Farmers vs. Gatherers in Selling: Can a Gatherer Become a Farmer in Selling?

Transitioning New Sales Gatherers to Sales Farmers

In sales, we often categorize people based on their approaches: gatherers and farmers. Gatherers are the quick-win artists, opportunists who thrive on seizing immediate sales, while farmers are long-term nurturers, cultivating relationships and patiently building sustainable success over time.

I recently spoke with a client who had a business development team that needed to transition into a client retention team. While sales results were robust and increasing due to new prospect sales, they were not renewing clients at the same pace. He believed that client retention was straightforward and that the team simply required strong guidance to 'follow the process' and the determination to shift focus from closing new prospects to renewing existing clients.

This got me thinking – is it really that simple? Can a gatherer, someone who is great at quick wins and high-speed selling, transition that easily to becoming a farmer in sales?

Before we discuss how easily it is to transition from a Gatherer to a Farmer, let’s explore their differences and see whether a gatherer can truly embrace a farmer’s mindset in the sales world.

The Gatherer Mindset in Sales

The gatherer approach to sales is about spotting opportunities, capitalizing on them swiftly, and reaping immediate rewards.

Quick to Seize Opportunities: Gatherers are agile and opportunistic. They don’t wait for things to happen; they grab the low-hanging fruit when it appears. This could be responding to hot leads, capitalizing on fleeting trends, or closing deals in high-pressure environments.

Short-Term Focus: Gatherers often work with an urgency to close deals fast. They thrive in situations where immediate results are the goal, such as flash sales, seasonal opportunities, or solving immediate pain points for clients.

High Energy and Adaptability: A gatherer salesperson doesn’t stick to a rigid process. They’re comfortable rapidly switching gears based on what’s available in the market, using whatever tools, strategies, or channels that work best in the moment.

Volume Over Depth: Gatherers aim for a high volume of sales in a short period, prioritizing numbers over deeply building long-term relationships. They’re often more transactional than relational.

The Farmer Mindset in Sales

On the other hand, farmers are about long-term growth and sustainability. Here’s what the farmer mindset looks like in sales:

Patience: Farmers understand that things take time to grow. They don’t rush relationships or force sales. Instead, they nurture their leads and clients, slowly earning trust over time.

Long-term Relationship-Driven: The core of a farmer’s sales approach is cultivating strong, long-term relationships. Farmers want to build partnerships that last, and they’re willing to invest the time and effort necessary to turn a lead into a loyal client.

Strategic, Consistent Effort: Farmers are methodical. They plan, track progress, and stay consistent over the long haul. Their efforts are focused on steady, predictable results, often through customer retention, upselling, and referrals.

Depth over Volume - Strategic Planning: Farmers understand the cycle of growth. They plan for seasons and adapt their strategies based on environmental factors. In sales, farmers plan their outreach carefully, knowing that leads might take months or even years to mature into clients. They know how to adapt their products or services to their clients’ needs and meet their clients’ planning window to increase chances of success.

Key Differences Between Farmers and Gatherers in Selling

1. Long-Term vs. Short-Term Focus

Farmers are all about building lasting, sustainable relationships. Gatherers, on the other hand, are more focused on immediate sales, often relying on short-term gains rather than long-term customer loyalty.

2. Patience vs. Urgency

Farmers understand that good things take time, and developing a sales pipeline deserves the time it needs. Gatherers, however, thrive on urgency and immediacy, quickly identifying leads and jumping on them without hesitation.

3. Nurturing vs. Seizing

Farmers nurture prospects —providing care, attention, and support. Gatherers, in contrast, seize opportunities as they arise, focusing on converting quickly, often without investing as much time in long-term relationship-building.

4. Predictability vs. Adaptability

Farmers tend to plan with a predictable, methodical approach. Gatherers are adaptable and flexible, ready to switch tactics when the market or conditions change. A farmer’s success comes from the steady, predictable growth of their efforts, whereas a gatherer thrives in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.

Wow – so with all of that, can a Gatherer Become a Farmer in Sales?

The short answer is yes, but it’s not always an easy transition, and it requires a significant shift in mindset, building and flexing different skills, and modifying one’s approach.

