Business development best practices your top salesperson won't master

Thanks Alexia for the insight!
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Business development best practices your top salesperson won't master
Posted by Alexia Stath

You lucked out and finally found that perfect salesperson. She’s got the confidence of Donald Trump without the terrifying hair. She makes prospective clients feel at ease, that their concerns are truly understood. Once she sets her sites on a target, it’s as good as closed. Selling ice to an Eskimo? That’s for amateurs….she’ll have them buying flame throwers as their ideal home improvement tool. So what can’t she do? The work that happens before that first handshake.

 Hunters versus Farmers
The salesperson I described – the one closing those deals – is a farmer. All the work before that first meeting, that first handshake – prospecting and lead generation – is the work of a hunter. Yes, hunter definitely sounds far cooler (I’m fine with that – lead generation is what I do). Yes, farmer isn’t exactly the word that conjures up the image of a confident, aggressive closer. Call yourself the Grand Overlord of Furious Farming if it makes you feel better. But the key point isn't about nicknames, it's about two people with very different skill sets. 

Skills of the Hunter

• Research – before the hunt begins, you’ve got to know exactly what you’re looking for, the best places to look for targets, and gathering your list of those prospects.
• Patience – the hunt begins but it’s always a time consuming process. Most of your time is initially spent trying and failing to find the right people. But you know they’re out there so you continue until you’ve got those right people in your sights.
• Persistence til “the kill” – the shoot and miss, as I like to think of it. I know I’m calling the right person but I can’t get them in my sights….yet. Yet this is the thrill for people who prospect – keeping at it until you've got them.  

Skills of the Farmer

• Understanding and Responsiveness – you’ve got the lead or “seed” you want, but before it grows, you need to understand its needs. You listen and you discern how that particular seed will best respond to cultivation.
• Persuasion – good closers are great at this. The best farmers are the ones that have those innate skills in cultivating and convincing those seeds to grow.
• Success at the “market” – essentially, convincing the buyers you have the best “crop” out there. Demonstrating that your product is the best choice and gaining their confidence so they’re convinced you’re right.

Granted, some salespeople are great at it all - from the first cold calls through closing the deal - but those people are typically rare. Instead of expecting that farmer to go out hunting, business development best practices are far more effective when they're split between two people doing the job that thrives on their particular skill set. Let the hunters hunt and the farmers farm.