Are you a Hunter or a Farmer?

By Steve Shaner

Sales and customer service, while not the same function will forever be linked together. One thing I learned early in my sales career is that, it is so much easier to sell somebody a second service or product when the first sale went so amazing well – FOR THE CUSTOMER!

At one point in my career when I felt the necessity to move on to a better job. I needed a job that brought more satisfaction on a number of fronts, but primarily more money. I needed not just more money, but easy money. By that I don’t mean that I wanted to work any less, or put it in any less effort, but I wanted my job to be less stressful and more comfortable. Haven’t we all been there?

I was gainfully employed in the printing and direct marketing business. I worked in sales and customer service, but it was supposed to be primarily sales. I had worked with a variety of different kinds of printers and direct marketers up until this point in my career, and it paid straight commission. Straight commission scares a lot of people but not me. On one hand, it didn’t scare me because I was actually pretty good at it, and I made more money than I ever thought I would. On the other hand, while I may not have been scared of commission sales, and even though I made good money, I didn’t like it! I didn’t like it because I was always worried that I wasn’t doing enough to cover my expenses, or reaching my quotas. It was very stressful and that stress was taxing to my body and spirit.

One bad thing about having a good month of sales was that I was then expected to do that every month. That was hard, demanding and stressful. Part of my dissatisfaction was the constant finding the next big sale often meant leaving the previous sales transactions in my rear-view mirror. It was hard for me because of my desire to continue business and personal relationships with my newly found customers and friends I had developed during the sales process.

With my freshly polished shoes, my ubiquitous khaki pants, and navy blazer, I went out “hunting” for a new job, where I could be a “farmer.” I didn’t realize until later what I was doing at the time, (when I referred to the description of sales people as hunters and farmers), but I learned the terms; hunter, and farmer, were real words used in the sales process. I had been in the sales and customer service industry for about 15 years. I struggled because I always needed the next big sale, but found myself stuck in the minutia of delivering not just a good product, but a great experience as well. I was actually doing both hunting and farming and it was hurting my success in sales!

One of my former coworkers from a previous job gave me a call one day and told me that her new company was looking for sales people and she thought I might like the company she now worked for. Her new job was with R. R. Donnelly! RRD happened to be the largest printer in the world! To say I was excited about the possibility of finding a place in their sales process is an understatement. My friend wanted to make sure I knew that they were looking for both what she called Hunters, and Farmers but not both in the same person. I responded by saying, “that’s not a problem, I can do either.” As I hung up the phone, I admitted to myself that I had no idea what she was referring to when she said Hunters and Farmers.

My next call was to the R. R. Donnelly sales hiring manager she gave me. He knew my name and that I might be calling him because of my friends referral. After a few minutes of introductory and friendly talk he asked about my professional experience before inviting me to come see him for an interview. I set up an appointment and thanked him. I was feeling pretty confident about what was happening.

However, I still had a lingering inquisitive feeling about what did Farming and Hunting have to do with selling printing and direct mailing services. I did a little research and asking around and I found the following information.

While there are several kinds of sales people because of different personalities and skill sets, most bottom-line functions come down to two very different kinds of sales job descriptions. They stem from two very different types of personas – the Hunter, and the Farmer.

The personnel structure of a sales team varies widely from company to company. In most cases, it revolves around a sales manager with a few select members, that work as a team to-a-national cadre of employees and independent brokers that are usually broken down by geographic areas, different products and services, or targeted businesses/consumers.

The actual sales process relates to actions of the sales team searching and finding prospects that could eventually purchase the goods and services from the business that the salesperson represents. After deciding which leads or prospects are viable future customers the sales persons sets-out to move the buyer up the chain of identity by taking them from suspect, to prospect, to customer, to client. I’ll write more on that process in another blog post.

Sales people are required not only to actually look for and find their next prospect, they also develop proposals and estimates for costs and production services. Then they need to pitch the prospective customer and bring them back to their company to provide the goods and services once the sale is made. The best salespeople usually step back at this point of the sales cycle by handing the client over to a Customer Service Representative, (or CSR) to nurture and develop so that they can go back out in the field to find for the next new customer. Because of this business acquiring process sales people are often referred to as Hunters.
Customer service can best be described as, the initiatives and endeavors a business executes to assist customers in purchasing their product, services and benefits. CSR’s often serve as the first touchpoint for customers to start the fulfillment of what they just purchased, (often from a different staff person called a salesperson), including when difficulties in the purchasing, production and delivery arise. Beyond resolving issues, they train and consult the customer in the products value and usage, making sure the customer has a successful and profitable experience.
Because of a successful purchasing experience, CSR’s are often the go-to contacts when customers need to make additional purchases. Frequently, the new transactions are completed without the involvement of salesperson of record at all. The CSR’s often plant the seed, nurture, and harvest the growth of the new opportunities for the business, and therefore are referred to as Farmers.

Essentially the Hunters are the ones that find the customers and bring them back to the company, and Farmers are the ones that nurture and grow their business by keeping the customer.

Keep in mind however that there are two different functions performed by two different people operating in two different business environments. The most successful for the business that employs a salesperson and a CSR for each of these two functions occur when the salesperson is not required to cross over and do both jobs.

The terms Hunters and Farmers are used to describe the contrasts between salespeople and how they approach their careers:

Hunters are fiercely independent, want to come and go as they please, and make their own schedules. They are disciplined enough, and driven by profit, that they little or no direct supervision, except big picture direction from management.

