THE GENERATION GAP!!!!!!!!! Part III

At every opportunity, I try to spend time with our grandsons (ages 8 and 10).   While they are a handful all the time, they teach me about their interests, what drives them, and what may be ahead for us.   Their world is surely different from mine.      Like so many other young kids today, their lives and priorities seem to be focused on their “tablet.”   Nothing seems to be more important to them than this device and what I have learned to be termed “SCREEN TIME.”  Video games are a priority.   It has become a routine for parents around the world to limit the amount of screen time for their children.  

I learned recently about the dominance of “Minecraft.”

As I experience this phenomenon unfolding in front of me, I start to think about what the future will look like for them.   The current changes are already striking to me, and for these “kids,” their world will be even more different as they grow up.  What will it be like to sell to this audience?  Will they be:

1.     Interested and receptive to a sales pitch, how to pitch to them

2.     Interested in a pitch, and what should the pitch look like

3.     Will the pitch be done by a human

4.     Motivated to buy, and what will that motivation be

5.     Interested in product knowledge, features, advantages, and benefits

6.     Readily open to objections and seek answers to their objections

7.     Expressing buying signals and what these will look like, and most importantly, how to close them

A fundamental question would be, do they want human interaction, or will they make buying decisions solely based on what is available on a website or social media?  In many ways, I feel we are already experiencing this as the young seem to prefer getting all their information electronically.   How will this change further?   If we cannot sell to them directly, is it our strategy to strengthen the website as much as possible to ensure that the information provided electronically is doing the sales job?  Do we find a way to create the sales cycle electronically?  Do we rely on the computer to do the selling?

These are thought-provoking questions that I want to answer.   I still believe that what I have done over the years is correct, but change is necessary, and not to change is fatal.

Thank you for following my Blog.  Please tell me what you think.   It is a chance for me to learn from you.  Here is my email address, paul.pei.op@gmail.com.