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The Millennials are Coming!

12 November 2007 by No Comment
The Millennials are Coming!

That was the leader for a "60 Minutes" segment I saw last night.

True story: I took my first virtual listing a couple of years ago. It was pretty slick. No, I don’t mean just placing virtual tours, web videos and property photos on the internet. (Though we did those things, too.) Rather, what I mean is I responded to an inquiry from a potential listing client, followed up with the prospect, made the appointment, "showed up," conducted the listing presentation, and secured signatures from my new clients — all without meeting face-to-face. They were in Arizona; I and their property were in California.

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We did that whole phase over the internet. It was pretty slick. They were totally on board with the technology and didn’t even bat a virtual eye when I suggested we meet online sooner rather than wait for their next trip out to California later.

In many ways it was actually easier. Demonstrating samples of online marketing campaigns was facilitated by the fact that they were already at a computer. And because they were already connected to the internet, I could easily "drive ‘em around the neighborhood" by lining up a virtual showing of MLS listings that competed with their property. Need to see details of specific properties in the comps? Not a problem, "here let me show you photos direct from the MLS… Oh by the way, here’s what a property web site looks like with the web video we discussed… and here’s a comparison of service offerings between various professional service fee ranges… which one do you want to get started with…?"

With all the genspeak these days about younger, tech-savvy customers, such a claim might not at all be surprising. Especially so of a customer from the, so called, "millennial" demographic. That’s the 80 million, or so, born between 1980 and 1995. ‘Matter of fact, just last evening CBS’ "60 Minutes" hosted a segment discussing the impact of "millennials" and their increasing influence in business. ("The Millennials are Coming!") They "have the upper hand because they are tech savvy, with every gadget imaginable…"

While I don’t deny this group’s technical prowess and our need to keep abreast of "enabling technologies," I would argue that it’s not just their group we have to keep abreast of. You see, the wonderful clients of whom I spoke earlier are, in fact, baby boomers approaching their 60s.

Is that surprising? I hope not so much. While boomers may not collectively be credited as early adopters of new technology, they have, in my experience, displayed admirable resilience in learning how to make productive use of mainstream technologies. That is, the stuff that hung around after we threw all the gadgets against the proverbial wall to see what would stick.

This isn’t surprising to me especially in light of the fact that many of my clients (our clients?) from the boomer generation work as senior managers and executives with productivity- and margin-enhancing responsibilities at mature organizations. These are corporate metrics that are, in part, "enabled" by efficient use of proven technologies. By a raise of hands how many have used WebEx or GoToMeeting to attend or host a corporate meeting, elearning or an online training session?

No, the older generation may not necessarily see value (yet) in how to Vcast music onto their phone, but ask ‘em if they know about virtual meetings, online training, voice-over-IP, or webcasting.

Do you?