WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Bridging the Generation Gap by Optimizing the Differences, Part 2

What Boomers Want with Terri Benincasa, M.A. Ed.M.

As we help you close an ever widening gulf between your company’s Boomer Bosses and Millennial Newcomers, or equally problematic, between your young staff and your Boomer customers, last month we covered Step One: Uncovering the common ground between them. Here is a quick recap of those 5 elements, as you’ll need them for Part 2:

1. Appreciation of a win-win outcome.


2. Need to see the value of their contribution to the company/end result.


3. A desire to be seen as the best at what they do.


4. Appreciation for flexibility (how that flexibility is played out is where the conflict usually arises).


5. Both want to know “what’s in it for me”.

This month as promised, covers Step Two:

SPECIFIC METHODS FOR APPLYING THEIR SIMILARITIES TO OPTIMIZE THEIR DIFFERENCES

• Each One Teach One (#’s 1, 2 & 3):
  Folks are much more willing to learn something if they also get to teach – it is an explicit demonstration of their value and expertise. At every level of the organizational chart, and with any major difference, have each generation teach the other their particular skill-set/strength that is missing for the other.
  
  Example 1: Boomers are late onto the technology field, and Millennials consider their IT as another appendage; M’s have not learned the more traditional modes of communication such as writing in long-hand and formal etiquette that to Boomers is second nature. Each can mentor the other for great outcomes on both ends.
  
  Example 2: Boomers in your business know what Boomer customers want… Millennials know what their cohort responds to. And each side prides themselves on their value to the company. So let that value play a key role in improved service outcomes by designing service/sales trainings with each generation teaching the other what they’ll need to know to be successful with the opposite group, for practice, feed-back, and help with follow-up refining as needed.



• One For You, Two For Me (#’s 1 & 5):
  This is a “built for a ‘what’s in it for me’ type” compromise technique. Each side of the generation gap gives the other one important thing the other wants, in return getting two of the things they want. As you can see, if done back and forth just once it’s now “even” – but each gets the most important things to them and everyone wins.



• Flexing for Dollars (#4):
  This is based on the simple but well-known “exceptional leadership” practice of looking at whether goals are being met instead of how an individual staff-person goes about meeting them. If I seem to always have a messy desk (in your opinion) but I outsell everyone else in my group, then that approach is clearly not causing a problem and what works for me!
  
  An example of the generational differences in types of flexibility might be:
  
  Boomers flex their schedule as needed to get the job done but within the office hours and on-site.
  
  Millennials flex around in and out of office time such as telecommuting & 4 day weeks. As the song from the 70’s put it so well: “Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong…”. It’s important to get away from whose approach is “right” and move to what works best for who to get the best outcome, period.



• Walk a moment in my shoes (#’s3 & 5):
  Getting each generation beyond their preferred modus operandi so they can see the immense value the other brings to the company table is the key here. Here’s how to do that. Schedule a “Talkin’ about My Generation” kind of event, one that’s fun but with serious intent. Have each group make the strongest argument they can for why that “generational style” is superior…but they must do it for the other generation. Each makes a presentation, as they would to a client, on what the other’s generational style adds to the bottom-line, and why they think it’s the best approach in which specific set of circumstances. Those from that generation then must critique it from the other generation’s perspective. There’s no better way to have a full understanding the value the other brings than to argue their case. By the way, this is done in law schools across the land to give law students a full understanding of the law from all sides.

Finally, the responsibility for getting cross-generational crankiness in check lies with both groups, not one more so than the other, to the contrary of some well publicized news reports on this issue. These reports have insinuated that the greatest burden for change falls on the Boomer bosses… not so, although as leaders they must take the first steps and then model the best-practice approaches for conflict resolution.

I’ve gotten you started with this 2 part series; to do this well and ultimately most effectively, bring in a seasoned professional to work with you developing solid programs and teams around this issue. Then follow through with them.

But most assuredly, do not ignore this elephant in the room. It will take over quickly, and you will spend much more time and dollars cleaning up its mess.


For more information, please visit Terri's TNNW Bio.

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WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Bridging the Generation Gap by Optimizing the Differences, Part 2

WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Are You Preparing for Your Worker Shortage?

What Boomers Want with Terri Benincasa, M.A. Ed.M.

According to a report of a recently published joint study by the MetLife Foundation and think tank, Civic Ventures, a worker shortage could develop within 8 years as Baby Boomers choose retirement. There are just too few workers to replace them. That is, if companies don’t recognize now the need to prepare for for this shortage.

