Generation C: It’s All About Collaboration
This is an excerpt from the 15 in 2015 Inside Sales Trend Report.
I recently received an inbound call from an interested prospect — a young sales leader — who was very interested in me providing her with a training proposal WHILE WE WERE ON THE CALL. I felt like a human ROI calculator there for a minute! In the age of filling out online contact forms and browsing profiles, this was a visceral real-time experience.
Real-time collaboration is what Millennials are all about today. According to UNC’s oft-cited study Maximizing Millennials in the Workplace, this generation tends towards fast, on-demand collaboration, often through digital channels. Previous generations tended to be “cowboys” — individualistic and independent. Millennials are more comfortable and productive when they aren’t left on their own. Most Millennial employees report wanting regular feedback from their boss and desire a workplace that fosters peer-collaboration.
It makes sense: Technology is driving us toward a more connected, collaborative society where like-minded people can connect and form productive partnerships. Millennials, brought up at the height of this trend, are natural adopters. As Brian Solis put it, we’re at the dawn of “Generation C, where ‘C’ represents a connected society based on interests and behavior. Gen C is not an age group though, it’s a way of life. Whether you’re 60, 26, or 16, you share behaviors, expectations, and values that change the nature of markets.”
Millennial customers are after the same experience with salespeople. My interested prospect had done her research and self-education online, and was ready to start working with me on a proposal . . . NOW. It’s a perfect example of how Customer 2.0 is changing the traditional sales cycle by staying away until they’ve done their research, but then suddenly popping up and pushing for real-time response and collaboration when they’re ready.
To learn more about this, download our 15 in 2015 Inside Sales Trend Report.
