What Generation Z does differently in sales

Solution competence

Gen Z has grown up in a world of smartphones, social media and almost unlimited availability of information. Their main concern is to solve problems and needs quickly and easily. In the business environment, they want the best product, the best service for their situation and the right, efficient advice, preferably online and in real time. They also bring this aspiration and the technologies behind it to their workplace. In sales, the DNA of digital natives influences sales processes on several levels.     

Visual imprint

Members of Gen Z are more visual than millennials and the like, not least due to moving images in social media. Where learning and understanding via text used to be the maxim, it helps young sales people to outline processes in the company on a whiteboard, for example, and thus visualize them for everyone involved in the process. In sales departments, the skills of visualizing complex topics and abstraction are useful when developing new sales strategies, putting together teams or outlining customer types. Gen Z uses graphics and recorded processes to create new structures that are then manifested and clearly understandable for everyone - including new employees who join the team.

Lifelong learning

Generation Z expects an open environment in which their ideas are welcome. This openness is rewarded by classic representatives of this age group with a high willingness to learn. In sales, this manifests itself in a high willingness to integrate digital tools and adapted sales strategies into their day-to-day work and to undergo continuous further training. Inquisitive people now have more channels and a wide range of knowledge pools at their disposal. From podcasts on sales topics to live webinars on LinkedIn, the next generation of sales professionals can draw from the full range.    

Social media virtuosity

Understand the customer, focus on them and then keep at it. Sales professionals put this motto into practice in face-to-face meetings or on the phone. Gen Z is expanding the channels and strengthening customer loyalty via social media. This is where the strong ability to build online relationships that they have learned helps, which has gained immensely in importance in business dealings in recent years. The adept handling of social media trends can be transferred to the business world - for example, quite profanely through the use of memes. This creates a trend awareness for what is going on outside in the business world. A knowledge advantage that not least provides topics for sales talks.

"Mix up"

A contemporary view of sales methodology should distinguish between change and knowledge. With regard to the terms mentioned at the beginning, such as data analytics, it can be said that good sales employees have been drawing knowledge about leads and customers from their databases for decades. Then as now, a well-maintained system with high data quality was important. "Platforms that support the organization and distribution of projects are part of every modern company toolkit today," says Robert Sperl, Managing Director of databyte GmbH. "They save time and conserve personnel capacities. "The same applies to sales, which can act in a resource-saving manner with external SaaS solutions of daily updated lead data records.

The generational change is leading to a further development of established selling. This also includes an increased degree of automation in customer contact. Where previously a great deal of manual effort was required to approach potential customers, automation tools and methods such as SEO measures and programmed sales funnels are now helping.

Charisma will always remain the most important tool; digital tools can take care of the necessary hard work. The future, and therefore better sales, will come from an intelligent mix of the tried and tested with the new.

Source: www.databyte.de