http://www.northstarthinktank.com/business/business_cycle/marketing_sales/sales_process_hunter_or_harvester.html

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

In my personal observation, the sales mentality people are very aggressive on the first phase of the business, they are doing good on the first segment of the business time frame, but their activity slows down as time goes by. The chain reaction starts from there, many entrepreneurs do not really make a good profit on these type of practice.

On the other hand, marketing people are doing their work one job at a time, slowly going up as they learn things from day to day experiences and adopting new tactics from one business partner to another. Marketing people are always there as long as business is up and running, they keep on educating people around them about the business they are into. As time goes by, people will bit by bit learn about their products and services and unknowingly, customers will keep patronizing what they have to offer with their business. Here applies the values “patience is virtue”. As marketers are acquiring new customers in a matter of long period of time.

As for the law of attraction, I believe the power of a positive mental attitude is incomprehensible to most of us. But I also believe in hard work. I think “The Secret” book and video brought out a great point: that what we think–>believe–>act–>habitualize can bring about incredible results. But my opinion is that our thinking and believing had better result in some serious action and habit… or the incredible “gifts from the universe” will never come our way.

When sales reps develop true expertise and when they advise and consult their prospects, they don’t chase prospects relentlessly, they don’t push so hard they repel the prospect. Instead, they provide helpful infomation, they become an ally for prospects and they nurture (i.e., sow and harvest) the prospects who aren’t ready to buy right now.

If you’re working on a limited time line and financing schedule, you’ll be tempted to exclusively hunt. My advice is that you gradually make the shift to include more harvesting in your customer acquisition strategies.

Suzanne–you nailed it when you said there must be SOME hunting mentality for the business to thrive. My main point was that most business owners (and sales reps) lean too far toward hunting. The truth is that a good mix of hunting and harvesting is required. But I believe that the emphasis should be on harvesting.

One point to clarify: harvesting is not a long-term or mid-term approach–it’s a sustainable approach. I doubt that on the first day of fall harvest the farmer feels like the work ahead of him is long-term work. The fun thing about a harvesting approach is that it can feel very short-term. In the law of the harvest, you reap what you sow. The trick is to make sure you’re always sowing.

Successful entrepreneurs, who feel weak on the sales side, are not far from becoming sales pros; you just don’t know it. You have sold others your vision, displaying your skills. Learning how to sell is not that different from learning how to write a business plan, less complex, and will pay huge dividends on your investment.