There are many salespeople around the globe, as you can see. Some are just looking to close a few sales deals while others seek to build a pipeline. What kind of salesperson are you looking for?

It’s tough to be a sales professional. It can be difficult to find salespeople who are capable of driving sales for your company. Sales leaders can use the sales hunting vs. farming model to help them develop their strengths and achieve the shared goal of the sales team.

We have all heard about the difference between farmers and hunters in sales. Let’s look at the different salespersons that are valuable to your sales team.

It is difficult to hire a salesperson because you must first decide what type of salesperson you require – hunter, farmer, or both.

Sales Hunting or Farming: Which strategy is best?

A company seeks someone who can generate leads and sales opportunities independently when it is sales hunting.

These salespeople are often outspoken, aggressive, outgoing, and outgoing. They are the hunters.

A company may also be looking for salespeople who are skilled in sales.

These people are often looking to work with other sales professionals to source new leads for their company.

These are farmers who collaborate with other sales hunters to form a cohesive team.

What’s the difference between sales hunting and farming?

These are the key differences between these salespersons. How they should be used:

Sales Hunting:

You are more likely to close deals quickly because you spend less time researching and more time on sales.

Start contact with prospects and business development activities

They are more likely to be competitive and aggressive because they are motivated by short-term results (commissions), rather than long-term company success.

Sales Farming:

Sales farmers, in contrast to sales hunters, take longer to close deals and are less under pressure from managers because their sales goals tend to be more achievable.

You may have more detailed knowledge of certain prospects and customers, which you can use to build long-term customer relationships

External factors like money and commission are less likely to motivate people. Instead, they look for job satisfaction or stability.

What type of salesperson would you recommend for your sales team?

Sales Hunting salesperson:

Are salespeople a good fit for your sales team?

You can hire salespeople who can generate leads on their own. This type of person can be found at sales events and headhunters.

Keep in mind, however, that these people tend to be more competitive and aggressive than others, so they might not be the best fit for your company long-term.

Sales Farming salesperson:

Sales farmers are an excellent choice if you’re looking for salespeople who can collaborate with others and have a deep knowledge of their industry.

To create a cohesive sales team, they often look for other salespeople to work with them. These salespeople can be found through alumni networks, social media, and referral programs.

How can you decide which salesperson is right for your company?

It all depends on your expectations of a salesperson, and the overall strategy for your company. If you’re looking for quick sales and less time, sales hunting is a good option. Sales farming is better if your goal is to have longer sales cycles that require greater in-depth knowledge.

What type of salesperson am I looking for?

This depends on the strategy of your company, market conditions, customer preferences/needs, etc.

Sales teams need both farmers and hunters. It all depends on the strategy of your company, market conditions, customer preferences/needs, etc.

To be effective in today’s competitive market, a sales team must have both types of salespeople!

Hunter’s Business Model

Hunters are skilled in many areas, including account executive, field sales, and business development. They can take on any challenge with a thick skin and deal with rejection.

You are unwaveringly hungry, passionate, and not afraid of rejection. The hunter versus farmer role is one of the most challenging in sales.

Persona for the Hunter Salesperson

Are you getting a call from the candidate to confirm you have received their resume?

Are they going to call you back after the interview?

These are the qualities you should look for in a Sales Hunter when interviewing!

Avoid those who do not return calls or are afraid to ask difficult questions during interviews. They’ll likely treat your potential customers in the same manner.

Hunters are motivated by the desire to make money. Ask about how much money your prospect would like to make.

If they claim they are looking for a high base, show them the door. They don’t care about the base if they’re looking to become a millionaire salesperson.

Hunter candidates should have a natural ability to build rapport. This is because they will be required to do so within seconds given how much time they spend on calls.

You need someone confident and outgoing to hunt for business. They must also have positive body language and display confidence.

Farmer Sales

According to the Sales Hunters vs Farmers Model, while Hunters are looking for new business, Farmers build consumer loyalty. Customer-centric roles include account managers, customer service representatives, and inside sales reps.

Farmer is a Salesperson

A hunter may phone to follow up with potential employers, while a farmer will not.

Instead, focus on how they build rapport. Do they communicate with you via the telephone?

Are they bright-eyed when you first meet them?

Are they able to communicate politely via email?

