Successful Sales Strategies - Hunters and Farmers
Sales Hunters look for prospects that are fully qualified
and ready to buy. Sales Farmers may start even before a buyer had
a need and will develop a relationship so that when the prospects
are ready to buy, these sales can be harvested. Smart sales managers
use hunter strategies for buyers who have a need and are well educated
on their offerings, and to use farmer strategies to develop prospects
for later sales. This is obviously more important for major or complex
sales than for small sales.
· Needed - Sufficient Marketing Contacts
Before a Major Sale
Major sales prospects need 2-7 contacts to make a
buying decision even when they have a fully qualified need. The
combination of sales contracts ranging from advertising to telemarketing
or field sales contacts are necessary to provide the information
and confidence that a particular solution will satisfy what a major
sale customer needs.
The term for the effect of these contacts is called
"marketing gravity" or "presence." They are
typically a mix of sales contacts, advertising, direct response
and other marketing channels. Whether they are inside, field or
online, the sales people are the harvesters of these contacts. In
that same language a "Hunter" or "Gatherer"
is one who finds a decision maker who has a need and all but one
or two contacts are satisfied. A "Farmer" is one who makes
the contacts until the need arrives, and/or finds those with a need,
makes the sufficient contacts and reaps them (before a hunter finds
them).
· Farmers Take the Long View for a
Full Pipeline
If you do the farming well, the prospects come to
you with the trigger need satisfied and the contacts satisfied,
and thus ready to buy. A fresh cob of corn looks pretty simple until
you see the effort and the size of the tractor to takes to get it
to you. Hunters look at the cob of corn, farmers see the process.
A full sales pipeline needs both hunter and farmer efforts.
· Combining Hunter and Farmer Strategies
To bypass the contacts or gravity built by the farmer
in a one or two contact sales effort, you will only reap those prospects
others have prepared. There are usually a limited number of prospects
in any population ready for a one or two contact hunter. There are
usually far more prospects with a trigger-need who must to be farmed,
but to avoid loss to a hunter you need a positive relationship with
them. If you plan hunting and farming as part of your sales effort,
you will reap even more. This is what you get in a well-integrated
marketing sales effort.
This above understanding is why it can be effective
to make 3-8 telemarketing calls to a prospect provided every contact
builds gravity and positive relationship. Other channels such as
direct mail or emails can help much in increasing the gravity for
a telemarketing effort. Otherwise these contacts are not only wasted,
but with improper voice and mails, they can work against you.
· The Hunter Turned Farmer by Default
So the key is to recognize in your prospecting efforts
that just because a prospect does not buy in one or two contacts
does not mean that there is not a sale potential, provided they
have a need. If they have a need, but their number of contacts is
not satisfied, and you give up early, you will give that sale to
your competitors. In that case your hunter efforts were actually
farming steps for the one who got the sale.
Copyright 2008 Donald C. Mann. All rights reserved
Don Mann advises CEOs and business leaders across the globe. In organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 he has delivered level-raising results of improved innovation, sales, profits and cash flow in good and hard times. His results include developing and improving highly productive and lean organizations with more rapid responsiveness, reduced stress and profitable customer delight. Sitting on a number of boards, he helps CEOs grow their companies and shareholder value. For more information, contact him at: www.RiteMann.com
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