Yes, I’m entering the dangerous waters of the Hunter-Farmer discussion related to sales and business development. To be honest with you, I’ve never really liked the two names. I thought about using Race Horse and Plow Horse, but a colleague cautioned that no one wants to be called a plow horse. That’s a pity because any economist will tell you that plow horses added more economic value to civilizations than race horses ever will.
You may be aware that Thom Hartmann, a psychotherapist, first introduced the Hunter and Farmer personas in relation to ADHS. Attention deficit could be residual behavior left over from when hunter-gatherers became farmers. Hunters are intensely tasked focused, think in short terms, are creatively impulsive, and quickly move on to the next targets. Farmers, on the other hand, are more strategic in their tasks, think in seasonal terms, use routines for efficiency, and stay the course. These terms were then adapted to describe the two basic sales personas: those who go out and hunt for customers and those who cultivate customers.
Always looking for new ways to explain what we do, observers of the craft of sales have tried to reframe and upgrade Hunters and Farmers into terms like Builders and Operators. Some have added surrounding personas such as Pioneers (business developers prior to opportunities), Skinners (negotiators and implementers), Shepherds (account managers), and even Warriors – those who venture out into the white space of new capabilities and new customers.
And there are those who say the Hunter and Farmer personas are meaningless in the modern sales landscape. I think there are no good substitutes for the two terms and they still have value in sorting out sales forces. As a sales trainer for Asher Strategies, I work with a lot of small companies having sales challenges. Their scenarios are pretty much the same. A bright and driven CEO turns a technology into a business and gains traction in a B2B or B2G market. The company thrives, grows and then hits a sales plateau. The CEO no longer has the time or skills to be the chief sales officer. Existing staff are repurposed to sales positions and new salespeople are hired. And then … crickets. No sales bump.
There are a number of issues associated with this. The repurposed staff and new hires may not have had sales training. CEOs wouldn’t hire someone to do engineering without an engineering degree, yet they think nothing of hiring someone for sales with any sales training. That’s one problem. The other is that there’s no getting around the fact that we are born with differences in our capabilities and preferences. Some of us are naturally better at Hunting and some at Farming. I’ve seen CEOs try to make Hunters into Farmers and Farmers into Hunters with disastrous results.
If you want to grow new business, you need to identify and hire Hunters. Likewise, if you want to maintain customers and extend business with them, you need to hire Farmers. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to make the right hiring choices by only resumes and interviews. I know a CEO who complained about hiring a business developer, only to have to let that person go a year later. Not enough new business generated, even though that salesperson had solid technical expertise and a vast network of potential clients. I asked the CEO if that salesperson had natural sales talent. The CEO responded, “How would I know?” The answer to that question is to use one of a number of high-quality sales personality assessments. I recommend the Advanced Personality Questionnaire (APQ) from Asher Strategies.
To be sure, both Hunters and Farmers are needed to keep businesses healthy. It’s not either/or – it’s both/and. In companies with large resources, you should hire both Hunters and Farmers and get them in the right positions. Small companies may need to find salespeople who have natural aptitude for both positions: Hunter-Farmers. They’re not unicorns. They’re out there. Utility infielders. Team players. Hunters who can go out and bring contracts back and then become Farmers who can up and cross-sell.
Until someone comes up with really good substitute names for Hunter and Farmer, they’ll have to do. And that’s because they really are necessary to make correct sales placement decisions in order to grow your business. Not all sales are the same. Neither are all salespeople.
Solving the Sales Puzzle 