Sales Farmers and Hunters: Why the Best Sales Growth Often Comes from Your Fields, Not the Forest
For decades, sales teams have divided their people into two camps: hunters and farmers. The hunter chases new business, and sales farmers nurture existing accounts. But in today’s complex B2B environment — where customers demand partnership, insight, and measurable value — the best growth often comes not from the next hunt, but from cultivating the ground you already own.
If you would like to dive deeper into hunters, farmers, and the new sales role for fishermen, you can download my eBook Right People Right Role here.
Having been a sales hunter by nature and, for about 11 years, also wearing a farmer’s hat, I understand each role and how each delivers value. My approach was to use hunter skills in my strategic accounts to drive growth. I was, however, blessed to have an amazing customer service team and cross-functional support to complement my desire to hunt within our large strategic key accounts. Their skills in project management, data analysis, and communication enabled me to build my relationship matrix and develop collaborative sales-growth plans with my customers. I later managed our farmers and hunters and learned how to coach them differently.
What concerns me is that business leaders always want me to find and train hunters, even though farmers and fishermen can add tremendous value. When a business owner or CRO asks, I train their team to be hunters. I often ask, “Who are your farmers?” This is often disruptive because they believe new logos are the path to increased revenue and profits. I often explain that if you want the shortest path to more profitable sales growth, let’s train and coach your farmers!
In this post, we will review the role of hunter, farmer, and how farmers typically deliver greater returns in a shorter sales cycle, so let’s dive in.
The Hunter: Skill Set and Mindset
Hunters thrive on challenge, uncertainty, and quick wins. Their role is to build new relationships, open doors, and create the first spark of opportunity.
They excel at:
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Prospecting new business in unfamiliar markets
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Understand who are gatekeepers and decision makers are and know how to speak with decision makers
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Building trusting relationships with decision-makers quickly
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Qualifying quickly and disqualifying efficiently
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Crafting compelling outreach messages
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Managing high call volume and rejection
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Closing early-stage deals and moving fast
Hunters are the engine that creates opportunity velocity. But hunting is expensive — every new account requires time, attention, and onboarding before it becomes profitable. That’s where farmers come in.
Don’t believe me?
Often, when I work with clients, we run a Net Profit by Customer analysis, and, not surprisingly, the data consistently shows that new customers are significantly less profitable than current customers. The value of Net Profit by Customer analysis is that it captures revenue and costs, including the cost of sales.
If you still doubt me, I suggest you run a net profit-by-salesperson analysis, and I suggest you sit down when you read the insights.
Question for you…
My guess is you track the marketing cost of new customer acquisition, right?
What is your hunter’s average cost of sale for a new customer acquisition?
( I suggest that it become one of your KPIs moving forward, and my gut business owners and sales leaders will be asking their accounting and data team to determine that number)
The Sales Farmers: The Most Undervalued Role in Modern Sales
The farmer salesperson is not a caretaker or customer service rep.
A true sales farmer is a strategic account developer — someone who grows existing relationships by creating new value.
Sales Farmers Definition:
A Farmer Salesperson drives growth by deepening trust, expanding share of wallet, and aligning new solutions to evolving customer problems.
In other words, the modern farmer is the CRO of their customer base — they cultivate growth within accounts the company already fought hard to win.
The Modern Sales Farmers Skill Set
While hunters thrive on adrenaline and pursuit, farmers thrive on insight, analysis, and service excellence. The most successful farmers today master:
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Business Acumen– Understanding customer economics, cost drivers, and profit levers.
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Strategic Listening– Hearing not just what customers say, but what their operations reveal.
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Account Planning– Mapping customer goals, decision makers, and expansion pathways.
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Cross-Selling and Solution Building– Connecting the dots between your portfolio and their evolving needs.
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Customer Advocacy– Sales Farmers acting as a trusted advisor and internal champion for the customer.
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Collaboration– Working with service, operations, and marketing to execute flawlessly.
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Retention and Expansion Metrics– Tracking renewals, NPS, and account growth like a hunter tracks a pipeline.
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Strategic Business Relationship builder– sales farmers build a relationship matrix throughout your key customers to uncover and solve opportunities to grow revenue.
The Sales Farmer’s Mindset
The farmer doesn’t ask, “What can I sell?” — they ask, “What can I help my customer achieve next?”
It’s a mindset of proactive curiosity and long-term value creation.
They know the best way to grow revenue is to help customers grow theirs.
Farmers see growth not as a transaction, but as an outcome of partnership. They are consultative, analytical, and deeply customer-centric.
Sales Farmers Sales Motions That Drive Explosive Growth
When equipped with the right systems, farmers can produce double-digit growth from existing accounts. Here’s how:
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Voice of Customer Interviews– Uncover unmet needs and performance gaps.
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Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs)– Share insights, not reports. Discuss the future, not just past performance.
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Proactive Solution Mapping– Introduce complementary products or services that align with customer initiatives.
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Retention Campaigns– Use CRM data to anticipate churn risks and act early.
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Customer Referral & Advocacy Programs– Turn satisfied accounts into brand evangelists.
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Value Reconfirmation– Continuously remind the customer why they buy from you.
Farmers execute intentional, repeatable growth motions — turning relationships into revenue systems.
The No Smoke and Mirrors™ Takeaway on Sales Farmers…
Most companies say they need more hunters, but what they really need are sales farmers with hunter intensity.
A well-trained farmer with curiosity, business acumen, and a disciplined account growth process can deliver explosive, profitable, and sustainable revenue growth — without the high cost of constant new acquisition.
What should you do first as you strategically review your sales structure and salesperson by role?
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Assess your sales team and find your natural hunters and farmers. ( reviewing sales skills, beliefs, and mindset)
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Ensure you have the right people with the right skills and mindset in each role.
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Equip your farmers with systems and a dashboard to capture actionable insights, so they can spend more time with their customers and less time managing data. Equip your farmers with the systems, training, and mindset coaching to cultivate it, and watch your growth compound.
Do you have your hunters in hunting roles?
Do you have your sales farmers in farming roles?
Have you added the new role of Fisherman for digital lead engagement and closing?
Have your sales farmers received sales skills training and coaching?
Do you offer custom sales training courses and modules to help farmers develop the skills they need to be successful?
If you want to drive growth this year and, in the future, look at your existing customer base not as finished business, but as fertile ground.
Or as one of my mentors once said, “ dance with the girl you brought to the dance.”
Hunting is strategically important because it fuels the machine with new opportunities for farmers to grow.
Sales Farmers are your quickest path to adding more net income.
Let’s schedule a consultation to discuss how to identify and train your farmers while equipping them with the skills, systems, and processes to drive revenue and profit growth quickly.
Photo by Gregory Hayes on Unsplash