Since we participated in Jack Derby's Entreprenuer Launchpad program through the Providence RI Chamber,  I have been getting his monthly news letter and unlike most long winded blog type emails I get, I actually take time to read his because he always has a good story or insight for managing our business in a way that will enable us to deliver on our promis to our customers of better, fasterand greater value. This is the part that stuck out for me this month.

Hunting, Farming & Tracking will never be more important.

Everyone in Sales knows about the concept of dividing your sales functions into two different camps-Hunters and Farmers. It's our experience, that while most everyone understands the concept, few actually practice it formally and consistently. To the managers who question the tactic of dividing your salesforce into different functional selling teams, it should not a surprise to anyone that 2009 will be a year when saying "no" will be the norm for all new prospects. All the more reason that you should think about focusing your sales management efforts to identify and reward trained hunters who actually enjoy the highly organized process and the excitement of the hunt.

This year, if you have not done it already, you should think seriously about reorganizing your sales organization so that Hunters hunt only new customers while Farmers, who possess very different sales skill sets, are totally focused only on expansion. And finally, make sure that you don't waste the Hunters' time on cold calling. Bring in a trained Tracker at the front end who actually loves cold calling and does nothing but create, qualify and provide discovery for your leads. A Tracker is worth every penny, and actually it's not that many pennies, for this type of person.

2009 should be a year focused on the strategy of Land & Expand, and, in order to that, you should think about formally dividing your salesforce. In our estimation, Dave Fitzgerald, the VP of Sales, Marketing & Service at Brainshark, is one of the best examples of this with his Red, Blue and Yellow sales teams-all focused on individual sales tasks of hunting, expansion and renewals. Highly effective not only in the significant results that the guys produce, but also very rewarding to the individual salespeople since there are very clear guidelines and processes relative to each team.

Find more great information and insight on Jacks site: www.derbymanagement.com

CN