The report projects that by 2018 there will be 14.6 million new “non-farm” jobs, plus some new jobs in farming. However, barring any major change in immigration policy or labor force rates, there will be only around 9.6 million workers to fill those positions, leaving a gap of more than 5 million unfilled jobs.

What a difference a few years makes…

So, what’s a visionary leader to do? Heed this early warning and begin your planning for this starting in 2011. (Knowing and understanding early warning signs is part of being a visionary leader.)

• Start by building your knowledge transition plan. This plan establishes knowledge, skill set transfer, and specific goals, objectives, and action plans throughout the company, and is best done with a professional consultant expert in generational issues. This plan also prepares your existing staff for the loss of your most knowledgeable and skilled employees, your Boomers, allowing the company to seamlessly fill those gaps as they begin to open. The ROI is quite impressive, seen in training costs saved over the next few years.


• Keep in mind that although a shortage won’t materialize for years, the gradual loss of Boomers will take place throughout those years, along with the loss of their knowledge and skill-sets if you have no working transition plan. So it will serve you well while not struggling to find replacement employees.


• Use the next 2 years to develop a best-practice recruitment and retention plan, and a healthy company culture (if you don’t as yet have one) -- from promoting leadership practices at all levels of the organizational chart to having a well-developed training program in place for new supervisors (so you can more readily promote from within) -- that gives you plenty of time to make both second nature prior to any shortage. These actions will put you eons ahead of your competition that didn’t take these action steps.
  


• Plan on having a major strategic planning activity (a retreat preferably, and with staff representatives from all levels) no later than 2012, and build this projection and these on-going remedies provided here, into it.

It may seem that looking 8 years to the future is just not a priority right now, but let’s put some additional perspective on this. 2018 is when a shortage is projected to hit full swing which means it will start long before then. And since the best strategic plans for company growth look 5 years out, based on the recommendations above, that brings you to 2017, just in time to be proactively ready for it while your competition is busy reacting because they weren’t prepared.


For more information, please visit Terri's TNNW Bio.

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WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Are You Preparing for Your Worker Shortage?

WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Bridging the Generation Gap by Optimizing the Differences, Part 1

What Boomers Want with Terri Benincasa, M.A. Ed.M.

You’re quickly discovering that there’s an ever widening gulf between your company’s Boomer Bosses and Millennial Newcomers, or equally problematic, between your young staff and your Boomer customers.

It’s creating increasing levels of internal discord, customer dissatisfaction (or worse, loss of some of your highest spending customers, Boomers), and lost productivity through either high staff turn-over or time taken away from growing your business to handle conflicts. You’re seeing big gaps in:

• Communication style (high-tech vs. low-tech; formal vs. informal; individualism vs. team approach)


• Workplace expectations (work/service ethic; dress; career demands such as flex-time)


• Compensation/Motivation/Reward Systems expectations

The good news: you’re not alone. This “corporate generation gap” is being felt, and addressed, by the likes of Coca-Cola and Microsoft.

So, what to do about it.

This will get you started using two basic steps: the first fosters improved understanding between the disagreeing parties on which all conflict resolution is based; the second uses that higher-level awareness to take the differences from polarizing, to productivity power-houses!


FIRST STEP: UNCOVER AND THEN WORK FROM THEIR COMMON GROUND

Here’s what Boomers and Millennials have in common, often without realizing it:

1. Appreciation of a win-win outcome:
   Both generations prefer to get their own needs met without having to sacrifice the needs of others.


2. Need to see the value of their contribution to the company/end result:
   Both prefer to work from a vision, a sense of being valued for their knowledge or specific skill sets, and like being a part of the decision-making process regardless of level.


3. A desire to be seen as the best at what they do:
   Don’t let the differences in the way they go about it fool you. Boomers may show this through working longer hours, whereas Millennials may pride themselves more on their creativity, but at heart, both have the same pride in their end work product.
   


4. Appreciation for flexibility (how that flexibility is played out is where the conflict usually arises):
   Here again style may overshadow substance, so it is easy to miss the way each uses and values versatility.


5. Both want to know “what’s in it for me”:
   Boomers are known as the “me” generation, Millennials the “everybody gets a trophy” group, but as you can see, each has at its base the desire to have one’s own specific needs met, so once understood, both can appreciate that in the other.

And, here’s a generational check-list to effectively begin the communication process:

FOR BOOMER LEADERS

Be very clear about the benefits of working for the company, and for you. You would want the same information if you were your staff.

What you focus on is what you get. If you focus on the negatives, you'll foster them. Focus on the positives and you'll get a whole lot more of them!

