Selling to Baby Boomers & Gen X

Bridging the Generation Gap

Young entrepreneur Amanda Jephtha recently attended a workshop with social researcher Mark McCrindle and is here to share the knowledge from that session.

Fact: everyone loves to hate Gen Y.
Fact: the future is not created by an economy, but a demography.
Fact: Gen Y is here to stay – and rule!

So how can we shake off our bad rep as demanding, fast-moving, selfish kids and get our message across?

How can we more effectively work with and sell to the older generations?

The key is to first UNDERSTAND them, and then modify your actions.

Check out these insights and tips on how to bridge the generation gap.

Why there are SO many oldies…

Since we’re not having as many babies and we’re all getting older (and living longer), soon there will be an explosion of older people. Actually, by 2020, there will be more than 3 times the amount of 65-69 year olds compared to 1978! A staggering statistic.
So whether we like it or not, we have to learn to communicate effectively with the older generations if we’re going to run successful businesses.

Thinking with the head versus thinking with the heart.

Typically, Gen Y decides with their emotions. Never mind reason; if we’ve absolutely fallen in love with something because of it’s looks or how it makes us feel, we simply buy it.

Gen Y engages emotionally as:
Seekers – someone who doesn’t know too much about a product, but is blindingly faithful, and
Embracers – someone who will trumpet your horn with full product knowledge and is in lurve with your product.
However, the older generations will first rationalise the purchase. Does this fit my needs? Is it value for (my heard-earned) money? Is the product guaranteed?

Generation X and the Baby Boomers engage cognitively as:

Hecklers – someone who doesn’t really understand the product and isn’t particularly attracted to it, and
Agree-ers – someone who understands the product is a good fit to their needs, but feels indifferent to the product.
Our aim is to convert all clients in to Embracers.

Image thanks to McCrindle Research

How to Sell to the Older Generation

Firstly, we need to satisfy the older generation’s need to rationalise. Answer their questions, even if you think they’re basic or repetitive – but don’t make them feel stupid!

Slow the pace down if you’re discussing new concepts.
Once we’ve ticked this box, only then can we successfully move them to the emotional quadrants, ultimately ending up as Embracers.
By then, the older generation will be your most powerful sales force. And considering the Baby Boomers own the majority of the wealth and spend more on technology than any other generation, who wouldn’t strive to achieve this?
What NOT to say
Generation X and the Baby Boomers just don’t use our vocab. Some even blame us for the downfall of the English language! But what do they particularly dislike?
Clichés.
We all love to hate clichés! So much so, McCrindle Research set out to find the top 10 clichés Gen Y use that Generation X and the Baby Boomers hate. So when you’re chatting with the oldies, avoid using:
1. My bad
2. Random
3. So hot right now
4. Fully sick
5. So over that
6. Oh my gosh
7. Whatever
8. Totally
9. Chillout
10. Whassup
Check out this full list of clichés that should best be avoided, no matter who you’re communicating with.
Remember…
Each generation operates differently. By being mindful of these differences, not only can we grow our businesses – we can make the richest and most abundant generation our biggest advocate!

Changing Your Business Name – What to Keep In Mind

First up, do you need the change?

Unless you have a good reason to change your business name, don’t do it. After all, you’ve worked so hard to become well known by name and brand and now you could be undoing all that hard work! But, if the name of your business no longer reflects your products or services, then changing the name could be a great move! You could gain a new audience and image. For example, The Frank Team used to be known as Youth 2 Youth (Y2Y). It had grown to be a company that not only provides workshops for young people, but for grown ups too, and so the name (Youth 2 Youth) wasn’t a perfect fit anymore.

Has your business expanded to provide more services or products? Maybe its time you considered a change too!

Some Tips When Changing Your Business Name:

Spread the word

It’s important to inform all of your clients, colleagues and friends of changes. Apart from the process being more confusing for you if you don’t tell them, you might lose their business if they can’t contact you easily.

Also make the change a positive! You want people to know that you’re happy about it and that your service will be kept tip top during the transition!

Reassure your customers you’re available to speak with them if they have any questions. It’s also important to get the word out there so that new clients can see you do have a fab work history, and you don’t have to prove your experience all over again…

Launch it!

Think of a creative way to launch your new name! This is a great way to get people talking about you, while explaining the change over. And tell everyone why you have changed your name so they don’t get confused with what services and products you will continue to provide.

Y2Y sent out an email to our address book telling them we had a secret. Then we sent out a pack to everyone with a letter explaining we are now The FRANK Team, why we were changing, our new contact details, and some ‘frank’ treats, including a funny cheerleader group photo of our staff playing on the word ‘team’ in our new name – very nice! ; )

Check it out

Before changing your name, it’s a great idea to do some research into possible new names – are your name ideas already registered or very similar to existing names?

You can check if your new name idea is unique by doing a “company name search” for Australian businesses at ASIC.

All the legal stuff

If your business is a company, contact ASIC to register a name change and follow their steps to take when changing your business name.

You can reserve available names if you’re undecided – this will cost you $40 for each name put on hold – then the name you choose gets registered and linked to your existing ABN and ACN. Y2Y reserved a couple of names and now we’re registering our chosen name – The FRANK Team – which needs to be done within 14 days of changing over the trading name.

If your business is not a company (eg. sole trader or partnership) you need to contact the appropriate State or Territory authority that you registered your business name with. You can find out who you should contact on the Australian Government’s website -

You can also visit the ABR site to find out the business names that are available and already taken in your state or Australia-wide.

If your business is a not-for-profit or charitable organisation, visit this ASIC site to find out how to register your new name

Once you’ve registered your new name, if you want to keep it protected you should get a trademark. This will give you all proprietary rights to the name – meaning you own it and if someone tries to trade under a name very similar you can take action on it. To get info about trademarks, go to the IP Australia website

When you do change your business name, it’s a good idea to hold on to the old one for at least a while after the change – to make sure no one else grabs your name and causes confusion or pretends to be you! So you may want to renew your old business name even after you’re trading under a new name.

The same applies with a trademark – if you want to hold on to a trademark from an old product or service, you need to keep the trademark current and continue promoting it as a trademark. If you don’t use your trademark for a period of 3 years, it can be cancelled by the Trade Marks Register.

Changing your business name takes up a bit of time, but the most important thing is to be genuinely excited about the change, then ensure that those who need to know your change are notified in a creative way – this could be your biggest marketing exercise yet!