5 Areas to Change Gatherers to Farmers in Sales

These are five areas that must change for gatherers to effectively transition into farmers in sales:

1. Mindset Shift: From Urgency to Patience

How to make the shift:

• Slow Down: Start by taking a step back from the quick-close mentality. Focus on building rapport with your prospects. Gatherers need training in how to master discovery: ask good questions and actively listen (seek to understand vs. reply). It’s important to build this skill set to truly understand your clients’ pain points in order to eventually offer the right solutions to solve them.

• Celebrate Small Wins: Instead of focusing solely on the immediate sale, find satisfaction in the process—celebrate wins such as moving a lead through the sales funnel to qualifying the lead or deepening a relationship with a client

2. Long-Term Focus: Fostering vs. Taking

A gatherer’s instinct is to go after immediate opportunities. However, farmers know that sales take time to develop, and long-term success is built on nurturing relationships and building trust.

How to make the shift:

• Create a Fostering Plan: Start developing a strategy and client plan for staying in touch with your leads over time. Use drip campaigns, regular follow-ups, and educational content to add value before asking for a sale.

• Focus on Lifetime Value: Shift your mindset from one-time sales to lifetime value. How can you support your customers after the initial sale? What can you offer that will keep them engaged with your products or services over time?

3. Strategic Thinking: Building a Foundation

Farmers think strategically, carefully planning out each step to ensure growth over the long term. A gatherer is more likely to take advantage of whatever opportunity presents itself in the moment, without much regard for the long-term effects.

How to make the shift:

• Develop a Sales Strategy: Instead of chasing every quick lead, create a long-term strategy that includes segmentation and prioritization of leads. Focus on leads that could lead to repeat business and come from customer referrals. Build an ‘account management’ approach to focus on the right prospects at the right time.

• Track and Adjust: Set long-term goals and track your progress. Apply this thinking to your sales by setting quarterly and annual goals, and adjusting your approach based on what’s working. Change the metrics to focus on resigning and/or expanding the current portfolio with existing business.

4. Relationship Building: From Transactional to Relational

The farmer mindset is all about building and maintaining relationships over time, whereas the gatherer mindset often focuses on the transaction. Transitioning from transactional selling to relational selling is one of the biggest changes a gatherer needs to make.

How to make the shift:

• Invest in Your Clients: Go beyond just selling your product or service. Start investing time and effort into understanding your clients’ goals, challenges, and aspirations. Help them solve problems, not just buy solutions.

• Create Value Beyond the Sale: Farmers know that it’s important to continue providing value. Consider offering free resources, exclusive content, or helpful advice to your clients long after the initial sale. Touch base periodically to get or provide updates with your clients, solicit feedback, and proactively share helpful tips and insights.

5. Patience with the Process: A Key Skill for Farmers

Farmers understand that building a long-term business takes time. Similarly, a gatherer-turned-farmer needs to embrace the patience required in sales to let relationships develop naturally over time.

How to make the shift:

• Don’t Rush the Sale: Resist the urge to push for immediate results. Instead, focus on building a solid foundation with your prospects and clients. Understand that the sale might take weeks, months, or even years to close. It’s important to be authentic and invested – to build trust. Trust is based on credibility (words we say) + reliability (actions we take) + intimacy (how safe you make people feel). Clients can sense when you are out for your own best interests vs. when there’s a focus on delivering on their best interests.

• Be Comfortable with Slower Growth: Accept that progress may seem slow at times, but stay consistent. Eventually, you’ll see the long-term rewards of your effort.

Conclusion: Moving from Gatherers to Farmers requires new skills, a different mindset, and an approach to be successful.

Can a gatherer become a farmer in sales? Absolutely, but it’s not without challenges. It takes more than just ‘following a process’ and having the ‘will’ to be a farmer vs. a gatherer in sales. The key to making this transition lies in shifting from a quick-win, transactional mindset to one that values long-term growth, patience, and relationship-building.

If you are trying to move your sales team from gatherers to farmers, invest in the time to build the different skills required, spend time working through the 5 shifts, and don’t underestimate the mindshift differences between the two.

Are you a gatherer who’s looking to develop your farmer mindset? Or leading a team of gatherers who you need to become more like farmers? What’s your approach to making the shift? Let me know in the comments below!