FOR MILLENNIALS

Don’t buy the myth that jumping from job to job is a good thing. It's not and will come back to haunt you.

You too must focus on the positives with your Boomer boss, not the negatives. You get what you focus on.

FOR BOTH

This is the window of time to pass on and learn from the expertise Boomers have acquired over the decades. Take advantage of it before it's gone.

For more information, please visit Terri's TNNW Bio.

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WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Bridging the Generation Gap by Optimizing the Differences, Part 1

WHAT BOOMERS WANT: How to Keep Your Customers Coming Back!

What Boomers Want
with Terri Benincasa

Satisfaction surveys show that although 65%-85% of customers rate themselves as "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their existing vendor, they will switch to another provider according to the Harvard Business Review.

Just because your existing customers buy from you regularly doesn't mean that they will continue to do so. You have to work hard to keep them, which is why we encourage our Business Coaching clients to call the process of keeping their clients coming back, as “re-sales” rather than “renewals” or “regular customers,” both of which infer that keeping their business is a given.

So, why is it that, when common sales wisdom is “your best customer is your existing customer”, you can’t take even their satisfaction to the bank…?!

Here’s the primary reasons existing customers are stolen away, and what you can do about them:

1. Typical misstep: When reaching out to existing customers, most sales people concentrate only on the specifics associated with what they’re selling rather than getting to know more about the customer’s organization as a whole….that’s a lot of additional information that will help you understand their priorities & values, a great selling tool!

What to do instead: Ask broader questions; first, find out what they buy & when they buy; learning what they buy beyond your product gives you a handle on, for instance, whether they like high-end items with the best features or the Dollar Store, whether taking really great care of their employees is a priority or not; learning when they buy arms you with the times of the year their more inclined to discuss upgrades, re-sales, etc. (even if that’s not “renewal” time, it will further ensure you’ll get the re-sale when that time comes!);

2. Typical misstep: Most sales people tend to talk to the same one or two people in an organization, and too seldom it is not the best people in the company for ensuring a resale...; amazingly, it’s not always necessary to reach the “decision-maker”

What to do instead: Find out not only who makes the decisions, but who influences the decision (often this is a different person than the top decision-maker…), then spend some time connecting with the latter whether or not you’ve connected with the former;

3. Typical misstep: According to Kathy Pabst Robshaw, Principal of The Total Telephone Effectiveness Company, when calling to stay connected to existing clients, do not say: "I am calling to check in..." – “that’s weak, helps no one, and wastes time” she teaches

What to do instead: You must have a reason to call - it can easily be created and planned in advance, and tailored to the specific company so you’re not wasting your time and theirs.

Finally, here are some of the times throughout the year that customers typically change vendor (or decide to…) in addition to (or sometimes instead of) contract expiration time:

• budget review time,
• new management or new department head,
• change of business strategy, or
• an economic upturn/downturn.

Now get out there and keep those customers coming back! May the resales be with you!

For more information, please visit Terri's TNNW Bio.

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WHAT BOOMERS WANT: How to Keep Your Customers Coming Back!

WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Tips for Marketing to the "Spending" Generation, Part 2

What Boomers Want, Part 2

with Terri Benincasa

Last month we gave you the first set of fundamentals for marketing to this very lucrative cohort (why do it, and how to do it right), and promised the second set this month. So, here are the other important steps you’ll want to take to ensure your strategy will be successful.

What Venues are Best for Getting Their Attention

Surprisingly, the best are the more traditional media outlets, as Boomers are the last generation to still fully embrace them in the following order of importance to them:

1. TV (but this is the most expensive)
2. Radio (this is much more affordable, particularly AM) – and not internet radio
3. Newspaper (older Boomers still subscribe to at least one daily paper delivery; younger Boomers will get their news on-line, so a combo is perfect)

Combine these with social marketing outlets designed specifically for Boomers (ex: boomerauthority.com) and using innovative Boomer-friendly factors like those listed above, and you’ll have a winning combination: the “word of mouth/we feel like we know you” that comes from social marketing, with the credibility that comes with traditional media advertising for Boomers.

Who in Your Company is Best Positioned to Earn Boomers’ Business

That would be someone closer to their age… Unless you have a young person with a high credibility factor (comes from a level of maturity and sensitivity beyond their years), Boomers will not respond well to people their children’s age introducing your product/service to them.

