According to Goldman Sachs, there are currently 92 million Millennials in the United States, and they now make up the largest generation in U.S. history – even outnumbering Baby Boomers.
This segment of the population is the first to be “digitally native,” meaning from day one these young people have been exposed to digital technology. Growing up in a fast-changing, technology-driven world, Millennials tend to think differently, work differently and be influenced differently than other age groups. As a result, if businesses want to continue to survive and thrive, they need to better understand and accommodate this Millennial thinking and behavior. Here’s how you can build a more Millennial-friendly business for buyers and employees:
Attract, don’t prospect, Millennial buyers
Want to engage with your Millennial buyers? Don’t do it with a phone call. Millennials don’t want you calling them about your products and services; instead, they prefer to do their own research and information gathering before they contact you.
Visiting vendor websites, searching the Internet and engaging on social networks is their preferred means to learn about companies and their products. Compelling content such as videos, blogs and customer reviews really attract these buyers, so make sure you provide helpful, relevant online information that will pique their interest and help influence them in their purchasing decisions. These statistics provide some insight into the Millennial point of view when it comes to buying products:
Engage Millennials in the workplace
Unlike Baby Boomers, Millennials aren’t looking to spend their entire professional career with one employer. However, what they are looking for is an employer that values them as an asset, gives them the latitude to think outside the box and provides different ways to keep them engaged. This future-minded group wants to be shown how the skills they will learn on the job will help them succeed both professionally and personally.
Money isn’t everything for Millennials; there are other “perks” you can provide at the workplace to make them happy, including flex hours, casual dress code, stocked break rooms or half-day Fridays. The consulting firm Coaching Millennials offers a few ideas to help engage and retain this workforce:
Today, more than one in three workers are Millennials and over 46% of them are potential B2B buyers.* There’s no doubt they are changing the ways we buy and sell, so take advantage of the opportunities and insight they bring to the marketplace by making your business more attractive and worthwhile to them.
*Pew Research; Google