“They’re more apt to ride mass transit to work and use car sharing services — pioneered by Zipcar — for longer trips. And car sharing choices are expanding, with car rental firms moving into the market, making it convenient for young folks to rent with hourly rates and easy insurance. Connect by Hertz, for example, is rolling out its car sharing services in the New York metropolitan area, with plans to eventually expand them to around 40 college campuses nationwide.”

Given the state of the economy and the cost of auto insurance, this makes sense. As my husband, Mike, always says “The minute you drive a car off a car lot, the value depreciates.”

Read the full article here

If you are a Gen Y making a decision to buy a car or not, we would love to hear your comments.

I can tell by his interview that he “gets” youth marketing.  He discusses the need for collaboration, transparency, authenticity and to have a “killer product” behind the brand.

Mr. Youth has impressed me since the year 2006.  They truly stay ahead of the bleeding edge…they are the edge that all youth marketers should strive to reach…so check them out at http://MrYouth.com.

Congratulations Doug!

Read the full report here by by Janna Quitney Anderson, Elon University and Lee Rainie, Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project

But…what I do know is about the hundreds of conversations I have had with over 1,000 Generation Y (born 1977-1997) over the last four years about everything from how they choose their friends to how they buy a home.  So, as someone who is in the real estate business, I am going to let you in on 10 secrets that I believe will help you reach this target market more effectively.

1.  Get to know this generation. If you know what Generation Y values, you can sell to them.  They value:

• Time
• Ongoing learning
• The ability to scrutinize and voice their opinions
• Access to information at the push of a button
• Creativity
• Integrity
• Transparancy
• Flexibility

So, if you consider the above values, you will want to also get brushed up on the following:

2.  The use of smart phones, texting and social networks. Generation Y is a new breed when it comes to buying a home (and yes…they are buying homes at an earlier age than their older siblings, and many are talking their parents into a loan or buying an investment home).   Before they even call you or text you, they have done their homework.  There is a good chance they know the home better than you do, so be prepared for a string of text messages or direct messages on  Twitter regarding the home.  With a smart phone, you can send quick photographs or a slide show of the home they are most interested.  I would caution you against setting up a meeting in your office first to talk about the home.  Your best approach is to text and interact by Facebook and then meet them at the home as quickly as possible.

3.  Talk to Generation Y as adults and as a support partner. Generation Y was born and raised by helicopter parents who have hovered over them from the day they were born.  So, when it comes to business and buying a home, they want someone who can be a true support partner…not a parent who is giving advice.  Sit back and let them ask questions and then sell based on bits and pieces that you pick up from their questions.

4.  Be 110% transparent. Generation Y has watched as some of the folks on Wall Street have ripped off vulnerable people right and left.  They have watched as their parents have been fired, downsized and laid off, so they are going to be pretty skeptical.  So…be upfront and as see-through as you can be.  If you make a mistake, tell them.  And by all means, drop the idea of trying to pull anything over on this generation or sell them something just because you want to make a sale.  If they know you are trying to oversell or you are skipping a thing or two, they will drop you like a hot potato, and they will tell their friends about the bad experience. If they have a tough question, answer it directly and don’t “sandwich” bad information between two pieces of good information.  (They know that schtick).  They want direct answers and they want them quickly.

5.  Be young in your approach without trying to act too “hip”. Gen Y does not even like the word “hip”, but you know what I mean.  Going back to number 3 on being a support partner…Gen Y wants to know that you are on their same level.  They are casual in their approach, so a more business casual dress is probably in order.  If your look is outdated or too uptight, it will turn them off.  Update your hair cut, get a great looking pair of glasses and just get a pinch of an update in your wardrobe.  Again…you don’t want to look too young, but you also don’t want to look like you just stepped out of a bad movie from the 1970′s.

Community Handprint for Madison, WI by Next Generaton Consulting

6.  Know what Generation Y is looking for in the neighborhoods they choose to live in.  If you look at the handprint to the right of Madison, WI, you will see the qualities that Generation Y is looking for in a city.  These same attributes can apply to a neighborhood.

