Sales Hunter vs Farmer: The Differences Explained
There are two types of roles in the sales world: sales hunter vs farmer
It is a long-standing debate on which is more important in sales.
Hunters prospect and find new customers, whereas farmers manage and expand current customers. Both roles are essential but serve different purposes in a sales organization.
Sales hunting and farming are two key strategies to find and cultivate new business opportunities. Though both approaches involve developing relationships, there are significant differences between the two that salespeople must understand to be successful.
This blog post will discuss the critical differences between a sales hunter and vs farmer. We’ll also examine what makes each role unique and how they contribute to a company’s success. Then we’ll dive into the link between hunting and farming in sales.
What’s the difference between a sales hunter and vs farmer?
Hunters solely focus on finding new customers. At the same time, farmers focus on nurturing and expanding current customers. Although they have different targets and accounts, both focus on increasing revenue.
Whether you’re in a sales hunter vs farmer role, each has different responsibilities.
For example, hunters use cold calling, emails, social selling, and prospecting to break into new accounts. Their goal is converting leads into customers and driving new logo growth.
Whereas farmers generate revenue through relationship-building and expanding existing customers. This can be done through upselling current products, cross-selling new products, or expanding into new divisions or regions.
Another difference between a sales hunter and vs farmer is their career path.
Salespeople who excel at hunting thrive in roles such as Sales Development Rep (SDR) or Account Executive (AE). SDRs focus solely on finding new leads through prospecting, building pipeline, and handing qualified leads to Account Executives. An AE converts leads through a sales process until they become a customer.
Farmer-style sales reps thrive in relationship-building roles such as Account Manager, Strategic Accounts, Customer Success, and Customer Support. Although there’s an aspect of driving new sales, the key responsibility is to ensure a great customer experience.
The Hunter sales persona
What is a hunter in sales? Hunters are salespeople who are always on the lookout for new business opportunities. They are driven and competitive, always looking to close the next deal.
Hunters recognize that sales is a number game, and the goal is to convert leads. They often use sales prospecting tools to reach and engage potential customers. Since they are the first interaction someone has with the brand, they must leave a great initial impression.
Hunters are also highly motivated by goals, quotas, incentives, and sales spiffs. High-performing hunters must be well paid to do their best to exceed quota attainment.
The Hunter personality traits:
Hunters are typically outgoing and people-centric. They are confident, have strong communication skills, and are often more risk-tolerant and unafraid of cold calls or outbound prospecting.
Here are several distinctive personality traits of hunters:
- Goal-oriented
- Self-motivated
- Persistent
- Disciplined
- Thick-skinned
- Indepedent
Sales activities for Hunters
When comparing a sales hunter vs farmer, a hunter’s primary responsibility is generating new leads and business opportunities.
They need to identify potential customers and build relationships with them. It’s also a complex and challenging job because sales can sometimes be unpredictable. Prospecting is also challenging because hunters may get a fair number of objections or rejections to deal with. If they are getting leads from inbound marketing, they must focus on responding quickly and maintaining speed-to-lead.
Hunters also need to be able to qualify for sales opportunities and create proposals.
On an average day, here are the activities that a hunter does:
- Generate leads
- Cold calls and cold emails
- Video prospecting
- Social selling
- Ask for referrals
- Run discovery calls and demo pitches
- Use sales cadences
Pros
Businesses need hunters to grow: for any business to thrive, they must consistently bring in new customers. A successful farmer is laser-focused on new business and plays a critical role in a company’s revenue generation.
They are the face of the brand and are the first impression: since hunters are the first people a prospect will interact with, they are also the first impression of the brand. If reps can provide a frictionless buying experience, customers will likely become raving fans.
Cons
Cost of sale: The cost of acquiring a new customer costs five to ten times more than retaining an existing one. Comparing sales hunter vs farmer, the former is more expensive than the latter. It’s much harder to sell a new customer a product than a customer who has already had a positive experience.
Lone wolf mentality: some hunters have a lone wolf mentality and perform better independently. Although it’s beneficial for sales targets, this behavior can impact sales team culture and create silos.
The Farmer sales persona
Their goals are to increase sales and grow their customer base. Someone in a hunting role is typically outgoing, personable, and excellent at building trusting customer relationships.
Farmers typically engage in a lot of networking and relationship-building activities. They may attend industry events, meet with customer in-persons, or meetings.
In contrast between a sales hunter and a farmer, prospecting is a strenuous activity, and farmers usually don’t thrive in that environment. But when it comes to customer retention and expansion revenue, farmers are the leading players.
They’re the ones who nurture relationships and keep customers coming back for more, whether it’s an upsell or cross-sell. When a customer is upset or becomes a churn risk, farmers are the first line of defense to ensure their customers are heard. Farmers are naturally proactive and have an action plan ready for the risk.
Farmers are essential to a sales organization because they provide predictability in long-term planning and sales forecasts. One of the key metrics they are responsible for is customer retention and expansion.
Farmer personality traits
Similar to hunters, farmers are outgoing, people-centric, and relationship-builders. They have strong communication skills and deep empathy for their customers.
