Hunters and Farmers, Killers and Cookers

by Jack Carroll

June Pritchard is out on the hunt. She's trying to land a new piece of business and will knock down 12 doors and upset 16 people inside of her own and the prospect company to do it. She will win this piece of business or raise a lot of hell in the process of trying if she doesn't. June is a hard core sales "hunter or killer."

Coretta Fletcher is working her sales turf. She has asked for and gotten a meeting with the head of Information Systems and has an agenda that includes tracking the success of the product implementation plan to date. She will suggest some changes in the plan that will produce greater cost savings than anticipated and hopes this will result in a doubling of the order size by the third quarter of next year. Coretta is a hard core sales "farmer or cooker."

Which one is the star salesperson? Yep. They both are. And fortunately they are both performing sales jobs in companies that offer each the perfect expression of their own unique talents.

June can open any door in the western world or blow it up in the process of trying. Coretta can work an account like a symphony conductor playing Beethoven's 9th once the door has been opened and the real sale—customer satisfaction—starts.

But whatever you do, don't try to do June's job if you're Coretta, and vice versa. Because Coretta gets tongue-tied when she has to meet a stranger for the first time. And June doesn't like hanging around the trophy room once the contract is signed and the commissions are paid. She's already got a new target in her cross-hairs.

If in your own world, you think you might be a hunter in a farmer's role or a farmer in a hunter's, better look hard and think twice. That's not your road to fame or fortune.

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