Selling to That Younger Buyer

Credit: Getty Images by Feodora Chiosea

In high school and college, young buyers study while streaming a show, replying to social media posts, and listening to music. Simultaneously. The very idea of waiting more than two days for a purchase to arrive is ludicrous. The phone is a communication tool in every way, except for being used as, you know, a phone. Their world was like that Oscar-winning movie title: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

Today, this group has moved into the role of key contact, decision-maker, and buyer. They use random acronyms, allow themselves to riddle their texts and emails with grammatical errors, and want what they want when they want it. Not only that, their rules change with such speed even a Whack-a-Mole would say, “Wait. Let me catch my breath!”

We, as legacy salespeople, see this generation as entitled, under-appreciative, impossible to connect with, and unwilling to be sold to in the manner we’ve become accustomed. But since they are not going to change, we must adapt. So, here’s the new rulebook.

Chapter One: Initial Contact

Don’t Call Me — I was watching a TV show recently. A mother phoned her daughter and heard this outgoing voicemail: “Wow. You’re old. Leave a message.” Even the most loquacious shun phone conversations. Case in point: In person, my three 30-something daughters have few unspoken thoughts. If I have the audacity to call them, they act as if I am pulling them away from open heart surgery at a critical moment. OK, so no phoning. What, then?

Be Prepared — Younger buyers will check you out and decide if you meet a need. This means you must carefully curate your LinkedIn profile and keep it updated. That’s where they’ll go first. What are they looking for? Each has their own criteria, but the common denominators are authenticity, relevancy, and value (as they define it). This makes it hard to design for, so do the best you can to be a person of interest: sharp headshot, interesting job description, recent postings, praise-filled testimonials, etc.
Pro tip: Make it a goal to portray the kind of person you’d trust, buy from, and want to spend time with. You are going to attract your own kind, so you be you.

Chapter Two: Connecting

You’ve heard it. Perhaps you’ve even spoken it: “Younger buyers aren’t interested in building a relationship.” But in truth, this is a misinterpretation of what is really going on. They do want relationships, but their definition is different than ours. No lunches. No golf. This is a waste of time to them. Do they want to trust you? Yes. But trust is earned through competence, not friendliness. You will build more equity with a young buyer by employing lightning-quick response time than you will a steak dinner. It’s no longer, “Do I like this salesperson.” Now, it’s, “Can this person help me make a good decision?

Radical Transparency — In the Christmas classic, “Miracle on 34th Street,” Santa advises a Macy’s customer to purchase her boy’s dream gift at Gimbels. The mother is shocked and pledges to reward the honesty with loyalty to Macy’s. The words, “That’s not us but here’s a good source for that” will take you a long way with a young buyer. In all communications, come from a place of “What would I do if it were my money?” and even use those words. Such authenticity builds trust, earns you a place of distinction, and results in engagement at the “idea” stage of the job rather than the purchase stage.

Chapter Three: Offer a Different Message

Bring Insight — Today’s buyer comes educated and confident. On the surface, that sounds great. But the predominant, “I already know everything I need to know on that subject” objection is a wall where the traditional sales pitch goes to die. Change your approach by talking options and outcomes, not features and benefits. Speak under the assumption they really do know it all but make it easy for the buyer to admit to the possibility there is room for education and edification. Walk the fine line between interpreting/educating and mansplaining/talking down to someone. Instead of, “Let me tell you about my capabilities,” try this: “Based on what you’ve told me, here are three risks I see and how other companies have handled them.”

Meet Their Medium — Exchange email messages with a client who emails you. Text replies to their texts. They will communicate using their preference. Start there. If a phone call, Zoom meeting, or face-to-face is warranted, suggest it and explain why. You’ve probably heard of mirroring as a form of selling. That’s where you match a customer’s pitch, tone, volume, and cadence. Extend that thinking to their medium and you will have covered all the bases.

Chapter Four: The Long-Term Connection

Help Them Grow — Create value between transactions by sharing articles and links to information about their industry. Be their source of content. Don’t assume any customer at any level follows trends in their own field. They don’t. Similarly, educate the customer on your field. Team up with your paper supplier and hold a lunch-and-learn at their facility. Teach print and they’ll buy print.

Don’t Leave Me — Ever try to switch banks? It is doable, of course, but painful and tedious. Getting set up with a new financial institution means entering data like account numbers and addresses. No thank you. Once you are in the door, stay there by connecting with the client electronically. If you can make it Amazon-easy, they are yours to lose.

New Loyalty — Want fierce loyalty from your young buyers? Deliver consistently, respond immediately, and do everything you can to make their life easier. Back in the day, if you owned the plates and negatives, you owned the customer. Then along came digital printing and loyalty was all about the electronic file. Now, this new generation of buyer has adopted a new definition of loyalty. Today, it is earned through performance rather than personal connection.

Top salespeople today aren’t relationship sellers or transactional sellers. They’re trusted advisors who combine speed, expertise, efficiency, and yes, salesmanship. They avoid high-pressure closing tactics and artificial urgency. The best of the best think, act, and sell from a place of “What is truly best for my customer?” They provide options, present trade-offs, and help evaluate alternatives.

Back in the day, we salespeople sold to buyers who liked and trusted us in part because information was scarce. We were their best source of knowledge. Today’s buyers have access to pricing, reviews, case studies, competitors, and user feedback before the first conversation. We need to change our game, meet new needs, and play by new rules. If it sounds chaotic, it is. But that’s how they like it: Everything, everywhere, all at once … only no hot dog fingers, please.