Hunting and Farming

The sales industry has adopted this analogy to epitomize desired behaviours that effective sales people employ, based on the accounts they are working. Sometimes in large accounts with established relationships, farming tactics are needed – deepening relationships, ensuring processes are solid, looking for opportunities to incrementally expand business. When sales people are looking to bring in net-new business, hunting tactics are required: building new relationships, preparing for and executing on meetings that intrigue the potential customer and advance conversations, eyes and focus on creating and capitalizing upon opportunities. 

Hunting and farming also applies to leadership. There are times when leaders need to deepen relationships and build trust, challenge themselves to invest in employees through feedback, challenging conversations and team development. And there are times when a fresh approach is required - seeking to bring in new people, new ideas, new ways of thinking, new tools or processes that could literally change the game. 

The thing that has occurred to me lately is that most leaders have a significant and often unconscious bias toward one or the other, when addressing business challenges. Chasing new and shiny solutions constantly…or keeping their head down and focusing within…to a fault. Hunting on a farm or farming in the jungle are fundamentally bad ideas that waste time and make things worse. 

So examining if a hunting or farming approach is best in this situation, at the outset…is such a good thing to do!