Others

Every generation has a catchy title and explanation about how they see the world and how they function best. With a plethora of titles for different generations, it’s time to ask ourselves “Do we tailor our service to these diverse customers?”

If you are able to uncover how each generation of customers prefers to access customer service and prefers to be communicated with, you can develop long lasting relationships with customers that secure a lifetime of loyalty.

Baby Boomers – 1946 to 1964

There are many elements involved in creating a successful business but one thing is always for certain: your customers need to be at the heart of whatever you do. Two business concepts – the customer life cycle and customer relationship management – can help companies to make the most of their customers, ensuring that they are offering good services and maximising their chances of creating a sustainable business.

Recent exhaustive surveys suggest that only 5% of professional salespeople reach and remain at the highest level, which we call ‘Level 3’.  A further 15% attain ‘Level 2’ status, but the majority - i.e. a massive 80% - remain at ‘Level 1’ in terms of potential achievement.

Slotting affords manufacturers the opportunity to approach retailers, with lump-sum payments, to stock the shelves with new products. For more than 25 years this practice has benefited many manufacturers and according to a study performed by Deloitte and Touche, slotting contributed to 16% of the cost for establishing a new product (Sudhir & Vithala, 2006). Slotting also drives product advertisements and signaling demands.

I received a call from an ex-student this week who is designing an induction program for new recruits about to embark upon a career in sales. He asked that if I had to create the "12 golden principles of selling," what would I come up with?