Hunter Vs. Farmer: Which Is More Ideal in Sales?

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When you look at any job posting for a sales position, you will often read some verbiage about how they are looking for “hunters” not “farmers”. 

Does that mean the hunter mindset is superior to the farmer mindset?

Should a salesperson focus solely on hunting for new business? 

Well, let’s take a look at some pros and cons of each sales mindset, and then you can form your own opinion, and let me know what YOU think the answer is! 

Hunder Mindset Positives 

The obvious benefit to the hunter mindset is that you will obviously get new customers which can help grow the business. Especially when the economy is not doing so well, finding new customers is extremely important, and necessary. 

Most of the folks who have this mindset are also fearless, hardworking, and have almost an innate ability to put themselves out there and close new deals. Since there is a lot of work that goes into prospecting, hunters tend to work longer hours, and if they’re really good, a lot of that work is put toward researching their prospective customers. 

These people are also going to be far more likely to proactively get on the phone and speak with customers. They are known for making things happen that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

As an example, one thing that I personally like to do in sales is cold calling. For whatever reason, I just love walking into a company’s facility and trying to get a meeting with someone to show them a product demo. 

No, it doesn’t work every time, and most of the time people say “no”, but I have actually earned several new customers by simply starting with a random cold call! The trick is to do a bit of research before going there. Make sure there is an obvious fit for your product. 

That is why hiring managers, and companies in general, are always looking for “hunters” in their job posts. 

Hunter Mindset Negatives

For every positive, there must be a negative. That’s just the way of the universe, and sales is no different. 

Just remember, when you choose to do something, that means you are also choosing not to do something else. 

Since a hunter is focused on new business, and new customers, they are not focusing a majority of their time on existing customers, and that can actually spell disaster for an organization of any size. 

When a customer feels neglected, or if the salesperson doesn’t have time for their priorities, they will only tolerate that for so long. When customers leave a company, it takes a ton of effort to prospect a new one to cover the loss. Not to mention, a rather long time!

This is especially true if they have some sort of grievance with a product or a service and the salesperson is just not getting back to them quickly enough, if at all.  

Aside from that, the hunter may not be focusing on trying to sell more product to existing customers! When you think about a typical B2B sale, they typically require a lot of momentum before anything really starts going well. 

Well, with a current customer, that momentum is already there! There is no trust building, or any of the hard prospecting work needed. The salesperson should have a solid relationship with the customer anyway, so selling to them shouldn’t be much of a problem! 

So then what’s the deal with these “farmers”?

Farmer Mindset Positives 

The best part of this mindset is the level of customer care and relationship maintenance. Relationship maintenance is one of the most critical parts of any sales process. 

I have heard horror stories of how large accounts left one company and went to a competitive company simply because they felt as though they were not being taken care of!

Typically speaking, customers like to have one contact with a vendor/company, and that contact is most likely a salesperson. Well, a salesperson with a farmer mindset is going to be well-equipped to field customer questions, comments, or concerns.

When a customer’s needs are fulfilled by a salesperson, they are less likely to seek attention from a competitive company. 

Sound familiar?!

Folks with a farmer mindset are also far more likely to sell products to existing customers, and again, that is a very easy way to increase business with much less time needed to ramp up momentum. 

Just to repeat myself, farmers tend to be very good at maintaining customer relationships, and customer relationships is one of the most important parts of any sales process. 

Quote me on that! 

Farmer Mindset Negatives 

Unlike the hunter, a farmer is less likely to try to go out and plant seeds to cultivate new business with new customers. Prospecting is not the farmer’s strength. 

Prospecting and finding new business is absolutely critical in a sales role, and it’s almost impossible to avoid it completely. New business is also fun to go after if you do it correctly and with the right mindset. 

The farmer type salesperson is less desirable by hiring managers simply because they are less likely to put themselves out there and take risks. They are far less likely to get on the phone and make something happen that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. 

They do a phenomenal job when a customer calls and needs something, but proactive calling is not their strength, and sales managers don't like that. 

A lot of people think farmer salespeople are lazy or unmotivated. I disagree with that belief, but I can certainly see why some folks would feel that way. 

As previously mentioned, prospecting in sales can be really fun, and that means that someone with a farmer mindset will miss out on some of the fun in sales since they tend not to do as much prospecting. 

CONCLUSION

So, which mindset do you think is more ideal in sales? 

Now, I am not trying to say that hunters never pay attention to existing customers and farmers never prospect. I’m saying that they tend to focus on one more than the other, and each approach has its positives and negatives. 

Personally, I think it’s a balance of both that will maximize sales. However, I tend to put more of a focus on farming than hunting. That’s just my style. I make existing customers priority, no matter what, because that is what I would expect from a salesperson. 

Does that mean I don’t prospect? Hell no, I absolutely prospect! I think it’s absolutely fun and valuable to prospect, but I think it’s even more important to keep current customers happy. 

Do you agree or disagree? 

I’m genuinely curious to know what you think so send me a message on LinkedIn!