Exceptions:

• If the product/service is for their children/grandchildren, e.g. something age relevant
• If it is something Boomers perceive to be a younger person’s domain, such as technology
• If it is the owner’s son/daughter who is working to follow in Dad’s/Mom’s footsteps and that is made clear upfront

Some Do’s & Don’ts

Do: Always be positive – Boomers as a generation are concomitantly optimistic & pessimistic, but most don’t realize it…what they do know is they are immediately turned off by someone who bad-mouths the competition or talks in terms of what doesn’t work vs. what does

Do: Use emotions, stories, and imagery – Boomers are a heartfelt generation and are moved far more by these criteria that “cold hard numbers”…that was the Greatest Generation, not Boomers

Do: Make your product service feel very high end for a smart price (for middle class Boomers) & regardless of price (for wealthy Boomers) – with wealthy Boomers only go to price if they bring it up – reliability & durability are also big deciding factors for Boomers

Don’t: Talk about age as in “this is the perfect option for people your age…” Ooops. Talk about “life stage”, experience, savvy, discerning tastes…these all come with age but Boomers much prefer seeing it in those terms

Don’t: Underestimate the determination of the Boomer consumer to know exactly what they want, having done all their research prior to contacting you – don’t treat them like an unknowledgeable customer – treat them like a knowledgeable partner

Don’t: Treat all Boomers the same way, not only because the Boomer Generation spans 18 years, but more importantly because this generation prides itself on individuality – traveling to the beat of their own drummer. So do not waste your time with one size fits all content - they will immediately pick up on a “canned pitch” meant for the masses.

Source: Boomer Consumer

5 Common Boomer Myths Form Outdated Marketing

By steering clear of these falsehoods, your Boomer Marketing campaign will be that much more successful:

1 | They’ll Sit Down, Exhale, Retire
2 | Understand One Boomer and You Understand Them All
3 | Boomer Consumers are More Brand-Loyal
4 | All Boomers Are Rich
5 | Technology Belongs to the Young

Source: DMW Worldwide LLC

Bottom Line: How you develop and implement your marketing campaign will determine whether you’ll get that call from this very active market. Follow the strategies above, don’t fall prey to the myths, and you’re off to a great start!

For more information, please visit Terri's TNNW Bio.





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WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Tips for Marketing to the "Spending" Generation, Part 2

A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: New Writers Join TNNW, Part 4

2009 is almost history and despite a tumultuous year of economic uncertainty, a new Presidential Administration, a couple of wars and a vast cavalcade of other items, The National Networker continues to work hard for you.

In the beginning of this year, we promised you that we would be growing beyond our humble beginnings as a digital newspaper into something more. We have...we are creating the world's first Global Internetworked Cooperative Business Community (GICBC) in which all members become stakeholders under a digital meritocracy.

In the beginning of this year, we promised you an array of proprietary services to be unveiled. We did...our news release and Buzzworks services are just the beginning. More to come in 2010.

We also promised you new ways to receive TNNW apart from the traditional email newsletter format. In 2009, we unveiled:

• The TNNW Daily RSS and email feed with additional articles you won't find in our regular newsletter.
• The ability to listen to our articles
• The TNNW widget so you can post our content on your blogs and websites
• The National Newspicker, for the latest intelligence from top news sources
• The BLUE TUESDAY Report, filled with additional intelligence including TNNW Surveys, Amazing Facts, Featured Company of the Week, Featured Deal of the Week, Most Memorable Quotes, Websites and Blogs to Explore and our BackTalk section where your voice is not only heard, but published as well.
  

We also promised you better writing, better authors and on a wider range of topics. This month, alone, we have introduced several new writers:

• Teri Aulph with Beyond the Cubicle - Corporate Culture
• Dick Brown with Venture Finance - Reality vs. Rumor
• Rosann D'Ausilio with The Retention Factor
  
• Linda de Seife with Balancing Healthcare, Public Policy and Politics
  
• John J. Hogan, Ph.D. with Lessons from the Hotel Industry
• David Muraco with Creating and Managing Effective Teams

This week we introduce Terri Benincasa of Benincasa & Associates out of the greater Tampa area. Terri is a coach as well as baby boomer expert. Terri hosts a radio show called Boomer Nation! on WGUL 860 AM in Tampa Bay. Terri's column will be focusing on the Baby Boomer generation in What Boomers Want.

At the beginning of this month I was interviewed by my friend and colleague Jeff Klein of Klein Creative and his co-host, Kathy Hines on their weekly morning radio show Business Networking Brunch (www.BizNetBrunch.com) on Rational Radio 1360 AM out of Dallas. The interview is now available and can be heard by clicking here.

