I got a bone to pick today. Lucky for you, the rant I’m about to rave about should be able to help you—especially if you’re older than a millennial and wanna learn the secrets of selling and marketing to millennials and gen Z.
Here goes:
A few days ago, I decided to get pre-qualified for a house. Home prices are falling, and I can also refi later if’n interest rates drop. No realtor yet, but I figured I’d kick start the process. That way if Peanut or I come across our dream house, we’ll be prepared.
And so, I went through all the steps of getting pre-qualified, i.e. filling out a bunch of forms online.
One of the form fields, as I’m sure you can guess, was a phone number field. I hate filling out phone number fields. Only two possible things come from filling out phone number fields: You either get spam calls out the wazoo, or spam SMS messages out the wazoo.
I reluctantly finished filling out the form, leaving my phone number and all. (In truth, I’ve been through this process multiple times over the past few months, and always stopped when I got to the phone number field because I knew what it meant.)
Well, this time I filled it out.
Big mistake.
Lemme check my phone real quick…
The mortgage company called me 13 times over a span of 4 days.
13 mf times.
13!
To throw salt in my wound:
After filling out each step of the pre-qualification form, they told me they’d call me or email me with more info.
Guess how many emails I’ve received since filling out this form:
Zero!
13 calls, not-a-one email.
Now, I’m not like most of my generation, I’m not allergic to talking on the phone. I pick up most times a client calls me, with few exceptions. I even answer a fair share of spam calls in case someone important is on the other end.
But a 13 call to zero emails ratio is maddening.
Why?
Because I’ve been busy every single time they’ve called. They’ve called me while I was in meetings. On sales calls. In the middle of deep work. While I’m at the gym.
Here’s the kicker:
I wanna talk to these mfs. I’m not gonna go out of my way to call them back—I’m terrible at calling people back if I miss their calls—because buying a house isn’t my top priority. But like I said, I wanna get this over with, so I have a head start if’n I come across my dream house.
Here’s what I wish they’d do instead:
(take note if’n you need to sell to millennials and zoomers)
Email me, and ask when I’m free. Or at least ask me to schedule an appointment.
(sorry I’m not available at any odd time of the day, but I run a business here, and I value my time.)
Yet, instead their strategy is to call me as much as possible and interrupt my day whenever they so please.
Which brings me to the point:
Yes, millennials and zoomers hate talking on the phone.
But some of that hatred is justified.
You don’t have control over my time. I don’t care if you’re a mortgage company, a client, or a friend.
There are smarter ways to talk to me:
I’ve never once skipped a meeting I had on my calendar.
Why?
Because I plan around it. The other person I’m meeting isn’t interrupting me smack-dab in the middle of a meeting or when I’m at my most productive.
Moral of the story?
You gon have to learn this if’n you wanna sell to millennials and zoomers.
I tried to teach you the “soft way” here. But if’n you ignore my teachings, then, well, you’ll learn the hard way.
Anywho:
Ready to pour gasoline over your offers with my help on the email front, so you can make more money while doing less work?
John
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