We’re all familiar with the Hunter / Farmer analogy for salespeople - Hunters go out and find new deals, Farmers nurture existing customer relationships.

Neither of these sales types fits very well in startup or early-stage companies. Early on, small companies need a third type that I call “Explorers”. These salespeople have a lot of Hunter characteristics, but they are really quite different:

1. They are comfortable with early product releases and are able to help define the product so that it fits the needs of the prospects they are calling on,

2. They are comfortable with ambiguous market definition and are able to help define a target market place for their company and product offerings,

3. And most importantly, they are creative and look for and find creative new fits between prospects and products.

Neither Hunters or Farmers are comfortable in these early-stage environments - they will be frustrated by the lack of product and market definitions and will not be productive.

On the other hand, once the product and market parameters are fairly settled, Explorers will be frustrated by the company’s insistence that there is a standard product to sell to a defined market, and should probably be replaced by Hunters.