Hunters vs Farmers
🏹 HUNTERS – The Growth Engine
Purpose: Find & win new business
Strengths:
- Prospecting & cold outreach
- Creating urgency & momentum
- Opening doors
- Big-picture vision
- Competitive drive
KPIs:
- New leads
- New meetings
- New accounts
- Pipeline creation
- Market expansion
Risks if overused:
- Burn relationships
- Overpromise
- Weak follow-through
- High churn if unsupported
🌱 FARMERS – The Profit Engine
Purpose: Grow, retain & deepen existing clients
Strengths:
- Relationship building
- Trust & long-term value
- Cross-sell / upsell
- Account strategy
- Problem-solving
KPIs:
- Client retention
- Repeat sales
- Account growth
- Lifetime value
- Referral rate
Risks if overused:
- Comfort zone
- Slow growth
- Missed new market opportunities
🤝 CUSTOMER SERVICE – The Brand Engine
Purpose: Deliver experience that keeps clients loyal
Strengths:
- Consistency
- Follow-through
- Issue resolution
- Communication
- Trust building
KPIs:
- Customer satisfaction
- Resolution time
- Retention
- NPS / reviews
- Reduced churn
Without strong customer service:
Hunters lose clients.
Farmers struggle to grow accounts.
Leaders lose credibility.
👩💼🧠 SALES LEADERS – The System Builders
A great sales leader can think like:
✔️ A Hunter – growth, pipeline, strategy
✔️ A Farmer – retention, value, client outcomes
✔️ A Customer Champion – experience & delivery
Leadership Skill Sets Needed:
- Role clarity & role design
- KPI alignment
- Coaching to strengths
- Emotional intelligence
- Capacity planning
- Culture of accountability + care
⚠️ COMMON MISTAKE
Hiring one type of salesperson and expecting them to do all three roles.
This creates burnout, poor performance, and churn.
✅ TOP ACHIEVERS PRINCIPLE
Growth = Hunters
Profit = Farmers
Reputation = Customer Service
Scale = Sales Leadership
When these four work together, results compound.