“It’s a graying population”

The ageing of Australia’s population has been touted as the demographic trend that will have a major impact on business activity. This “graying” of the population will represent new opportunities and threats to business and as such many firms have started aggressively targeting this market.

However there is another major market segment which sales people must be aware of and these people are not likely to respond to your traditional sell. They have been nicknamed the “The New Generation”.

So what is the “New Generation” and why are they important?

The New Generation are those twenty something year olds with high disposable incomes which have been the target market of many companies in the past.

Why are they important?
o Biggest demographic group in Australia
o Frequent shoppers – they buy more and they do so more often
o High life time purchasing value

Why is selling to the “New Generation” different?

Generation X and Y are typified by a range of characteristics:

o They are aware of global trends and are influenced more by their peers than expert opinion
o Technologically savvy – they are comfortable with technology
o Sophisticated – they do their research before making purchasing decisions
o Short term focused – they want it now and are prepared to use credit to get it

The “New Generation” has grown up with a huge amount of exposure to traditional sales and marketing strategies and has developed a sales pitch “filter”. This coupled with their willingness and ability to research has meant that the traditional approach does not yield results with this market sector.

How do you sell to the “New Generation”?

The traditional sales approach focused on the knowledgeable sales representative and their ability to present information about their product or service. Most modern sales approaches emphasise “listening to the customer” in order to “determine their needs”.

As already mentioned, the “New Generation” has already read about the product/service and have taken in their friend’s experiences and advice. They might take in the sales person’s advice but they are not likely to base their decision upon it.

Selling to the “New Generation” requires you to involve the customer in the buying process, i.e. you need to provide them with the opportunity to experience your product/service. Once they do so, it is up to the sales representative to provide any extra information that they require in order to make their decision. The sales process will therefore be driven by the customer with the sales person serving more of a consultant role.

Example of a “New Generation” sales technique:

Retailers such as Harvey Norman and Bing Lee have changed the way they display their products and present their service in order to reflect the buying attitudes of the “New Generation”. They have moved their products from beneath glass to a hands-on display which allows customers to interact with the product i.e. to experience “the look and feel” of the product.

The level of service has also been adjusted so that the sales consultants are there to field the customer’s questions and guide their buying process. They do so in a manner that emulates a casual personal relationship. This results in a lower initial pressure to buy on the customer.

The relationship building process is key to the buying process. Your sales representative has to know the product/service features and must be confident in their ability to express those features in a way that relates to the customer:

Feature – 1.3 megapixel camera mobile phone

Customer Need – I want to be able to take photos on my phone and email them to my friends.

Relating these two

“This phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera that you would need to get good quality pictures and it can connect to the internet so you can email those straight away”

Building relationship and promoting personal experience
“I have used of these and I liked it. Its pretty easy to use once you get around the menu and the quality is quiet good as well. It is user friendly, isn’t?”

The sales pitch is based on personal experience and an informal one to one tone is used. This allows the sales person to gently close the sale in a way that will not trigger a “sale pitch” alarm. The overall result is a relaxed sale in which trust and a relationship is built, which are a key in selling to the “New Generation”.

In the next edition: “Managing the New Generation”.

Mark McCrindle, Social Researcher, MA, BSc. (Psychology), QPMR

Mark is one of Australia’s foremost social researchers. He extensively researches the changing generations and accurately tracks emerging trends. By taking the social pulse of the nation, he is able to analyse the constant changes and communicate the implications these will have on our lives.

For more information about the “New Generation” please contact Mark on:

Mobile: 0411 5000 90
P: +61 2 9980 1777
E: mark@markmccrindle.com