Holster the Gun, Pick Up a Hoe

By Stephen Palmer - May 03 , 2011

“We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it.” -Chris Locke in The Cluetrain Manifesto

The primary tool of the old, transactional way of marketing and sales has been a metaphorical gun.

Marketing departments and salespersons “zero in” on their target market, strive to hit the “bulls-eye” of responses and sales quotas, and rave about “making a killing.”

In the new marketplace, consumers view these types of businesses as predatorial.

“Salesman” has become a dirty word—and rightfully so. Everyone has been so pitched, manipulated, hyped, and pressured by typical salespeople that we feel like taking a shower every time we’re approached by them. (When was the last time you had a pleasant, lasting conversation with a telemarketer?)

With information being accessible to the consumer almost anywhere and any time, the role of salesperson is more significant than ever before.

A “hunter” salesperson can send the signal that your company is solely after profit and will pillage at any opportunity made available.

On the other hand, a “farmer” salesperson can be your best advocate. Making sure the salesperson has the right message, along with incredible products, backed by a business culture that supports building a hub is the challenge of this new marketing age.

When possible, all of us avoid salespeople. Ironically, businesses that can’t see this shift to interaction have become more aggressive than ever.

Their sales are down so they’re desperately trying to grab the attention of potential customers. They’re on the prowl for fresh meat—and those potential customers are running for their lives.

Hunters Versus Farmers

Business “hunters” are nomadic—they track down their prey, make the sale, then move on.

They have superficial relationships with their customers at best. Their focus is on what they want to take from customers, not on what they have to give. They have to close hard and fast or they starve.

At best, hunters sell good products with the hope that the customer will buy more, simply because of the product merits.

At worst, they employ one of two approaches, if not both: either they attack viciously through pressure, or they sneak up and pounce through deceit.

Business “farmers,” on the other hand, settle down and cultivate long-term relationships.

They understand that one seed of trust planted in the heart of a customer will result in an abundant, ongoing harvest of profit. They understand the natural law that giving value first is what results in receiving profit.

Where hunters see dollar signs, farmers see relationships. Where hunters are hard and closed, farmers are soft and open.

Where hunters manipulate and try to hide flaws, farmers are authentic and down-to-earth. Customers are wary around hunters, yet they feel secure and trusting with farmers.

You may even interpret this to mean that a farmer shouldn’t ever go “hunting.”

There are times and seasons when hunting should be a regular part of business. But it needs to be part of an integrated effort to create a hub.

Hunting can stir up opportunities and provide company growth. Hunt too much and too often and with the wrong marketing message, and there will be no more game in town.

If you want to survive Information Age business, you must dispense with the short-term approach of “making a killing.”

Instead, sow seeds of trust and goodwill through interaction to reap a long-term harvest. This is the difference between sales/transaction mentality and Hub Mentality.

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and writer with KGaps Consulting. His firm uses their methodology Hub Mentality to help small businesses generate more leads, sales, and referrals while making their marketing budget more efficient.

Stephen is the co-author of as Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interactions as well as the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.