Hunter, Farmer, And Trapper Sales Personas

There are a million different ways to make a sale, but they all fall into one of three categories: hunting sales, farming sales, or trapping sales.

The key to sales success is determining which tactic best suits your reps and then putting them in positions to succeed. So that’s what we’ll be discussing in this RisePath article! Continue reading to learn more about the Hunter, Farmer, and Trapper sales personas, as well as how to persuade people in these three groups to collaborate.

What is the definition of a hunting sales persona?

Hunters, as the name implies, go out and hunt for leads, then work their magic to turn those leads into sales. These individuals are self-motivated (typically through commissions) and don’t mind working alone. Most of them, in fact, enjoy it that way.

Hunters have the capacity to quickly gain the trust of prospects and close agreements on a regular basis. However, they aren’t particularly good at cultivating long-term consumer relationships.

Typical duties: Prospecting for new leads, launching cold outreach efforts, qualifying potential clients, performing product demos, overcoming objections, and negotiating.

Potential job titles: Sales Development Representative, Business Development Representative, Field Sales Representative, Account Executive.

What is the definition of a farmer’s sales persona?

Farmers dislike prospecting and negotiating as much as hunters do. They’d rather devote their time to maintaining existing customer ties. What is the goal? Identify possible upsell and cross-sell opportunities while increasing client loyalty and retention.

Professionals who fit into the farmer persona are passionate about their customers’ success and embrace the opportunity to help them understand the full value of their company’s offerings.

Typical duties: Onboarding new customers, persuading consumers to renew their contracts, training customers how to use the product, and keeping them up to date on new features.  

Potential job titles: Account Manager, Account Representative, Customer Service Representative, Customer Success Associate, Client Success Manager.

What is the definition of a trapper sales persona?

Finally, there are the trappers. These people have a thorough awareness of their target market and go out of their way to meet potential clients where they are.

In other words, trappers employ inbound marketing strategies to attract customers.

They might use SEO best practices when writing blog content. They may film and upload videos on YouTube. They also engage in social selling, which necessitates a working knowledge of LinkedIn, Facebook, and other comparable platforms.

Trappers are also skilled at acquiring social proof such as testimonials and case studies, which they may utilise to close more deals.

Typical duties: Developing content at each stage of the buyer’s journey, soliciting testimonials and reviews, establishing trust with prospects, and educating prospective consumers.

Potential job titles: Sales Associate, Director of Marketing, Marketing Manager, Marketing Specialist, Content Marketer, Content Strategist.

How can hunters, farmers, and trappers collaborate?

Let’s talk about how you can get the three primary sales personas to work together to enhance sales and move your company forward now that we’ve covered the three main sales personas:

1. Determine your reps’ sales personas.

You spend a lot of time as a sales manager thinking about your company’s customers. It’s only natural that this happens. You won’t be able to create efficient sales methods if you don’t grasp what makes them tick. However, you must also consider your sales representatives.

Who are they? What is it that drives them? What do they excel at and where do they struggle? These questions can assist you to figure out who they are as a salesperson: Hunter, farmer, or trapper.

Which of your salespeople is independent? Which one has the thickest skin? And who among them is looking forward to meeting new individuals every day to market to? These are your hunters. Assign them tasks such as prospecting, cold calling, and negotiating.

Now, which of your reps is more at ease dealing with current clients? Do they have a thorough understanding of the product? Do they have a knack for forming bonds? These are your farmers.

The majority of their time should be spent onboarding new clients, creating connections, and looking for upselling and cross-selling opportunities.

2. Assign the appropriate tasks to the appropriate salespeople.

Do you enjoy watching football? Then you’re aware that Tom Brady is not asked to play defensive line for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What’s to stop you? He’s the best quarterback of all time for a reason. It would be a waste of his extraordinary talent to ask him to do anything else than toss touchdowns.

You’re not a head football coach; you’re a sales manager. However, you have a similar responsibility in this regard: it is your responsibility to place your team in the best possible position to succeed.

This cannot be accomplished by asking a hunter to conduct farmer activities or vice versa.

You should assign your reps assignments that are aligned with their abilities in order to develop a successful sales team. After you’ve identified each of your reps’ sales personas, this should be simple.

3. Evaluate your sales process on a regular basis.

You’ve divided your crew into three groups: hunters, farmers, and trappers, and assigned each of them duties that play to their strengths. So, what’s next?

Now you must monitor your sales process to see if it is successful. Are your sales reps doing a good job in their roles? Are they hitting their quotas and retaining customers? Is it equally important that they are content and happy? Their work will suffer if they do not.

Furthermore, studies suggest that replacing a departing employee might cost up to 200 percent of their annual compensation, depending on their job description. To put it another way, turnover is costly. If your staff are dissatisfied with their employment, they will look for new ones.

4. When new personnel is required, hire them.

You may discover that you need to patch holes in your sales process as you review it.

You might have a few top-notch hunters who bring in a lot of new business for your firm. However, you’re running low on farmers to help onboard new clients and keep them happy. Perhaps the opposite is true, and you require more hunters in order to expand your pipeline.

Whatever the case may be, you will need to hire new employees at some point. When the time comes, remember the sales personas we discussed before. You won’t have to employ a farmer to do a hunter’s job, or a trapper to do a hunter’s job, and so on.

Final thoughts

It’s not about whose sales persona is better in the hunter vs. farmer vs. trapper debate. All three are critical. As a sales manager, it’s your job to figure out which of your salespeople fit into each category and then put them in the best possible circumstances to succeed.

Your department’s close rate and retention metrics will improve once you establish a sales strategy that capitalises on each sales rep’s natural strengths while minimising their flaws.