Most good Hunters focus on quick acquisitions and big deals. They like to make the sale, pass it off to their CSR partner back at the plant, and move on to the next big acquisition.

Hunters are very solution driven. They have to be! In order to make the big sale they need to have a big idea that is far better than the competition. They cannot come in with the same old services and features that everybody else is pitching. They have to find a way to make it faster, better, or cheaper. (By the way, nobody can provide all three. The buyer has to choose which they value the most, and if they are lucky, they can get two out of three).

Hunters also have to be keenly aware of what products or services their employer can provide, and what they can’t. A lot of sales people have wasted a lot of time chasing down clients to buy their product only to find that the plant management turns down the sale. There’s an old joke that some sales people have to, “sell every job twice; once to the customer and once to the plant!”

Hunters use their network to build their business. In fact, they work almost as hard building their networks, as they do to build their sales. Networks are the life source for new business.

Farmers should always be feeding and nurturing the customer. Nurturing client relationships is a primary role of a good CSR or Sales Farmer. Spending a lot of time on the phone listening to their business and production or service needs often crosses over to simply listening to their personal needs as well. They need to do well at their job. How well they perform at work is often determined by how much you can help them. If it goes well, you look like a hero. If it goes poorly one of you is going to take the blame.

Consequently, many good farmers, by virtue of their role, become friends and colleagues of their customers. Exchanging Christmas and birthday card to each other and even meeting them out for dinner with spouses is good for business and personal time for each of you. Many of my best friends started out as a business acquaintance where we labored together on the same project for the mutual benefit of each other.

Farmers need to prioritize cultivating strong customer loyalty. It’s often been said that a business will become a customer because of a good business decision, but they stay a customer because of a good personal decision. People don’t buy from businesses they buy from people. They better the customer service in a personal and professional way the better for business on both sides of the equation. It’s called a Win-Win. Good sales farmers not only call their clients to check in on them and see if they need any more products or service, they are usually the first person to be called by the client when they do need something. Having a two-way of open communication develops strong customer loyalty.

Sales Farmers should have a high degree of the ability to foster collaboration with business partners. Farmers need ready access to other business partners to fulfill any needs for the client that their own services do not provide. If you are in any kind of sales for production your plant will never be able to do it all. Many of the goods and services you may need may be best contracted out to a trusted third-party source.

While the debate goes on about which is the best persona, the fact of the discussion is having a balance between the two to actively grow sales and keep clients.

Now with that in mind, think about the implications of the hunter vs. farmer analogy in your talent development. How can these personas help you make your team better?

If you adopt a hunter persona, you actively seek out the best people for your organization. You use your network to gain inside information on who, and where, they are, and track them down.

Your ammo consists of the proper work environment, culture, training, and compensation, but mostly on the vision and trust you can set before them. By making yourself and the organization as desirable as possible, you get these folks to come to you willingly, and not by any decoy or trickery.

As a farmer, you grow your people. By giving them adequate food and water, otherwise known as training and support, you allow them to get stronger and showcase their growth and talents. You also cultivate the culture by pulling out the weeds that will choke out culture and keep growth uninhibited.

You can even make a case that by being organic, you stay pure to your company identity and goals, don’t allow toxins such as suspect character to enter the field, and never mix proven development and leadership methods for synthetic or trendy fads.

As in the sales comparison, the real success comes in not having one or the other, but in having the proper blend of hunting for the right talent and farming your current talent the right way. In blending your approaches to talent development, you’ll create a balance for developing internal and external human resources.

If you are in ownership or sales management, be keenly aware whether you need a farmer or a hunter. You may need both, but as was earlier mentioned, they are rarely in the same person. If you are the sales person, remember that at times you need to be hunting, and at other times your need to be farming. Both bring rewards, and each has its season. Find the balance and build a sustainable, winning team, or a more profitable career path.

BTW – my interview with R. R. Donnelly? After a generous amount of chit chat about the weather, sports, and who were our common friends and acquaintances, our conversation turned to the reason I was there. The Sales managers first question was, “Are you familiar with the terms for sales people, Hunters and Farmers?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact I am,” I said proudly not letting him now that I only discovered the terms a day or two ago.

“Well which one are you” he asked?

Uh, oh… I didn’t know which one he was looking for, and I knew the wrong answer would be a lot harder to recover from than your typical, “where do you want to be in five-years” question.

I thought long and hard about which answer I wanted to give vs. the answer that he wanted me to give. It seemed like that pregnant pause lingered in the air forever. In a nano-second I had visions and answers swirling through my head. What if I answered a different career path than what if he was looking for? I then felt like honesty was the best path forward. I mean if I wasn’t honest at this point, then everyday afterward was going to be a lot harder. I didn’t want another job that didn’t fit me like a glove. I finally blurted out, “I am most often perceived as a Farmer in the sales industry! I can do both, but I excel at the farmer’s role in this process.”

Again, there was another seemingly loooong pause before he looked back up at me, smiled and said, “Well. We we’re looking for a Hunter.”

I couldn’t contain myself any longer and I started to smile and said softly, “Well, that’s too bad. Where do we go from here?”

He stood up, stuck his hand out, and said, I truly wish you luck in finding what you are looking for!”

With that, the interview ended, and he was nothing but kind and caring in my exit, assuring me that if he heard of any jobs that he thought I would be interested in that he would pass my name along to his colleagues and network.