Are you more of a Hunter type or a Farmer type? Do you focus your time hunting new prospects, or do you spend most of your time nurturing existing client relationships? Which type do you think is more effective, sustainable, and really drives business growth?

If you want to increase your lead generation results, you need to determine which of the two marketing types fits you best. Keep on scrolling to learn about the Hunter vs Farmer models and get the juicy details of what's required for you to get paying customers for your own ergonomic services.

Marketing Ergonomics

If you're new to offering your own ergonomic services, it may seem like it's very cut and dry. You offer ergonomic services, maybe start a LinkedIn business page or a website. So you're out there, and you make it known to the world that you’re offering your own ergonomic services. You may think that's enough for you to start getting clients and generating income, but that’s only where the real work starts. 

When I first started my business, I thought all I needed to do was to call up businesses, have a really awkward sales situation, make them an offer, and move the business forward. I certainly acted out of desperation when I needed to pay bills and I haven't seen a client in a while. I know some of you may also have acted out of that desperation acquiring customers and cold calling customers when normally, you would’ve never called a client out of the blue before because you’re not comfortable making that cold call to a prospect.

It requires infrastructure and consistency to build a thriving consulting business that generates revenue for you 24/7. You need to take consistent action and implement several straightforward marketing arenas that work. And what I've learned over the years of building a sustainable successful ergo service consulting business is this idea of Farmer versus Hunter. Have you heard of this before? 

Basically, the difference between the hunter type and farmer type is how they go about driving revenue. The hunter type generates revenue by bringing in and converting leads, and their focus is closing the deal. The farmer type, on the other hand, drives revenue by nurturing and cultivating relationships with existing clients. Let’s dig into each of these a bit more.

The ‘Hunter’ Type

Let's take it back several hundreds of years ago, where tribes were living off of the land. They had different means to provide food for themselves—one way is hunting. Hunting offers a quick way to feed their family. Same as the hunters in the wild, the Hunter type focuses their attention on just one target. They can tune out everything else when needed to focus on their goals.

But this particular type has several disadvantages. For instance, the hunter might frighten the prey by making noise while trying to catch it. And if the hunter isn’t successful and doesn't come back with their prey, his whole family could starve. This is a very good analogy of cold calling and going after that one business with a high level of focus and ignoring everything else on the horizon. If you only engage with one prospect and you fail to close the sale and don't follow up, you'll just end up wasting your efforts and gaining nothing.

The ‘Farmer’ Type

Farming is one alternative the tribe can do to acquire food. The Farmer type has to do with nurturing. Farmers are patient, results-focused, and consistent. A lot of time is required in the farming process, which involves looking for the right seed, planting, watering, and reaping. It’s not until months or even years that the farmer enjoys the reward of his efforts. 

The Farmer type updates and sends valuable information that keeps their prospects and clients happy and coming back to their business. Not asking for that sale immediately allows you to develop that know, like, and trust factor because the longer that you can have an interested prospect in your world and in your email sequence, the more likely they're going to buy from you. The more people you're nurturing and developing relationships with, then the more possibility you have to have paying clients. Especially with ergonomic services, it's not a matter of if an injury is going to be happening at work. It's a matter of when. All you have to do is look at the latest statistics anywhere in this world to understand how big of a deal ignoring ergonomics is. Just remember to consistently educate your prospects and be patient, and you'll surely enjoy the harvest in the end.

Consider these things before you start ‘farming’:

1. Follow-up your prospects

Even when you made an offer and the prospect isn’t interested, it doesn't mean they're never going to buy. So I’ve dived into some research to make it crystal clear why following up and being consistent in your marketing processes will get you customers. Here are some facts:

• 1st Follow-up - After that lead comes into your world, 50% of salespeople normally give up and don't continue that follow-up. 
• 2nd Follow-up - About 65% of sales people have given up. 
• 3rd Follow-up - About 80% of sales people have given up with that customer. 
• 4th Follow-up - About 90% of sales people have given up. 
• 5th Follow-up - You have become a factor in the lead’s mind. 
• 6th Follow-up - If you're nurturing slowly, your lead gets to know you. 
• 7th Follow-up - You’re earning top of mind awareness. 
• 8th Follow-up - You're probably the only person to make eight follow-ups with this person. 
• 9th Follow-up - At this point, when your lead is ready to buy, you have a 90% chance of being called. 
• Follow-up between 10 and 12 - Over time, you build strong relationships with the prospect by delivering value in advance, building trust, and demonstrating authority.

You've probably heard that it can take a significant amount of time to turn a prospect into a customer. The stats above really show that if you consistently follow up and add value, you’re more likely to turn leads into customers compared to using the Hunter method. With a Farmer mentality, you’re going to outwork and outcompete any competition in your cities.

2. Implement a CRM 

To get the best results from your farming efforts, consider leveraging a Client Relationship Management (CRM) tool. Let’s say that you now have a lot of people in your funnel. A CRM tool is something that makes it possible for you to follow-up with your leads. Software platforms allow you to bridge the gap to really hone in and be that Farmer to nurture those leads, provide value, make an offer, and follow-up. In short, it allows you to easily build a relationship with your leads that, in turn, creates customer retention.

Final Thoughts

As Ergonomic Consultants, we need to consistently market our business to make sure that we have work in the pipeline. So which of the two types of marketing do you think brings the best result? I've tried both methods, and do you know what doesn't work very well at all? The Hunter. The Hunter type holds a greater risk because you can't always guarantee that you can close a sale. Farmer type works well, but you just need to be patient and consistent.

Big Announcement:
I’ll be hosting a live training event on September 29, 2022. In this training, you’ll learn how to build your own thriving ergonomics business, how to attract customers, build the infrastructure, and charge really good money for your own ergonomic services. This is a great opportunity for you to gain some highly valuable learning. Click here to sign up for the Accelerate waitlist so you'll be the first to know once everything's moving forward with this training.