These abilities are essential for building long-lasting connections.

Farmers are loyal friends to the most successful Customers. They might meet outside work and connect on social media.

Farmers must be people-oriented and the kind of person everyone admires. They will be able to keep their clients’ minds at the forefront of their minds by having this relationship.

It is one thing to trust and like someone enough to turn to them for help with your problems. But it is another to trust and like someone enough so that you look to them to solve your problems. Referrals are easy to find and can help you build a trusting relationship.

For this reason, farmers are skilled at building and maintaining long-term relationships.

The Hunters and Farmers Model’s Discussion

While relationships are important, revenues are what keep the company running. Farmers need guidance on how to ask for a sale.

You should remind them to get references and emphasize the importance of their role in generating repeat customers.

Hunter’s persistence is what makes them so amazing. You can trust them to make the sales!

Hunters are used to taking risks so they will often accept lower base pay in return for higher commission rates.

Sales hunting and farming: How success and sales coexist

The job of a sales representative is to reach potential customers and decide if they are likely to profit from the product.

If they are a good fit, he will advocate for the sale. Imagine a salesperson being able to negotiate a contract with one customer, for 20 users of basic functionality.

After the transaction has been completed, the Success team will onboard the customer to ensure that they have all the necessary setups and are happy with the product.

To ensure that the customer is doing well, the Success team will conduct regular health checks and Quarterly Business Reviews.

During these conversations, the Success representative can identify triggers that could lead to new opportunities. For example, if the support team expands to a new location, it would be necessary to add more users and more advanced capabilities.

The representative will then work closely with customers to monitor their progress and upgrade to a plan that suits their needs better.

This way, the salesperson increases the value of an account through its expansion while the success rep increases revenue by bringing new customers in.

The Sales and Success teams often use similar approaches to bring in more business. They will also follow the same process to convert opportunities. This usually happens in three steps:

• Identifying the needs and expectations of the prospect/customer
• Aircall’s ability to meet these requirements
• Complete the transaction

Sales and Success have some tricks up their sleeves when it comes to closing sales.

This article will show you how Sales and Success team members work together to generate revenue.

Hunters and Farmers’ Characteristics of the Sales

It is not uncommon for account executives to be farmers and hunters in sales organizations.

Rarely will you find a candidate who is both a great hunter and a great farmer? This is why it is important to start searching for account executives that can do both.

To help you build the best sales team, look for applicants who are farmers or hunters.

These traits will help you differentiate between them.

Hunters include

They are determined to close new businesses. Any obstacle that hinders their ability to achieve their goals is an obstacle.

They are numbers-based — They know that selling is a numbers game. Therefore, they constantly search for ways to increase their productivity and efficiency.

They love competition with other people and with themselves. They hate losing more than they love winning.

Persistent — They won’t accept no for an answer and don’t mind being called obnoxious or stalker-like.

They prefer to see themselves as lone wolves, who can do the job without the assistance of a pack or a leader.

Agriculturalists:

Results-oriented – Their primary goal in helping their clients achieve the results they promised.

Relationship-driven: They believe that building, nurturing, and focusing on client relationships is key to their success.

Customer-focused – They strive to provide the best service to their customers. Farmers don’t cut corners. Instead, they work hard to cultivate their crops throughout the year.

They are organized and disciplined and have a system in place for growing and servicing their accounts.

Farmers, unlike hunters, prefer to work with their clients and teams to achieve the best possible results.

How to Start Sales Farming and Increase Revenue at A Low Cost

These are some ideas to get you started.

Respect for farmers is important.

Sales teams tend to speak negatively about farmers as though they are less important than hunters.

It is time to stop using phrases like “She’s just a farmer” or “He couldn’t make it as a Salesman, so he switched over to Customer Success.”

While the effort required to increase existing customers is different from that involved in acquiring new customers, it does not mean they are less important or more useful.

We tell Nebraskans all the time that farmers feed the world. You can also get help from them to build your business at a much lower price.

Make the most of data, technology, processes, and other resources.

There is a lot of information already about your customers. When you add Services, Sales, and digital touchpoints to your data, you have hundreds of interactions with them. This information should lead to actionable account intelligence, but it rarely does.

For more information, take a look at the white paper on Data-Driven Selling.