Well, as I just turned 50, I should probably qualify ‘old’ before I upset too many people. A 2019 research showed that 60% of people who start small businesses are between the ages of 40 and 60. There are so many implications for selling and marketing to these people that I just had to put a blog together about it.
How To Reach Them
“I emailed everything you said and nobody’s gotten back to me Chala!” is a complaint I hear from my misguided B2B clients all the time. That’s because they missed the part of my instructions that said to Call, Mail, then Call again. The old generation may be busy as heck and may be screening your calls and all that jazz but they still notice who calls them. They still pick up the phone to do business transactions. They weren’t born with an iPad in their hands.
How To Dazzle Them
The best way to dazzle most humans (let’s be honest) is in person. Our busy lives and scattered geography of doing business often doesn’t allow the in-person selling or presenting. As much as possible, get your mug in front of ‘old’ people. Either in person or on zoom. Then make sure to put plenty of time in the schedule while they grapple with the technology. I’m not putting people in the older generations down, I’m just relating my personal experiences of working with them. Use their comfort zones to your advantage and cater to their preferences. Trust increases where they can see and feel you in person.
How To Do Business With Them
The same way you got them to buy from you. You develop a high-touch, frequent visibility relationship with them. It may involve some hand-holding through technology and new advancements in your industry. It may include extra convincing for certain things they’ve done that way for a 100 years (haha) but one thing about us ‘old’ people is that we are hard core loyal. No ghosting and no disappearing on you.
So learn to attract and do business with ‘old’ folks who will follow you to the grave. No pun intended.
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Great to hear these stats – I am 65 and although I have been running my business for 14 I have had to transition my business into something diffrent as an illness altered my ability to lug boxes around etc. I have been a Professional Organizer for 14 years and am the past Chair of the Toronto Professional Organizers in Canada Chapter. Now I have transitioned into a Personal Success Coach – consisting first of defining what personal success means to my client and then go about helping them to attain it. I use a mixture of Time Management tips, skills and tools to increase their clarity and focus. I help them attain personal efficiency while at the same time reducing their stress and helping them to improve their organization both physically and mentally. The older generation, which I am one, re as your described.
So trueChala. Love your comments in the generation over 40.