The 3 types of salesperson you have (even if you don't know it)

After years working alongside SMB sales teams, I learned to see something that almost no owner is consciously aware of: not all of your salespeople sell the same way, and not because some are good and others bad, but because they are different types. Confusing them —or asking one to do another’s job— is one of the quietest reasons why a sales team underperforms. With this series I want to take those profiles apart; let’s start by getting to know them.

The three profiles that coexist in your team

In every sales force, even one of just two people, three types coexist:

• The hunter: opens doors. They love the new prospect, the first contact, the conquest. They get bored with long follow-up.
• The farmer: grows what already exists. They take care of accounts, follow up, trigger repeat business and referrals. They shine in the relationship, not in the conquest.
• The order-taker: dispatches. They serve whoever already arrived decided, take the order and process it. They’re useful, but —I’ll say it plainly— they aren’t selling.

Most people are a mix, with a dominant type. The problem isn’t having all three; it’s not knowing who is who and expecting everyone to do everything.

In short, here’s how each one plays:

Why knowing your mix matters

Imagine you put your best hunter in charge of caring for existing accounts: they’ll get bored, they’ll neglect the relationship and you’ll lose customers. Or the other way around: you ask a farmer to go cold-calling and you’ll burn them out, because it isn’t their thing. Every time a salesperson works against their nature, they perform less and suffer more.

Knowing your mix serves three concrete purposes: hiring the profile you’re missing instead of “another generic salesperson,” assigning each person the work where they shine, and no longer demanding results from someone on terrain that isn’t theirs.

The order-taker: the most common trap for SMBs

Of the three, the one that confuses owners most is the order-taker, because they bring in revenue. Since money comes in through their hands, they look like a salesperson.

I’ll devote a full post to it later, because it’s where the most SMBs fool themselves.

What’s coming in this series

In the next posts I’ll take each profile separately: the hunter and their superpower of opening; the farmer and why they’re the true owner of retention (that half of the funnel we saw in the customer journey series); and the order-taker, with the question that closes the series: what mix your company needs depending on the stage it’s in.

And when you want that mix to stop getting tangled —who sells, who only manages, how to measure each one without muddying your numbers—, a CRM like Mexus CRM lets you separate roles and goals by person. But first, understanding the profiles.

You don’t have good and bad salespeople: you have different profiles. The mistake isn’t having them, it’s asking each one to do the other’s job.

Frequently asked questions

What are the types of salesperson?

Three main profiles coexist in every team: the hunter (opens doors and lands new customers), the farmer (grows and retains existing accounts) and the order-taker (serves whoever already arrived decided). Most people are a mix with a dominant type.

Why is it important to know what type of salesperson I have?

Because each profile performs on different terrain. Putting a hunter in charge of caring for accounts, or a farmer on cold outreach, makes both perform worse. Knowing your mix helps you hire the profile you’re missing, assign work well and not demand results where it isn’t their thing.

Is the order-taker a salesperson?

Strictly speaking, no: if they only serve whoever already came in decided, they process demand that already existed instead of generating it. It’s useful for operating, but confusing it with a salesperson who grows the business is an expensive mistake, especially when people stop showing up on their own.