Many companies and organizations have been struggling to find a way they can fit Millennials into their workforce. While Millennials aren’t that different from their older colleagues, they do have a different set of values that makes business owners wonder what they can do to rain and develop them in a better way.
A Bit More About Millennials
According to Gordon Tredgold, founder and CEO of Leadership Principles, there is some interesting data that is worth to be mentioned so you can better understand how Millennials think:
- More than 60% of Millennials state that they prefer to earn less at a job than earning more at a job they don’t like.
- Almost 90% of Millennials prefer to work in a place where there is collaboration instead of competition.
- About 80% of Millennials prefer to get direct feedback
- Millennials tend to stay longer in the same job than Gen-X.
While there are some differences between Millennials and other workers, the reality is that it is important to keep in mind that there are also some similarities. After all, they share the same passion for their careers.
So, What’s The Challenge?
One of the main difficulties that have been shared by many senior sales leaders is concerned about how to train and develop Millennial salespeople. And the numbers don’t lie. After all, it is very expensive to hire a new employee. And this becomes even more evident for those companies who prefer a more traditional approach to training. These companies tend to provide all kinds of training to new employees in a traditional classroom.
In addition to all this, most experts believe that by 2025, about 75% of the global workforce will be in the hands of millennials. So, you need to take some measures to ensure that your staff is well trained.
5 Tips To Train And Develop A Millennial Sales Force
#1: Use Video:
There’s no question that Millennials love video. After all, just think that they include their mobile apps on everything they do. So, with this in mind, instead of keeping your sales training in a classroom using the old Powerpoint presentations, you can come up with different training methods using videos instead. Millennials will think the training will be a lot more fun and they will definitely be more engaged.
#2: Keep Track Results & Give Feedback Directly:
As we mentioned above, Millennials prefer to get their feedback directly and not get a written report, for example. So, one of the things you can consider doing is to implement the “test to teach” approach.
Since millennials like to get regular feedback, you don’t need to wait until the end of the year to do it. Besides, this ends up being better for companies as well. After well, when they get your feedback, they will know what they are doing right and what they need to improve. So, you will be seeing an evolution throughout the entire year.
#3: Make Sure That The Sales Training Is A Constant:
One of the best things about working with Millennials is that they are always eager to learn. Besides, millennials also appreciate having the time to be with their families as well a to pursue their personal goals. So, more flexibility in terms of the training you provide is definitely a plus.
#4: Allow Them To Learn From Their Peers:
One of the things that we mentioned above is that millennials prefer collaboration over competition. This means that they prefer to work with their peers instead of with the sales manager, for example. After all, thy don’t like being told what to do.
And this goes for training as well. So, whenever possible, you should make sure that the sales training that you provide your employees with should be given by a peer. In addition, Millennials love to see things in action and they are more willing to watch and listen to one of their peers demonstrate a skill than a manager. This is often called social learning.
#5: Use Gamification To Engage Your Millennials:
As we already mentioned and you probably already know, Millennials are great fans of using technology into their favor. This is why they always try to use apps to keep up with their goals. So, gamification makes total sense here. After all, they will be completely engaged when trying to “hack the system” or “find the back stairs to the next level”. You will be enticing their imagination and creativity to look not only for problems but for the solutions to those same problems. So, they will get the reward.
Bottom Line
Training and developing a Millennial sales force doesn’t need to be hard or impossible. All you need to do, as a business owner, is to put yourself into their shoes and see the things they prefer and their values. Since by 2025 about 75% of the global workforce will be in the hands of millennials, you need to ensure that you can engage them the best way you can. And with the 5 different ways that we showed you, we are sure that both your company and your employees will benefit from the change.
