Sales Roles After the Pandemic, and The Dawn of the “Fisherman”

Sales methodologies have evolved over the years. We saw Relationship Selling in 1936 followed by Needs Satisfaction Selling in 1968. In 1988 we were introduced to SPIN Selling closely followed by Solution Selling in 2000. The Challenger Model emerged in 2011.

In response to the pandemic most sales teams evolved into a Virtual Sales Model out of necessity and market constraints. We experienced a strong rise in Social Selling as discussed in last months’ issue of Soar to Success.

No matter what sales methodology teams were using, one constant was the two types of sales roles: Hunter and Farmers.

For years we have quickly classified salespeople as hunters or farmers but in response to the pandemic we saw a new sales roles emerge: The Fisherman.

Let’s take a closer look at sales roles….

Hunter

The primary role of the hunter, as the name implies was to hunt for new business. This valued role is constantly prospecting for new customers and closing new logos for their companies to serve.

Farmer

The primary role of the farmer is to grow and retain current accounts. This highly valued skilled salesperson designed and builds customer centric business development plans and leverages data and their relationships to grow their share of wallet.

Fisherman “NEW”

New to the sales role category we have seen The Fisherman emerge.

Fishermen as the name implies have a customer on the line and their role is to reel this opportunity in.

The fisherman plays a key role in maximizing the return on investment of marketing dollars.

In response to the pandemic many organizations doubled down on their digital marketing investments.

The focus was customer retention early in the pandemic and now they are now leveraging digital marketing for prospecting and adding net new customers.

“The problem for most manufacturers and distributors is their once face-to-face salespeople suffer from QDD…quick to disqualify disorder.”

It is not unusual for manufacturing and distribution salespeople to disqualify up to 70% of the leads marketing invested in to drive sales growth.

Enter the fisherman…

The fisherman’s role is to respond to marketing driven inquires and quickly qualify a nibble from a bite and reel that new revenue into the boat.

Market leading organizations have adapted and 27%, according to a recent McKinsey study, are coming out of the pandemic stronger than when they went into it.

Markets leading sales teams ensure they hire the best people and place those people in the right roles based on their sales skills, motivations and beliefs.

If you would like to assess your sales team and use data to identify hunter’s farmers and fisherman, let’s schedule a call.