Monthly Archives: January 2016

TNF #018: The myth of farming vs. hunting

Welcome Professionals…

…are you a farmer or a hunter? This distinction is a common terminology in sales and business development. While the farmer nurtures and cultivates existing clients, the hunter finds new opportunities and turns them into sales. It is a common belief that these are two different profiles which require a different set of skills and different personalities. I think this is a myth! It is not true for top management consultants!

At least when we talk about our business, which is top management consulting – this distinction into farmers and hunters is certainly misleading. The key for successful business development in consulting services are trustful relationships. While the service is generally hard to compare in objective terms, it all comes down to the subjective perception of trust.

Here is a definition stated on Wikipedia: “A hunter is often associated with aggressive personalities who use aggressive sales technique”. This is exactly the problem. Many people have this association when thinking about a hunter. But the imagination of a consultant cold-calling a client, identifying the opportunity, aggressively pushing the unique selling point and finally signing the contract is a myth. It does not work this way.

Instead, both farmers and hunters need a trustful relationship to their client in order to win. The main difference is that the farmer usually already has a relationship – at least to some persons within the client organization. It is easier for the farmer to spot opportunities when already working for the client. Ongoing project work is a good means to provide knowledge and offer emotional support which is the main driver for trust in relationships.

Hunting_For_New_Business

What is different in hunting? The hunter as well has to rely on trustful relationships. The hunter just starts at a different level. Instead of using internal references, the hunter needs to establish a first contact by using external references, e.g., projects at clients from the same industry. Instead of taking advantage of existing relationships, the hunter builds new ones, which will usually take a certain amount of time before the first sale can be made. Instead of using paid work to generate trust of decision makers, the hunter needs to find other ways to do favours and offer support. These are usually unpaid.

So yes, hunting may need more stamina in building opportunities. But is has nothing to do with aggressiveness. Being aggressive is hurting any trust in relationships. The skillset and process applied are very similar.

In summary, hunting is just like farming, with the addition of:

  • using external reference
  • forming new relationships
  • providing (mostly) non-paid upfront favours

Looking forward to hearing from you about this debunked myth!

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!

TNF #017: Keep it professional

Welcome Professionals…

…I recently sent a text message to my boss: “kids are asleep now, how about you?”. This was a misled communication. The message was meant for my wife, but I sent it to my boss instead.

We all know these cases of misrouted communication. Wrong recipient, accidently hit the “reply-to-all” button or printing on the wrong device, respectively not picking up the printout. Sooner or later it happens when operating under time pressure.

I have a clear principle. I write every message in a way that will not embarrass me when misrouted.

No silly nicknames for clients, no swearing, no offensive jokes, no nonsense.

Simply keep it professional!

Malte

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Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!

TNF #016: Say what you want!

Welcome Professionals…

…I just came back from a convention this week. One of the speakers said: “I wouldn’t say that it isn’t wise not to invest these days…” Extremly odd sentence, don’t you think?

Interestingly, I realize that many people – including myself – use denial expressions quite often. We tend to state upfront what we do not mean or what we do not want or what we do not believe is true. I do not know why. Maybe because we feel more strongly about things that we do not want than about the things we really do want.

What I do know is that this way of communication is extremely harmful to our message that we want to bring across. We want to convince people, persuade them, drive them to actions. By stating the opposite, we leave the wrong impression.

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The brain is not able not to think of something. “Do not think of a pink elephant!” This is a famous example. Of course, everybody pictures this pink elephant instantly. The same happens to the denial expressions. Statements like “this offer is not expensive”, “this project will not last forever”, “I am not a beginner” etc. leave the listener with the imaginations of “expensive”, “forever”, and “beginner”. This counteracts our real meaning.

So, say what you want! Try this exercise right now. It is not as easy as you may think.

Let me know how it works,

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!

TNF #015: Genius happens in default mode

Welcome Professionals…

we are all focused on solving problems for our clients. This requires a great deal of creativity. But sometimes, we get so goal-oriented that our brain has trouble finding creative solutions. Being busy and focused kills the associative thinking process.

My mother used to annoy me with a simple advice. At times when I was extremely busy, she would call me and say something like “Go outside, enjoy the sunshine and get yourself some ice-cream!” I only realized much later that there was actually a lot of conventional wisdom in that.

creative-genius

Leading neuro-psychologists agree that the real genius happens in default mode. I bet we all know this from experience. The creative idea that sparks after having taken a nap, during the shower or while exercising. When we involve in an activity that does not require our attention, the brain switches to default mode. It is then when the genius occurs.

Despite all the focus and attention you put into your work in this first week of the year, I encourage you to take a break. Right now. Allow your brain to switch to default and unlock the genius inside of you!

You are welcome to share your genius ideas in the forum!

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!