Lesson Four: Pickers and Planters

Farmer Brown had a small tomato farm. It wasn’t the smallest but it certainly wasn’t the largest. Up the road there were larger, well-financed farms that employed hundreds of farm hands. Farmer Brown always made a good living, but he longed to be bigger and compete
with the farms up the road. He wanted more.

Farmer Brown employed two types of workers—planters and pickers. The planters planted the tomato seeds and the pickers picked the tomatoes.

One day Farmer Brown had a great idea: “Why don’t I combine the planters and the pickers? That way I don’t have to pay for all the extra help and I will make more money.”

So that’s what he did.

It started off well—the combined planter-pickers spent most of their time picking, since that’s where the money was.When Farmer Brown did his books, he found he was more profitable. Hurray!

But then something odd happened.

There started to be fewer tomatoes to pick. The planter-pickers had been so busy picking they hadn’t done enough planting. In a panic, they tried to plant more in hopes of catching up. Of course it didn’t work because it takes longer to grow tomatoes than pick them.

Poor old Farmer Brown soon realized he needed planters and pickers to run the farm. He was in trouble.

The difference between sales and marketing is this: Pickers sell, planters market. The planter gives the picker prospects, the pickers give the planters revenue. A well-run farm needs both.

In your business, who are your planters and who are your pickers? Do you have a good balance between sales and marketing? If you don’t, are you expecting the impossible from your pickers?

A prudent farmer makes sure he is planting enough now to pick later. What’s the state of your farm?




Principles of Persuassion by Shane Spark