Dog, wolf, hunter, farmer – just a few of the descriptors for salespeople and their selling style. And the most successful sales team is likely to have a diverse mix of them all.

In this episode we’re in discussion with Simon Hares of SerialTrainer7 who, like Raising the Baa, is based in the South West of England. With over 200 recommendations on his LinkedIn profile, it’s fair to say that Simon is a well-regarded, experienced and much loved sales and management trainer.

Our conversation with Simon includes several analogies of shepherding with the business world, more than he might have imagined! We had an insightful discussion, for example, comparing a manager training a new salesperson and a shepherd with a young sheepdog. And how the natural instinct of a dog can be seen in the two key types of salespeople – hunters and farmers.

We naturally asked Simon about today’s challenges for organisational teams and how they might be different to pre-Covid times. In his response he talks about “Trusted Freedom”, a framework to help leaders look after and manage their teams. Simon has put a new twist on the well-known acronym SMART, normally associated with goal-setting. He reveals what these letters stand for when related to team leadership in this climate.

Simon’s West Country lilt is easy to listen to and he was a delight to talk to as always. Even in this brief dialogue he aptly shows how he is evolving to meet the needs of today’s team leaders.
Enjoy – and thank ewe for listening 🙂

Free resources:

Regular, topical, thought-provoking and helpful videos and articles produced by Simon and others Serial 7 LinkedIn company page

Sheep, Shepherd or Dog – which one are ewe? Take our personality quiz and find out.

Connect with the speakers via LinkedIn:
Caroline Palmer – Top Dog and Co-Founder, Raising the Baa
Chris Farnsworth – Head Shepherd and Co-Founder, Raising the Baa
Simon Hares – Founder and Managing Director of SerialTrainer7