Here are several distinctive personality traits of farmers:
- Relationship-builders
- Service-oriented
- Friendly
- Empathetic
- Team-player
- Highly organized
Sales activities for Farmers
Farmers are always on calls with their customers. They are seen as trusted advisors that ensure every customer has a positive experience with their product. They ensure that each customer gets the most value out of their product, such as adoption, usage, and ROI.
Through this process, they are also trying to identify expansion opportunities.
On an average day, here are the activities that a farmer does:
- Quarterly business reviews
- Cross-selling and up-selling
- Provide a great customer experience
- Account reviews
- Provide a great onboarding experience
- Support renewals
Pros
As mentioned, selling to an existing customer is much more cost-effective than a new one.
Cultivate relationships and prevent churn: customer retention is a critical metric that reflects how well a business is doing. By cultivating relationships, farmers can ensure customers are satisfied with the product and provide confidence that they are there to support them.
Grow net dollar retention and lifetime customer value: Both are essential metrics for SaaS companies because they indicate how healthy a business is. Farmers can play a significant role by increasing both metrics.
Cons
Only focused on a set amount of accounts: There aren’t many disadvantages to having farmers. The only one is that farmers only focus on a set number of accounts. Since their portfolio of accounts can be small, it is sometimes challenging to find expansion opportunities.
Is it better to be a sales hunter vs farmer?
To settle the debate between sales hunter vs farmer, there isn’t one that’s better than the other. Different personalities can thrive in either hunter vs farmer role.
Most organizations need people in both roles to drive revenue today successfully. It ultimately depends on your industry, business model, and team dynamics.
If you’re thinking about having people in both roles, you’ll find it challenging to find someone who has developed both styles. More often than not, having separate teams tackle each process is most advantageous.
What is the hunter-farmer sales model?
There’s a world where both sales types can thrive together.
It’s not about sales hunter vs farmer. Instead, a company should have both functions as part of its overall go-to-market strategy.
Most sales teams have both roles as part of their strategy. The hunter-farmer sales model is a strategy that sales organizations use to divide their sales teams into two groups.
The hunter-farmer sales model can help sales teams by splitting responsibilities and accountability. The clear division of labor between hunters and farmers can lead to increased sales and more efficient use of time for everyone.
The hunter-farmer model works well when both teams can align on the same objectives. For example, having hunter sales reps sell to customers that fit their company’s ideal customer profile versus to anyone. This significantly reduces churn risk when they become customers and helps farmers focus on cross-selling and up-selling instead of reducing churn.
Sales hunters vs farmers in the buying journey
When both teams work in harmony, there are clear distinctions in how both hunters and farmers can bring in new customers that are ready to expand. Once a hunter closes a deal and brings in new customers, farmers take over to ensure a smooth onboarding and are ready to renew.
How each role fits in the buyer’s journey:
1. Lead generation and prospecting
Owner: Hunter
In the first stage of a sales process, hunters use both inbound and outbound sales strategies to reach, engage and connect with prospects.
2. Qualification
Owner: Hunter
This is when a prospect has shown interest in the product. The sales rep then has to uncover if the prospect is the right fit and if there are pain points that can be solved. Sales qualification methodologies like MEDDIC are a great process to follow.
3. Product demo
Owner: Hunter
Once a prospect is qualified and has shown interest in the product, the sales rep prepares a sales pitch and demo walkthrough. They aim to highlight the product’s value and demonstrate how it solves the prospect’s challenges.
4. Negotiation and close
Owner: Hunter
As a sale nears the end, one crucial step is negotiation. The sales rep will need to work closely with their stakeholders to ensure all objections and questions are addressed.
It is also essential to highlight the business case and the expected ROI from using their product.
Once the deal is closed, the sales rep then hands it off to the account manager and customer success manager
5. Onboarding
Owner: Farmer
The first several days of onboarding are critical for creating a long-lasting and loyal customer relationship. It is important that onboarding is smooth and seamless.
During the onboarding process, the customer will typically need to set up their system, work out processes, gather data, and collaborate with their team.
6. Retention
Owner: Farmer
The farmer should cultivate a relationship through the customer’s journey and not just during renewal. This involves responsibilities such as addressing customer issues or questions and ensuring they entirely use the product.
A great customer experience will ensure that they renew.
7. Expansion
Owner: Farmer
The more a customer uses a product, the higher likelihood of an expansion.
That’s where a farmer can focus on upselling or cross-selling a new product. Throughout the customer lifestyle, they should be on the lookout for expansion opportunities such as a product add-on, pricing increase, or selling to new departments.
8. Advocacy
Owner: Farmer
Longstanding and loyal customers grow to become brand advocates.
Farmers have an important job of maintaining relationships and building solid rapport with their customers. In doing so, their customers are more likely to become raving fans and can offer up referrals or reviews.
Settling the debate of sales hunters vs farmers
The hunter-farmer sales model is a powerful tool to help sales teams succeed. If you want to increase sales and improve your sales team’s performance, consider implementing the hunter-farmer sales model.
Finally, let’s settle the debate about which is more important, the sales hunter vs farmer. A combined model can help sales teams by splitting goals and accountability. The clear division of labor between hunters and farmers can help managers keep track of sales progress and identify areas where improvement is needed.
