Sales Roles – Hunter, Farmer – and Shepherd
There are numerous trainings about salespeople, their mentality, and what type of sales a certain business requires.
Hunters are often characterized to be the always hungry, looking for new prey. They want to develop new customers, are agile, always active, using all channels and keen to generate more leads than the organization may be able to digest. Turning leads into buying customers is part of his nature. However, Hunters kill the prey, this is why I don´t like the comparison.
Farmers as salespeople are often characterized by watering the plants, protecting them and being patient, to care and to tend. The farmer is more looking for quality than for quantity. While offering excellent service and great contract, the farmer generates margins and customer loyalty. The farmer is more the caretaker in a relation.
Is it really all we have in our sales organizations? I have seen in my career many times people who have been more shepherds than farmers of hunters: The shepherd is willing to move around with his herd (or let the herd moving the shepherd). Together with his dog, the shepherd will protect the herd. A shepherd doesn´t plant, does not harvest and does not hunt. A shepherd accepts as part of the business the herd will change by nature. New herd members will be born, show up by chance, demand, whatever…, and some will just die or leave the herd being slaughtered or running away in a certain moment when the dog is busy elsewhere. Traveling around, the herd will be fed by what is on the ground, and the taste of the green may change over time, it´s composition, too. Often shepherds claim to farm or hunt, but they are more focused on a portfolio of customers than interested in individuals.
If your sales stagnate or even go down, one might have to ask questions. If you have too many shepherds in your organization, it´s time to act. The same may be true if you are in a certain phase of organizational development when your organization undergoes radical changes made on purpose or driven by external developments. Feel invited to talk.