Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 18, 2017

It seems like the concept of hunters and farmers have been around virtually as long as sales. In theory, hunters are the people that have to prospect, to bring in new accounts or logos. The farmers, according to mythology nurture those accounts, retaining the business, possibly growing to drive more revenue.

Territory 48

Territory Prospecting Growth Up-sell 48

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 1, 2020

Farmers and farming are what brings food to all of us. Possibly one of the most destructive concepts ever introduced into sales is the concept of hunters and farmers. I’m not sure how the concept of hunters and farmers ever arose, but the notion is hunters go out and find new business.

Agriculture 91

Agriculture Prospecting Growth Up-sell 91

Partners in Excellence

MAY 30, 2017

There’s a round of discussions going on about Hunters and Farmers. Underlying these discussions are attitudes, “Real sales people eat fresh meat every day” (The hunter camp), “We need to develop our accounts to maximize LCV” (Farmers). A farmers territory may be defined as a set of accounts.

Territory 54

Territory Cross-sell Account management Prospecting 54

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

We put “farmers” in place to support the customer–rather than the hunters that got us there in the first place. The thinking is, “If we can keep the customer happy, if we delight them, if we exceed their expectations –we will earn more business. But what do we get wrong about growing our accounts?

Sell 57

Sell Account management Service Growth 57

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

The principles of ABE are outstanding–focused on further tailoring and personalization of our marketing and sales approaches to the specific needs and priorities of the customer–both the enterprise and individual (actually these are great principles for any customer outreach). Tell me how much it is, is it retroactive?”

Customers 52

Customers Strategize Clients Presentation 52

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

There are lots of models, lots of intersection points, we can use any one. Content marketing is going to save the world! But I wonder about all the opportunities we miss, all the chances to provide leadership, to teach customers, to help them learn how to buy—to extend how we develop and create value. What are we doing to find those?

Territory 50

Territory Cross-sell Start-ups Customers 50

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 24, 2019

I’ve never been comfortable about the hunter/farmer notions around selling. I’ve always maintained every sales person is a hunter. We tend to think of farmers as the account managers, those who think their job is to “protect and defend,” (apologies to many of our police forces).

Account management 79

Account management Prospecting Up-sell Start-ups 79