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The Hunter, The Farmer and the Farmer's Wife

Written by: Richard Mulvey

Article Overview: There are three different types of sales people. You may be able to retrain your team, but eventually they will return to their comfort zone.

The Hunter, The Farmer and the Farmer's Wife

The Hunter, The Farmer and the Farmer's Wife

There are three distinct types of sales people, the hunter, the farmer and the farmer's wife.

The Hunter

The hunter is a wily character. He goes out each morning in search of his prey. He will research an area to find where the best meat is available and he will focus his efforts there. He will generally go for the big kill, not bothering with the small prey unless he is really hungry. Hunting is hard work. He may have to run for miles tracking a large animal but the rewards are high when he succeeds. If he fails he goes hungry. Hunters do not spend years cultivating a relationship with their prey, they simply go for the kill and move on.

Good hunters are rare, a special breed, and while the successful hunters live the high life with plenty of protean to eat, the hunters who are not successful often starve to death. The hunter is a risk taker.

The Farmer

The farmer is different. The farmer will be happy to take his time cultivating the land, developing an understanding of the crops he will plant and eventually harvest. He knows there is a season for everything and things happen on their own time. Having found the correct land to cultivate he will plough the ground and make ready for the seeds. Carefully he will plant the seeds and tend them until they are ready to harvest. He will make sure the seeds are watered and when the seedlings start to grow he will put up a scarecrow to frighten away any birds who might like to help themselves to the crop. The Farmer doesn't take many risks.

The farmer is a patient man. He seldom has the high life because his diet consists mostly of food grown from the ground, as opposed to the high protean diet enjoyed by the hunter. When the hunter brings home live animals, the farmer will keep the animals and care for them developing a heard that can produce meat in the future. The Farmer never goes hungry because he is always cultivating food.

The Farmer's wife

The farmer's wife neither hunts nor grows. She often goes out to collect food that the farmer has grown or the hunter has caught and prepares that for the evening meal and, because of that, she is a valuable member of the team. The farmer's wife is not a risk taker at all. She simply prepares the food that the hunter or the farmer provides and would starve without them.

The Hunter, The Farmer and The Farmer's wife are three very different characters. The Farmer will never be comfortable the high pressure of hunting, and the hunter would get very board on the farm all day. The Farmer's wife does not have the enthusiasm to hunt or the skills to farm but she would soon starve if left on her own.

In selling we have the same three characters.

The Hunter salesperson is the high flyer. He goes out each morning looking for the big catch, the big company that will earn him the high commission payments. He is well trained in the art of prospecting. He is exceptional at "Cold Call" knowing exactly what to say to get the appointment and how to convert the prospect when he gets there. Once he has made the kill (closed the sale) and fed off the meat (the spent the commission) he loses interest preferring to go off after bigger game. The hunter is almost entirely commission based with a commission structure that will ensure that he is well rewarded when he brings in the "Big One". Good hunters are the highest paid people in the company. They are often arrogant, difficult to manage, have flashy cars, the latest cell phone and a high lifestyle. They are, however, invaluable to a developing company and should be highly praised and well paid if they do well, because if they do badly, they know they will be fired.

The Farmer salesperson is much more patient. He will spend months, even years, developing a relationship before closing the sale. Once the sale is closed he will continue to grow the relationship, providing an exceptional service and expecting continued sales from the same customer. The farmer is more common in companies operating in a mature market and will expect to have a good basic salary with a smaller proportion based on commission (less risk).

The Farmer's wife salesperson is an order taker. The company they work for will probably have developed the business and their reputation using a combination of hunter salespeople and farmer salespeople, and the farmer's wife is simply waiting by the phone for the customer to ring with an order or sitting behind a desk waiting for the customer to walk in the shop. The farmer's wife salesperson will not want to earn commission, preferring to have a basic salary with no risk at all.

Sometimes the hunter is caught by his prey and the farmer is asked to put down his hoe and pick up a spear. Sometimes the farmer is lured to the bright lights of the city, and the farmer's wife has to get out into the fields to bring in the harvest. Of course the farmer may kill an animal or two and bring home some meat and the farmer's wife may work hard and bring in the harvest, but this work is not what they are comfortable with and they will eventually find the work very stressful and ultimately they will leave the farm going off to look for the work they are used to.

Over the past ten years as a sales trainer I have often been asked to turn farmers into hunters, or hunter's into farmer's wives. Of course I can teach them the skills, I can motivate them to use the skills and with constant contact and encouragement the results can be very satisfying, but when the fat lady finally sings, the farmers will return to being farmers, the hunters will return to being hunters and the farmer's wives will get back to making the best milk tart in the province.

I am sure I will get a few calls from the farming community after this one but please remember I am simply using these people as a metaphor, and I mean no disrespect to Hunters, Farmers or their wonderful wives.

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Related Forum Posts
Hunter or Farmer - Born, Bred or Both? - Hello everyone, As a sales recruiter, I meet a variety of sales personalities day in and day out. Recently, I met with one candidate who I would characterize as a "Farmer" i.e. wants to work with exisiting accounts, no cold calling, no prospecting but great customer service, follow up and upselling skills. He was having a hard time finding his next role and he asked about a Business Development role we had - a Hunter role i.e. cold calling, aggressive, no (or minimal) account base, territory management, target oriented. He asked if he could apply and said, "I can CHANGE! I cna learn how to hunt. I can do it." My question to you is: Can someone switch roles? Can a farmer be a hunter? Can a hunter be happy just farming? Thoughts?
The Chocolate Fiend - I'm a milk chocolate fan... don't care for the other varieties at all. My favorites are chocolate covered pistachio nuts, and chocolate covered cashew nuts. I know Fanny Farmer is a well-known brand for "fancy" chocolate boxes...


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