Farmers and Hunters are two different breeds of salespeople. Or are they.
Generally, a farmer is someone who develops existing relationships while hunters are focused on new logos. A hunter is someone who spends most of their time searching for new business and developing new relationships.
Both types of salespeople present the same challenges in an ever changing technology landscape.
For one, people rarely pick up their phones anymore. Also, buyers are getting bombarded with information everyday. It’s information overload and a lot of that information isn’t good, which results in getting stereotyped in the sea of bad salespeople messaging.
Don’t get discouraged, because you just need a strong and sustainable strategy. When you have good messaging, it eventually rises to the top.
It’s a different mindset. Salespeople have to adapt and be committed to new selling strategies (Value Selling, Strategic Selling, Social Selling) and incorporate it into an Omnichannel strategy.
All types of salespeople need to reach key stakeholders online and offline.
The reality is that hunters and farmers are one in the same. Farmers have to develop new relationships throughout an organization in order to grow the business and provide value to new stakeholders. Hunters do the same but they don’t have the benefit of an existing track record or existing relationships to leverage.
Both types of salespeople have to:
- Be strong marketers
- Apply value selling strategies
- Have strong communication skills
- Evangelize company messaging to key stakeholders
- Utilizie resources effectively and do more with less
- Making the complex process of purchasing easy
Basically a jack of all trades. Yes, hunters have to do this more than farmers (until they build their business) but farmers have to stay relevant because the good hunters are knocking on the doors of their existing clients both online and offline.
At the foundation of this strategy is effective marketing – reaching your target audience where they are at the moment when they want info.
New logos and new revenue streams are why salespeople exist.
Effective social selling makes you stand out and that’s what you want. It gives you the medium to create a brand as an individual and a company.
You can have the best pitch, product but without New Business Meetings, you’re not going to build pipeline.
Farmers and hunters need to embrace an Omnichannel strategy today.
Anthony Lobosco
