The Millennial generation (those born 1980's to 2000's) are the first "true digital generation". They are redefining business function, including marketing, sales, and workforce collaboration, all the way through to HR policy.
It is widely reported that within the next 5 years, Millennials will be the largest active component of the global workforce. Hence, I want to focus on the importance of adopting a "Millennial mindset", particularly in the B2B context, as this next generation are rapidly coming of age as researchers, influencers, and decision makers within their respective companies.
Many companies have focused on the Millennial as a consumer - now let's explore how the traits that have defined their personal consumer behaviour are now impacting B2B marketing and sales. It is my belief that the sales and marketing relationship must become more and more intertwined to meet the changing dynamic of B2B decision making.
We have learnt as marketing professionals that Millennials have high expectations on brands as end user consumers, and they take the same high expectations into their roles as business influencers and decision makers.
Are B2B marketers ramping their strategies fast enough to capitalise on this new generation of decision makers?
The attributes and expectations that Millennial decision makers are looking for in business relationships are not that dissimilar to the consumer landscape:
- Authenticity
- Relevance
- Personalised interaction
There must be a seamless mix between the in-person and digital experience to address their value on convenience. It is important to note, that it is during the research phase (the earliest stage of the sales cycle) that they prefer to engage with a representative. However, once the sales cycle has commenced, they prefer to be progressed and supported digitally.
In a recent study conducted by IBM, it was found that this generation more highly value the vendor representative source of information at the commencement of the sales process than either Gen X and Baby Boomers. This almost appears to contradict the earlier statement regarding importance of digital in progressing an opportunity - not so - Millennials considers the availability of relevant information in digital formats a baseline requirement, simply routine.
As we do in our usual consumer marketing programs, with Millennials, we need to understand the end to end engagement cycle and focus on delivering a relevant experience that exemplifies authenticity through the physical and digital worlds.
Millennials value collaboration, and the ease of doing business over reputation, or a perceived ability to deliver purely on product and service level.
So where to start? Leverage the customer data and insights you have to date and look for what your customer wants, and as many brands have already done in the consumer landscape, build out a complete customer journey with the emphasis on simplicity, and a variety of content along the journey.
The level of importance on "digital commentary or endorsements" as the Millennial business decision maker moves closer to a decision point almost mirrors that of the consumer landscape, looking for validated via social / digital led influencers in their world. Therefore it is vital to have customer success stories in various "social first" formats so they are easy to find, and further, easy to share with these digital natives.
Copyright: 2015 "New Generation of B2B decision makers". Darren Needham-Walker
Note: this blog is personal opinion based on experience of the author