If you are contemplating hiring Generation Y salespeople, then you must first know how to relate to them in such a way as to ensure that you will get 100% from their performance. Find out important information on what you need to know about Generation Y in this segment from an interview between Dale Beaumont and David Staughton.

David Straughton is an in-demand corporate and public speaker. Founder of Think Big and trainer to hundreds of companies on topics such as generating sales, improving productivity and much more.

What advice can you offer about employing Generation Y salespeople?

• Focus on what’s important to Generation Y – most want a clear fast-track career path with the opportunity to move ahead.
• Offer freedom within boundaries – clearly spell out the house-rules upfront.
• Build more trust – make them feel respected and important from day one (think about business cards and impressive job titles).
• Assist in their development – help with quality training and development. For example, coaching, mentoring, special project work and the opportunity to learn from mistakes.
• Be flexible – when it comes to rostering, time off and your attitude to decision-making, ensure that you consider their input – be an asker, and not a teller.
• Provide unlimited praise, support and encouragement – Generation Y might think they are great, but many of them have little resilience. So go easy on the negativity and harsh discipline.
• Make work like a game – provide lots of fun and competition. They need work to be like a game with action, a sense of urgency, continuous continual scoring and feedback, challenges and opportunities to access ‘game cheats’ (a fast fast track to playing at high levels).

In the US, Wendy’s Restaurants uses a great model called FAMILY when dealing with Generation Y.

• F is for ‘fun‘ – make the job exciting and challenging.
• A is for ‘applaud‘ – recognise your people with rewards and thanks.
• M is for ‘model‘ – ‘walk the talk’ and set a great example.
• I is for ‘involvement‘ – ask and use other people’s input.
• L is for ‘lead‘ – lead, train and develop people.
• Y is for ‘yield‘ – agree with some requests, especially when it involves rostering.

Remember, you will only receive respect from Generation Y after you have given respect to them. They are not cogs in a machine, but rather leaders in waiting. They seek an opportunity, not just a job, and want employers who care about them (and if you pretend to care about them, they will only pretend to work).

For more of this interview and finding out important information about Generation Y check out “Secrets of Small Business Owners Exposed!“

The post Advice on Employing Generation Y Salespeople appeared first on Business Blueprint.

David Straughton is an in-demand corporate and public speaker. Founder of Think Big and trainer to hundreds of companies on topics such as generating sales, improving productivity and much more..

You are known for having great customer service. How did you develop and deliver that service?

When I first started, customer service was terrible. I had no idea about what customers really wanted or how critical it was. I was always stressed out and we made mistakes everywhere. Then we hired better staff, trained them and used lots of simple systems. We sent out four-page customer satisfaction surveys and spent a lot of time eliminating our mistakes. We worked hard on having back-up systems and improving our service. It worked – by word of mouth business grew and we eliminated any negative publicity with service recovery programs.

Customers typically remember some events more than others – especially the ones that were most painful or pleasurable (the higher the emotional intensity, the stronger the memory). This is very useful in understanding what customers really value in a customer experience.

First impressions and last impressions are critical. These are the ‘defining moments‘ or ‘moments of truth‘ that customers use to get a gut feeling about whether you really provide value.

A useful analytical tool for customer experience is FLOW:

• F is for ‘First‘ – look at how you can make a better first impression and ultimately improve your service.
• L is for ‘Last‘ – the last impression is based on the last interaction you have with your client – a meeting, your farewell, an event, a newsletter or even an invoice.
• O is for ‘Ouch‘ – this is where customers have been slapped around or have had a painful experience. Most customers are far more aware of the painful interactions than the pleasurable ones.
• W is for ‘Wow‘ – things that would normally impress the clients and make them go ‘Wow!’ The wow-factor will result in more word-of-mouth referrals.

For more of this interview and how to develop customer service standards check out “Secrets of Small Business Owners Exposed!“

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