Generational Selling Tactics that Work: Quick and Dirty Secrets for Selling to Any Age Group
Today, as buying becomes far easier than selling, customers are gaining the upper hand. Yet many salespeople maintain an egocentric frame of mind: the reasons you like your product and service are the same reasons your buyers will like them, right? And what you want in a sales person is the same thing they'll want, right? Wrong! If your customers hail from another generation, they might as well come from a different planet. The rapid changes in the past century have resulted in four generations that have grown up under vastly different circumstances. If you want to connect, develop rapport, and make sales with every age group, you have to understand what impact these diverse experiences have on how they view your business.Generational Selling Tactics that Workoffers simple, easy-to-execute ideas for how best to work with and sell to each of the four generations in today's marketplace: Matures, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. The Matures' formative experiences of the Great Depression and World War II differed wildly from the Boomers, who watched the Civil Rights Movement and enjoyed the Sexual Revolution. The "latch-key" Gen Xers came of age in the wake of Watergate and Iran-Contra, while Millennials received boundless praise from their parents but later had their world rattled by 9/11.These formative experiences help determine each generation's behavior—their values and their turn-offs—in the marketplace. The Matures want deference, the Boomers ease, Gen Xers authenticity, and Millennials just want it now. Matures and Boomers won't mind hearing your standard pitch, but Gen Xers and Millennials will be running for the door. In order to sell to any age group, you've got to learn how to be likable across the generational divide. When you get out of your own habits and into the preferences of your prospects, you'll make that connection and snag the sale.Generational Selling Tactics that Workdelivers nitty-gritty knowledge on each cohort's characteristics and quick and dirty tips for how to apply this insight to increase revenues. It doesn't matter what age you are, so long as you understand how your customer's age affects the bottom line.