use here at Enigin, to great success in finding those who need our range of energy saving solutions.
Plus, as more and more companies become complicated and enterprises tied and woven within one another, referral selling, upselling and cross-selling has become far more important as a source of new business, forcing the “farmers” to become more like “foragers”.
Hence, the Hunter and the Framer are no longer as distinct, making it now plausible that an individual will be both Hunter and Farmer effectively - or Trapper/Forager.
A similar melding can also be noted between inside and outside sales, inside sales, through web communication such as Skype and other tools, is becoming more proactive while outside sales is taking on the characteristics of inside sales such as frequent email contact.
Bear these points in mind as you build and train your sales teams - do not stay still though as these roles are constantly evolving.
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