We all know that there are different types of sales people out there. But having worked with literally thousands of different salespeople, I’ve discovered four key types and their strengths and weaknesses. And there is one type in particular that outperforms all of the others out there. Do you know which type you are, in this chapter, I’m going to show you the four types of salespeople out there and how each one can improve? Check it out.
Alright, so we have magically moved into my conference room here. And I want to share with you the four types based on two criteria. The first criteria is, how strategic is someone if they’re highly strategic, then they’re going to be up here. And if they’re not strategic, then they’re down here. And on the other access, we have pioneering. So on the one hand, they’re really going out and they’re pioneering. On the other hand, they’re not, they’re staying in, and they’re not doing any pioneering. And so within this matrix, we have full different types that I tend to see. And I’m going to walk you through each type really quickly. The first that will focus on is the relationship builder. Because I think this is the type of person that a lot of folks have idolized over the many years. And this is what a lot of salespeople tend to fall into. They are strategic, so they have good relationships, but they’re not pioneering. And so these people tend to have a lot of strong relationships, and they’ve developed a lot of trusts. But on the other hand, they’re not going out and identifying new customers identifying new prospects. And so they’re vulnerable.
The next person that will look at is the hunter. This is a person that I hear a lot of business owners saying, oh, we want more hunters in our business on our sales team. But the problem with a hunter is that yes, they’re doing a lot of prospecting, but they tend to not be very strategic. And so as a result, they’re doing a lot of that prospecting. But they’re not asking for those introductions. They’re not necessarily going after those biggest opportunities. And so at the end of the day, they tend to burn out and they’re not in sales for that long.
Another category is the farmer, the farmer is the person who ultimately is going to go broke, because they are not strategic, and they’re not pioneering. And so this is the person who’s staying in their office. They’re not doing what they need to be doing. But they’re also not strategic. And so we of course, never want to be in the farmer category. If you see yourself as a farmer right now, chances are, it’s time to move on to a new career because you’re going to be in trouble. Lastly, is the strategist, the strategist is if you are right now our relationship builder or a hunter, you can either move up into the strategies category, or you can move over into the strategies category. This person is both strategic and his pioneering, we all want to be in the strategist category. This is a pretty person who is going to think through a selling situation where they will leverage their existing contacts, they develop strong relationships with their clients, and they get introductions to new prospects and customers. But on the other hand, they’re still consistently doing the prospecting activities that they need to do in order to close sales. So moving forward, we want to make it a goal that we are now in the strategist category. And if by the way, if you find yourself in the hunter or the relationship builder category, start to think about what you need to do in order to move over into this category.