Everyone who has ever worked on sales incentives has heard people refer to roles as “farmers” and “hunters”. These two terms are used to simplify the focus of sales roles and the type of pay they receive. Unfortunately, this clouds the roles of salespeople in many of today’s businesses. Professionals who have the responsibility of bringing in new revenue are more complex than we often recognize. In truth, many are more like ranchers than they are farmers or hunters.
Farmers grow things. They keep the ground healthy. They plant seeds and tend to their crops. They are patient, persistent, and resilient. They know that time, luck, and execution will lead to an eventual harvest. They live with their product and eventually take it to market to be sold. No matter how much they want to act, they can only sell their goods when the product is fully ripe and ready.
Hunters don’t live with their product they go after it. They work with an urgency created by the movement of what they are hunting, and the conditions that allow for the hunt to exist at all. They also know that luck, execution, and a limited amount of patience are required for success. Where farmers think of patience in terms of seasons, hunters think of patience in terms of days or even hours. Once they have captured their target, they must quickly get back into the field to find more prey.
Both definitions are still valid for many sales roles. Some positions require long, slow relationship building followed by years of productivity. Other roles require identifying, pitching, and closing new clients at a very rapid pace. But we are increasingly finding roles that combine both the methodical building cadence of a Farmer with the opportunistic market-driven closing style of a Hunter. We call these people Ranchers.
Ranchers are a unique breed of people. They are solitary but have strong interactive communities. They are independent, yet are comfortable asking for, and receiving, help during the busiest time of the year. They grow their own crops to ensure they have food for their herds. They spend years improving their bloodlines by patiently breeding in traits they want and avoiding those they don’t. But they also recognize and jump on opportunities.
If the market is for their product is strong, they will sell things even if they may have additional time to grow. If a better horse or bull becomes available unexpectedly, they will take a chance and act quickly, and figure out what to do with their current animal later. They also know that they must “bet the ranch” every year if they wish to have the ranch the following year.
The Rancher is the prototype for many modern salespeople. Some nurture their sales for years before the close. Others nurture their sales for years after the close. Both approaches are designed to allow them to act on opportunity when it arises, instead of when the season commands. The best salespeople are willing and able to execute on the long-term development of relationships while also executing on the quick “big close.”
Incentive plans for Ranchers need to have the defined performance goals and cadence of a traditional short-term incentive plan with the immediacy and high potential of a commission program. This combination is a new challenge for many compensation professionals and requires a more active partnership between sales leadership and the compensation department. If you begin today, you will have enough time to do something great for the start of next year!
Dan Walter is a CECP, CEP, and Fellow of Global Equity (FGE). He works as Managing Consultant for FutureSense. Dan is also a leading expert on incentive plans and equity compensation issues. He has written several industry resources including a resource dedicated to Performance-Based Equity Compensation. He has co-authored ”Everything You Do In Compensation is Communication”, “The Decision Makers Guide to Equity Compensation”, “Equity Alternatives” and other books. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn. Or follow him on Twitter at @DanFutureSense.
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