If you liked us in 2009, you will love us in 2010. More services, more writers, more opportunities for you to become more active in our GICBC.

From all of us here at TNNW, we wish you and your families a Happy and Healthy New Year!!!

All my best,

Adam





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A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: New Writers Join TNNW, Part 4

WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Tips for Marketing to the "Spending" Generation

What Boomers Want
with Terri Benincasa, M.A. Ed.M.

Whether you’re a one person service company or a large corporate entity, you are missing the marketing bulls-eye if you stay stuck in last century mode of targeting the used-to-be coveted 18-39 set.

The simple fact is that the folks who have the most disposable income, and a track record of having no qualms about spending it (even in this economic climate), are Baby Boomers, the approximately 78 million Americans (the number world-wide is in the 100’s of millions) born between 1946 & 1964: particularly what we call the “middle” and “leading edge” Boomers, born between 1946 & 1959. What's not being told when we hear news that they're "cutting back" on spending is that it's based on consumption by Boomer standards; they may no longer be spending like drunken sailors, but they still want what they want when they want it, and will find it whether it's with you or your competition.

Why This Market Segment is So Lucrative for You
Beyond this group’s sheer numbers, here are the facts that drive this generation when it comes to spending:

• 45% of the consumer market is ages 40-70 (as of 2009, Boomers’ age range is 45-63) - That is larger than all the other individual market cohorts combined – they spend a whopping $2.3 trillion annually on goods & services...that's $400 billion more than any other age cohort, and by 2010, Boomers will control about 65% of the available disposable income
• they are the wealthiest (overall, even given the Great Recession) and best educated generation in the history of the nation, so they pride themselves on both their willingness to spend when it suits them, and their savvy when it comes to deciding where to spend it
• they are now at the point in their lives where they are ready to settle back and enjoy the fruits of their decades-long labors regardless of economic factors; plus, they don’t “retire” but instead “re-direct” their lives, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to make their new life not just a good one…but a great one
• Boomers have never been ones to deny themselves something they want that will make their lives feel more luxurious, help them to make their age less apparent, or give them the freedom/mobility this “Peter Pan” generation covets so highly.

Does this sound like a target market that would be useful to you? Seems like a no-brainer, but amazing as this is, even the biggest companies, from Kelloggs to Ford, are only now figuring out the power of marketing to Boomers. It's your turn.

So, now that you know this is where you need to be focusing a good portion of your advertising/marketing resources, how do you go about not only getting in front of Boomers, but making yours the kind of product or service they will seek out again and again? Read on!

How to Reach this Market Cohort
Here’s what Boomers want, and if you offer as many as possible, you will get their undivided attention:

1. Boomer respond to being fully educated on your product/service, its benefits to them, and your approach to providing it – vs. empty marketing jargon – with Boomers, more information is better, and they want to feel like they know you & your expertise
2. Up-front understanding & addressing of their objections; Boomers have “seen & done it all” - when they see that you are as fastidious as they are about their concerns, they’ll be quite pleased – and much more interested in buying from you…
3. Boomers want to feel like they’re in control of the entire process from beginning to end (example: they don’t just accept what a doctor tells them as their parents did – they’ve done their own research prior to the visit, know what they want, and don’t stop until they get it…they’ll do the same with you…)
4. Back to being having “seen & done it all”…they rely on referral, testimonial, & word-of-mouth along with standard advertisements (just advertising alone won’t do the trick)
5. Boomers love getting everything in one place – that’s why middle-income Boomers love Super Walmart or Super Target, and upper income Boomers want everything brought to them. So if you’re a solo practitioner selling one specific product or service, package yourself with services complimentary to yours. Example: Lawn service with pool service, landscaper & nursery. They can pick which they want, but really like having everything put together for them if they need all or some of the products/services surrounding yours...they respond to messaging that is more than the attributes of what you do or make.
6. Boomers are not particularly brand loyal – they will go with whatever makes sense to them at the time. So your message needs to speak to how your customers’ needs are met, how it is relevant to their lives today, how it resolves a worry they have, how it makes them healthier, or how it makes them feel better, smarter, happier.

Stay tuned....next month's entry will cover:

Best Venues for Getting Boomers' Attention
Who in Your Company is Best Positioned to Earn Boomers’ Business
Some (additional) Do’s & Don’ts to Further Refine Your Marketing to Boomers Strategy.

For more information, please visit Terri's TNNW Bio.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free For Your TNNW Newsletter and THE BLUE MONDAY REPORT! - Click HERE.
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WHAT BOOMERS WANT: Tips for Marketing to the "Spending" Generation