Presented by Ryan Jenkins, speaker, author and Inc Magazine columnist
Success remotely: Consider Halo Top ice cream, which went from $230,000 in revenue in 2013 to $100 million in 2019. It accomplished this with no headquarters office and 75 employees working remotely.
Four tech impacts:
COVID-19 acceleration abundance: Connectivity, access to information, access to capital, transportation options and productivity tools — all are now available in abundance, and often for free.
Staying relevant in disruptions. Every industry is now being disrupted. A first step is to replace the prevailing models that lead to complacency and slow deterioration of business. A first question to ask yourself: What makes us unique? A first route to the answer: Ask outside people, outside your industry, outside your usual audience and outside your generation.
Now to some specific strategies for this disrupted era:
Overcoming the “communications divide.” Communication preferences vary by generation, with Boomers preferring actual telephone or face-to-face conversations, GenXers liking email and Millennials and GenZers way prefer text, and will simply not respond to voice mail.
Solutions: Defer your communications. Use generation clues to figure how to communicate. And “mirror communications” by communicating through the method that your recipient prefers.
Advice: Don’t hesitate to use an emoji to make clear the meaning of a short text. Just 17% of emerging generations think the use of an emoji is unprofessional.
You could Google it: YouTube is now the number two search engine used in the world, while it is number one among those under 35.
Video killed the search star: Video was growing even before the pandemic. Fully 90% of consumers said video helped them make a buying decision. Video makes bookings at events jump by 500%. The strategy suggests itself: Use video to engage buyers.
Digital strategy: Enhance the buyer experience. Identify the stumbling blocks in your service for buyers. Then make transactions as seamless as possible.
Secret shoppers. Some 70% of buyers have researched a product and 44% have settled on a specific product at a specific business — both before ever engaging with a sales rep.
You asked: Please connect this webinar’s advice to newspapers. One example: Use video to get testimonials from businesses that found success with your newspaper.
Several of you asked: How do you get Boomers or GenXers to adapt communications methods preferred by emerging generations? Most broadly, encourage people to be curious about those communications preferences. For a good example, check out this Ryan Jenkins column in Inc Magazine about how Chick-fil-A learned to communicate with emerging generations: https://bit.ly/2YJj63B
Ryan Jenkins said it: “The ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ mindset is a slippery slope to irrelevance.”
Want to follow up with Ryan Jenkins? Email him at ryan@ryan-jenkins.com or visit his website www.ryan-jenkins.com
