Hunter versus Farmer Mentality

When someone enters the real estate business, they come in with high expectations, but they are often disappointed when they realize it is not as easy as they thought it would be. Most people don’t have any idea what they need to do to ensure their success. As a result, 4 out of 5 new agents become disillusioned, frustrated, and often broke before they leave the business.

No matter what business you are in, those at the very top didn’t get there by being curious or interested; they got there by being totally committed. Not some of the time, or most of the time, but ALL of the time. They understand that in business you must spend a few years working harder than everyone else, to achieve more success than everyone else.

I wish all salespeople who get their license were taught to be hunters first and farmers second. Unfortunately, most new agents want to market themselves from the very beginning and they end up losing money because they don’t have the fundamental selling skills to convert the leads they generate.

What is the difference between a hunter and a farmer? Let me go through a list of characteristics. Assess yourself to see which group you naturally fit into.

HUNTERS:

• Hunters are mission focused. They’re mission is to close new business. Anything that takes them away from this mission is seen as a hinderance.
• Hunters are numbers driven. They know that sales is a numbers game and they are always looking to be more productive and convert more leads in less time.
• Hunters are competitive. They thrive on competition with others and themselves. They hate to lose even more than they love to win.
• Hunters are persistent. They do not take no for an answer. They have no problem being seen as aggressive.
• Hunters are independent. They like to see themselves as lone wolves who don’t need a pack or even a leader to get the job done.

FARMERS:

• Farmers on the other hand are results focused. Their focus is on helping their clients achieve the results that they’ve promised.
• Farmers are relationship driven. They believe that success is based on developing and nurturing strong relationships with clients.
• Farmers are service oriented. They strive to provide the best service to their clients. They don’t cut corners, but rather they cultivate their “crops” all season long.
• Farmers are disciplined. They are organized and have systems in place to serve and grow their accounts. They update their CRM system every day to manage their relationships.
• Farmers are collaborative. Unlike hunters, farmers like to work together with their clients and their colleagues to provide the best solutions and results possible.

To be successful in business, you need to be BOTH. When you first start out (or any time you run into a slump in your business) you need to put on your HUNTER hat. You need to become more aggressive in hunting down every lead and not taking no for an answer. Hunters view every “no” as “not yet”. This may not come naturally to you, but it is a necessity in sales.

Once you’ve been in the business for a while, you need to put on your FARMER hat. If you don’t invest in marketing and systems, you will be destined to repeat your first year in the business repeatedly. If you don’t take the time to build your brand and nurture your relationships for repeat and referral business, you will spend every day hunting for new clients which can be exhausting.

Hunters are never fully comfortable being farmers. It takes a leap of faith and a lot of patience to invest in marketing today with the hope of generating future business. People who are good at prospecting often fall into the mentality of only focusing on NOW business and it hurts their long-term success.

Farmers on the other hand are never fully comfortable being hunters. They find cold calling or door knocking too aggressive. They would rather put marketing pieces out into the universe and wait for their phone to ring. They prefer a retail experience when clients come to them. People who fall into this category often fall into the mentality of only focusing on FUTURE business and it hurts their short-term success.

I’m not sure which group you fall into naturally, but if you want to have a truly successful business, you need to work at being comfortable in both areas.

I’m naturally a hunter. I’m competitive and I love the high I get when someone says “yes” to me. I’m quite happy to hit the phones every day looking for new clients. When a client says “no”, I don’t look at it as rejection. I look at it as a challenge. What do I need to say or do differently next time to turn that no into a yes? Having said that, I also believe relationships are the key to my long-term success, so I work very hard at staying in touch with past clients. I also have a team in place to systemize my business, so every detail of the customer experience is taken care of. My weak spot is marketing. I have a hard time investing money and not seeing immediate results. I hire marketing experts to look after this part of my business, so I can focus on what I’m good at…prospecting.

My question to you is… are you naturally a hunter or a farmer?

If you are a natural hunter (like me) and you enjoy making sales calls, I congratulate you. This is the hardest part of the business to master. I want you to continue putting 90 minutes of prospecting time on your calendar every day because that plays to your strength. I also want you to start thinking about launching a marketing campaign in your geo farm and to your past clients. If you start now to build your brand, over time, business gets easier.

If you are a farmer by nature and you are marketing into your geo farm and cultivating your relationships using your CRM system and social media, my hat goes off to you. I want you to continue marketing, but I also want you to spend at least 30 minutes every day making sales calls. As you get better at your calls, you will face less rejection and convert more leads. When we get good at something is when we start to enjoy it. Soon, your 30 minutes of sales calls will turn into 60 minutes, and then ultimately into 90 minutes a day. If you continue to market while you prospect, you’ll be so busy you’ll need a team to help you support the business you generate.

If you want more information how to make 2022 your best year ever, please visit https://leadersedgetraining.com/agent-virtual-training/.

Chris Leader
President
Leader’s Edge Training