Subject: Finders, Grinders, and Minders

In any sales organization, there are three essential roles: Finders, who bring in new business (the rainmakers); Grinders, who provide the behind-the-scenes support through analysis, writing, and research; and Minders, who nurture client relationships and maintain communication.

For leaders, the first priority is identifying which role each team member is best suited for. Few things are more detrimental—to both the company and the individual—than placing someone in a position where they cannot perform or where the role itself causes unnecessary stress and anxiety.

In our organization, these distinctions are very clear. We have outstanding team members who excel at writing, communicating, strategizing, and organizing. But if you ask some of them to pick up the phone and make a sales call, you may as well be speaking to a wall. A simple way to identify Grinders and Minders is to observe their communication habits: those who consistently prefer email or text over phone calls often fall into these categories. Email provides a safe barrier, while a phone call requires direct engagement with another person.

When I started in the business, none of today’s tools—email, websites, social media, texts, or “likes”—existed. You had to meet face-to-face or make the call. Interestingly, we sold just as many hotels in the early 1990s without the internet as we do now. That raises an important question: are we truly preparing the next generation of salespeople for success? Sometimes I wonder if we should take away their phones and computers for the first three months and make them learn “the old-school way.” (A humorous thought—but with some truth behind it.)

At the end of the day, Finders are the lifeblood of any sales organization. Grinders and Minders are valuable and often plentiful, but true Finders—the professionals who bring in new business—are indispensable. KT