We were interviewing this gentleman recently for a broker slot and we discussed what it meant in our business to be a hunter. It basically means the person that goes out and gets business as compared to the one who wants business to be given to them.

I have been a broker for 29 years and continue to be amazed at how simple the main things are. In our business the most important factor a person can have is the ability to gain the trust of a client and get hired. That’s it. It is that simple. We refer to that person as a hunter. It doesn’t matter what college you went to, where you live, who you married, how well you dress or how fancy your car is. In the most basis terms possible, can you hunt? See, it is the hunters that make it long term in the sales world. Without this one skill in the world of sales. all the rest doesn’t matter.

I have a good friend, actually, several of them that have every single quality they need to be successful in our business, except one. They can’t hunt. They are incredible organizers, writers, speakers, leaders, communicators and they can’t sell their way out of a wet paper bag. The reason is they never learned how to hunt.

When I started I didn’t have any option other than learning how to hunt. Sometimes I believe we coddle (hold their hand) people in hopes that they can learn it, when the best lesson is the one i got on my first day. My boss at the time opened a two-door metal cabinet in which were the books (offering memorandums) for the eight listings the company had at the time. He looked at me and said, and I quote “ok, there it is. If you can learn it, have at it. If you can’t, no hard feelings” and he walked away. You may think I am making this up, but I am not. That was literally my training in about 20 seconds. I got all those offerings memorandums and read them from cover to cover so I would know some basis terms and three days later, I got in my car and stopped at 132 hotels on I-75 until I got some people to talk to.

We may not refer to it as being a hunter, but every line of work from sales, consultant, stock boy, full time parent, pastor to a cashier, all have one thing in common. There are people that learn what needs to be done and then take action and then there are people who always need someone to help them.  Sometimes, getting thrown off the high dive (like I was) can be the best teacher you could possibly have.

A hunter is a person who sees a problem and understands how to fix it and then does his/her best to get it resolved. We all have a hunter living inside of us, but some people never realize it and never act on it. KT