According to a recent article about employee training and the challenges of Gen Y, there are 5 tips recommended to call center employees about how to handle and manage Gen Y customers.
Here they are:
1) Earn their loyalty.
From the Article: Give them training and an opportunity to excel. Tap into their idealism and desire to be loyal. Whatever you do, do not betray that trust or they will quit. They saw their parent, or parents (much of this generation was raised in single parent homes) sacrifice family time in pursuit of a career, only to be eventually downsized. So, Generation Y’s are willing to sacrifice their careers in exchange for family and more downtime. They will be loyal to a cause but impatient if they feel betrayed.
2) Use facts to overcome their cynicism.
From the Article: These teenagers and young adults are the first generation to be deliberately targeted by mass marketers and TV commercials. They are cynical because they have been lied to before. You need to prove through facts and case histories why they should believe you.
3) Don’t be surprised if they challenge you or dare to say, “Why should I believe you?”
From the Article: They are not being deliberately rude. But, they need to find out “Why?” before they will accept your advice. They are capable of being loyal but will not give that loyalty easily.
4) Get to the point!
From the Article: Raised with the Internet and cell phones, they are used to instant gratification. For example, if you are over 30 years old and wanted music, you probably bought a CD (or for those of us who are over 40, a vinyl record.) Generation Y downloads music instantly via the Internet. As a result, when you hold a call center or retail sales training session, you need to make your point quickly and directly.
5) Do not confuse impatience with indifference.
From the Article: If they believe your training session is unimportant, they will interrupt you or tune you out. But, if you can show why your training workshop is important, you will have their full attention.
The interesting component is that these same rules apply to presentations and visual storytelling.
1) Earn their loyalty.
Presentations and Storytelling: One of my personal mottos, particularly in the presentation environment is: “Build Trust. Win People. Deliver Results.” Earning trust is easy when giving a presentation. Maintaining it is the toughest part. If you build trust, you will win people, and if you win people, you will deliver results. This holds true when talking to any generation.
2) Use facts to overcome their cynicism.
Presentations and Storytelling: Gen Xers and millennials do appreciate facts, but they also enjoy a bit of sarcasm. In fact, they want to be presented with facts in a cynical way. Think Family Guy.
3) Don’t be surprised if they challenge you or dare to say, “Why should I believe you?”
Presentations and Storytelling: Be transparent. Period.
4) Get to the point!
Presentations and Storytelling: Remember these simple rules from Dan Pink. Great presentations have brevity, levity, and repetition. You can never go wrong with brevity with any generation.
5) Do not confuse impatience with indifference.
Presentations and Storytelling: Simply, state your objectives up front. Address why everyone is there to hear you speak. Address this question early on when giving a presentation to Gen X and Y and you are setting yourself up to win big.
