If you have been in sales for any amount of time, you have no doubt heard about …
“Hunters vs. Farmers” & “Elephant Hunters”
But, in case you have not … Hunters are those salespeople who thrill in the hunt and in making the kill (sale). Next, it is off to their next hunt. Farmers, on the other hand, excel at servicing existing customers and farming them for consistent repeat business. Depending on your business model, you will probably need both.
That might be teams of hunters and farmers or salespeople who can effectively manage to play both roles. Finding the latter may be an iffy proposition. By nature, I am a hunter. Now, if the returns are large enough, I could assume the farmer role as well. If not, not my cup of tea.
Elephant hunters, and note that this is often a derogatory term, are those salespeople who will pretty much only go after the largest of game, including those accounts that they will have little to no chance of securing. It’s the BIG KILL and it might also be the only deal that they are working and, if it does not close, they got nothin’.
I prefer to chase after big game. Not necessarily elephants, but large enough to peak my interest. It takes a lot of varmints to fill up a soup pot. The easiest way to explain my philosophy is to discuss it in the context of my former industry … electric signs.
A set of letters for a store in a strip mall averaged $5.000. I would make $500. A main free-standing sign at that same mall might be $50,000 and I would make $5.000. A total sign program could be $100,000 meaning my check would be $10,000. If I secured that sale, I was also on the inside track to secure the individual stores.
Here are some sales things that I learned along the way …
- It takes no more time to make the $100,000 sale than it does the $5,000 sale. In fact, it often took less time.
- The $100,000 customer had more to spend and is more concerned about value … design, materials, quality, and service … than they were with price.
- Larger customers were generally more sophisticated buyers who knew what they needed and were looking for someone who they could trust to deliver.
- The $5,000 customer was generally, not always, concerned about price first, second, and third.
Because we were a full-service sign company who had invested many $100,000’s in equipment and staff, it would be hard for us to compete on price alone. Conversely, the small sign shop would have a much lower overhead and, if the job were simple enough, they might even use a wholesaler to build the sign itself.
Guess what. When I found myself competing for that $5,000 sale, every piss-ant sign company in the area was in on that deal. More competitors, more confusion, and a much longer sales cycle as the customers sifted through all of their proposals. After all that … low bid.
Competing on the $100,000 project was often by invitation only. Then too, this same larger customer would also be doing similar projects down the road and, if you took care of them, they were intensely loyal. They did not have the time to constantly be looking for the bigger better deal. Even I can farm these kind of crops!
As for elephants. Yeah, I’ve hunted a few and I have bagged them as well. I knew that we were in a great place to earn, and deliver on, these sales. They were not outside of our capabilities.
I’d eat the occasional varmint as well. Appetizers. They can provide a consistent cash flow, but I would only work with those who were properly qualified, pleasant to deal with, and preferably referred.
Early on I wondered if I/we had the chops to compete on larger deals. Don’t let that hold you back! Larger deals are secured progressively in terms of size and complexity so get started now and then watch your values grow!
Craig M. Jamieson
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