[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/04\/what-buyers-and-sellers-want-gen-z\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/04\/what-buyers-and-sellers-want-gen-z\/","headline":"What buyers and sellers want: Gen Z and millennial expectations","name":"What buyers and sellers want: Gen Z and millennial expectations","description":"Buyers and sellers today are much different than generations past. Find out what it takes to meet the needs of these digital natives.","datePublished":"2022-10-04","dateModified":"2024-06-17","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/grant-smith\/#Person","name":"Grant Smith","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/grant-smith\/","identifier":307,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/410a6ed4b1bf9318b153b5db16d0a11f6e71495022a98ead8a1fa1f87e98b3a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/410a6ed4b1bf9318b153b5db16d0a11f6e71495022a98ead8a1fa1f87e98b3a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/what-buyers-and-sellers-want_FTR.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/what-buyers-and-sellers-want_FTR.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/04\/what-buyers-and-sellers-want-gen-z\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/sales\/crm\/","name":"CRM","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_relationship_management","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q485643"]},"Employee Experience & Engagement",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/sales\/","name":"Sales","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sales","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q194189"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/sales\/sales-general\/","name":"Sales","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sales","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q194189"]},"Sales Success"],"wordCount":1193,"keywords":["B2B Buyers","B2B Sales","Digital Natives","Employee Experience","Generation Z","Millennials","Sales Reps"],"articleBody":"Sales is all about crushing quota, right? It\u2019s a compensation driven career in which people often switch jobs for more money or a greater chance of success. Most sales executives I\u2019ve spoken to cite earning potential and the drive to be financially successful as top motivators for their sales organizations.But when it comes millennial and Gen Z sellers, data suggests they care about more than monetary rewards. They want to work for an organization that not only supports them, but actively tries to make their jobs more straightforward, satisfying and enjoyable. In other words, they care about their experience.Buyers from these digital-native generations share similar expectations. They want exceptional experiences and smooth, streamlined processes.What do companies need to attract and retain these buyers and sellers? Let’s take a look.For sellers, work imitates lifeWe\u2019re all digitally enabled in our daily lives and an increasingly large segment of the workforce has grown up in a digital-first world, where information is freely available and easy to find.As consumers, we\u2019ve become accustomed to tools and technology making our lives easier and more productive. As employees, most of us have grown to expect our work experience to be like the rest of our lives. Sellers are no exception.Sellers don\u2019t want to spend days ploughing through mindless tasks that could (and should) be automated. They don\u2019t want to use spreadsheets for tracking and data analysis, or jump through hoops just to create a quote for a customer.For decades, this is how sales was done because CRM was just a system of record. Sellers had no choice but to submit quotes for approval to deal desks and wait for the results. Spreadsheets were the only way to store and retrieve data. Content, originally on paper in filing cabinets, was buried inside the digital equivalent: complex 50-file deep structures that actively discouraged anyone to look for it.Yet some of these antiquated systems remain in place. In a Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report sponsored by SAP, Frank Cesperedes, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, says \u201cdespite technology advances, most sales models are the ad-hoc accumulation of years of reactive decisions made by multiple managers pursuing different goals.\u201d      Lead acceleration: When digital selling and collaboration tools collide                Clear communication comes naturally to traditional, in-person sales engagements, but faces significant challenges over digital channels. Collaboration tools can help solve those pain points.      If they don\u2019t like it, they\u2019ll leaveBack then, it was harder to change jobs. Today, we have entire social platforms dedicated to professional endeavors, and to helping people get new jobs. It\u2019s easy for recruiters to find and contact people, and it\u2019s easy for employees to find new jobs.This culture of opportunity means there\u2019s much less importance attached to the idea of staying with an organization for more than a few years, let alone a entire career.Employee experience has become crucial to retention, especially in sales with its performance pressure and a higher-than-average churn rate. You\u2019re never going to stop people leaving for more money, but you can stop them leaving for a better work experience.A positive seller experience generally results in performance improvements and greater quota attainment. The nature of sales is that you get compensated for what you achieve, but you can\u2019t achieve much if you\u2019re always dealing with time-consuming, repetitive tasks.Replace these tasks with automation and the seller is free to spend more time selling and building relationships. That could be anything from automated quote approval to recommended next-best action.Bottom-line: the easier it’s for a seller to do their job and succeed, the better it’s for everyone.By giving them access to the support they need, and to technology that speeds up processes, sellers gain a level of autonomy within their job. In their lives outside of work, technology has given them new levels of control over everything from central heating to delivery slots. They expect the same autonomy over their working lives.      What is employee experience management: Definition, benefits, strategy                Learn about employee experience management and why it matters. Improving employee experience unlocks big business benefits.      Like sellers, like buyersThe same applies to buyers because just like sellers, they\u2019re increasingly digital natives. And it\u2019s changing how sales works.The HBR Analytic Services survey found that 55% of organizations have changed how they sell to accommodate the numbers of digital native buyers. That figure is only going to grow.These buyers don\u2019t want to be treated as part of an assembly line, where they\u2019re processed through your organization\u2019s sales cycle in a linear fashion, and where the organization is in control (or likes to think it is.)Buyers are increasingly in control of the sales process. They\u2019ve done their research. They may well know what they want, what they want to spend, and when they want it. And if they don\u2019t, they expect the organization to help them figure it out.Their expectations are of a sales process that\u2019s as straightforward as possible, with clever use of technology to make their experience easier, faster and, crucially, not irritating.A prime example is when you buy something, it breaks, and you can’t get it fixed or customer service falls short. Just at the point where you\u2019re considering never using this company again, it attempts to sell you something else, because customer service doesn\u2019t talk to sales and marketing so they\u2019re unaware of the problem.Sales and marketing should have seen your interaction with customer service and stepped in to sort out the problem. As customers and buyers, we accept that organizations know huge amounts about us, but we expect them to use the knowledge to help us.Yet plenty of organizations don’t use customer data to customize the buyer\u2019s journey. In the HBR Analytic Services survey, 32% of respondents said they\u2019re not doing so, or only to a slight extent.      Want more customers, loyalty, and sales? Using customer data can do that                Top brands are using customer data to understand the customer journey and deliver positive experiences that boost loyalty and revenue.      Buyers and sellers: Great experiences aren\u2019t the exception anymoreIn the past, organizations could get away with running sales the old way. For some, it was a badge of honor, even a selling point: \u201cWe do things the old fashioned way. The proper way.\u201d Staff labored over time-consuming processes for buyers and sellers.But as seasoned sellers retire, the younger digital-first staff replacing them will not put up with such inefficiencies. The experience they want is not the exception anymore. It\u2019s expected. When an organization can\u2019t provide it, sellers will move to one that does.The same holds true for the modern digital-native buyers. If a company fails to provide them with the personalized, seamless experience they expect, they’ll quickly switch to the competition.  Always. Be. Closing.Take a product tour to see how a modern CRM can help you reach your sales goals HERE. "},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2022","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"04","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/\/10\/\/04\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"What buyers and sellers want: Gen Z and millennial expectations","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2022\/10\/04\/what-buyers-and-sellers-want-gen-z\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]