Mar/Apr 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

Fair or unfair, millennials in sales walk into their jobs having to overcome this stigma more times than not. Sales leaders will many times hire today’s college graduates expect- ing that they will assimilate into the sales environment of yesteryear, and then blame everyone but themselves when things don’t go as planned. In a business landscape that is flooded by a new batch of millennials each graduation season, business leaders need to understand the value system of the millennial worker and create an environment that is conducive to their ideology in order to get the most out of the modern workforce. If they don’t, it’s on them, not the employee. I’ve had great success over my 18- year leadership career by utilizing the overwhelming positives that millennial workers bring to the table. Let’s briefly look at two general stigmas that are at- tached to the millennial work force and how to take those perceived negatives and turn them into positives that will max- imize contributions to your organization. Millennial Stigma Number 1 – Mil- lennials don’t have the same fire to win as previous generations. Let’s all turn our memory banks back to the 1990s. Kids started to have sharing lessons in school, youth sports leagues stopped keeping score in games, trophies that were once reserved for winners went by the wayside, and the era of par- ticipation trophies came into being. This world that previous generations call “soft” is the world that created the mindset of the millennial worker. We must remember back to the “Oz Prin- ciple” (Connors, Smith, and Hickman): Experiences create beliefs, beliefs de- termine actions, and actions produce results. Because of their experiences, millennial workers tend to be more collaborative but also slightly less competitive than previous generations. In sales, winning is everything. The only thing that matters is closing the deal; there is no commission check for second place. Millennials come into the business world with a great sense of teamwork and a tremendous sense of pride for completing tasks. I’ve heard over and over again from millen- nial workers: “Man, I’m super busy. I did 60 proposals this week, I answered all of my emails, and I handled 10 problem accounts; what a great week!” “So how much business did you close,” is my usual follow up to all of that. “Well, none, but I was so busy that I didn’t have any time to follow up on the quotes that I did last week,” an- swers the millennial worker. This is a very typical challenge in managing millennials in sales, and if it’s not coached properly it will lead to a wasted investment in the employee. The very first thing that I explain to a new salesperson out of college is that activity is great, but working “smart hours” is much more important than working “many hours.” Unlike their parents, millennials grew up with a smartphone in their hands, so they are many times more than willing to work from their devices well past closing channel management I hear this common theme regularly: Millennials have an undeserved sense of entitlement, a lack of hunger and passion for winning, and paper thick skin. Millennial Myths and Management By Bruce Wirt 108 Channel Vision | March - April, 2019