Rebecca Ryan and her team at Next Generation Consulting developed this smart handprinting system, and they are doing some amazing work around the country using their metrics to determine how attractive the city is to Generation Y.  They look at 7 indices to determine if your city can pass the “Gen Y cool factor”.  These same principles can apply to neighborhoods and should be used as selling points when talking to the age 22-31 buyer:

1. Cost of living
2. Access to ongoing learning
3. Strength of social capital
4. After hours “things to do”
5. “Around Town” Index (is it easy to get around…can you park your car and walk to grocery stores, shopping, dining out, night life and theaters
6. Earning power
7. Vitality…is the city buzzing and is the city taking care of the environment?

To get the full scoop on this study and more about Next Gen Consulting, visit this page.

7.  Be the first to respond, and use your time with your Gen Y buyers efficiently. Time is one of their top values, and if you don’t return a text or a phone call quickly, they will just move on to the next realtor on their list.  Yes!  They are impatient, but we are all becoming that way in life.  We want overnight delivery, we want a phone call back within an hour, and I watch as a Gen Y sends a text and watches their phone for an instant reply.  You may not agree with their impatience factor, but they did not create their impatience…we Baby Boomers did and handed them the technology to force them into craving quick responses, the ability to multi-task and to change their minds quickly.  So…get em while they’re hot!

8.  If you are someone who has been talking negatively about Generation Y…calling them entitled, job hopping and lacking gratitude, you will need to truly change your attitude before you try to sell to them. Just as I said in number 7, if Generation Y is coming across as entitled or demanding, it is because we raised them to be that way.  They could become one of the biggest assets to your business, so if you have a negative view of the Generation, then you have not studied them enough.  This is one of the brightest generations we have seen in the history of mankind, and if you are only seeing  a few “negative sides” of this generation only, they will smell it a mile away.

9.  Make sure to be partnering with people who can help out younger buyers with their first loan. Generation Y is coming into adulthood with a great amount of student debt, so you are going to need to get creative in finding homes that are affordable and meet the criteria they are looking for.  Many Gen Ys are not bashful about going to family and friends for “start up” loans, and as a realtor, you will need to be looking for ways to make this work on the financial side without putting the young buyer into deeper debt.    Many Gen Ys are big into subletting and may be looking for a first home as an investment just for that purpose (especially if you are in a college town).  I have heard the word sublet about 200 times in the last two years from the Gen Ys I spend time with.  They are a bit nomadic, and they do often job hop, so an investment in a home that they can sublet or a room they can sublet is always a great point of discussion (they totally get the sublet concept).

10.  Be as flexible as you can without totally interrupting your business. This generation craves flexibility, and the best way to be flexible is to use new media (texting, Facebook, Twitter) to interact with this audience.  If you can squeeze in a quick showing during a lunch break or after work, Gen Y will love you (and they will tell their friends about you!)

11.  Start surrounding yourself with people ages 20-32. Generation Y does not hire people or realtors based on advertising or marketing collateral.  They partner with professionals based on what their friends tell them.  If their friends know and like you, they will tell others about you.  If they don’t know you exist, then of course they have no way of passing along your name and information to others.  So…get to know this demographic of buyers.  They are so interesting and so much fun!  Really…your life is going to change if you just take these steps to move closer to the younger buyer.

Read more on Boston Herald

The honor is wonderful, but it was her introductory statement that really has me thinking.  She brings up a good point…that we are all hiding behind technology and it is our face to face interactions which will help us to build sustainability.  You can read her entire intro statement here.

This exhibit is so impressive from about 10 of our rising leaders.

Congrats to each and every one of you!

Visit the exhibit online today.

Secrets To Leading Gen-Y with Millennials in the Workplace Expert Bea Fields — Free IATF TeleSeminar

Are you having difficulty leading your Gen-Y team members?

You already know Gen-Y is unlike any other generation you’ve had the opportunity to lead.

They are the children of the Baby Boomers and are now the largest generation in the history of the world. This is the generation you must learn to lead if you are to be successful!

Employers thought Gen-Y would simply be an extension of Gen-X or Boomers but that hasn’t been the case at all.

About Gen-Y

• Enjoy working together and are highly connected (always on computers, cell phones, text messaging, instant messaging, social networking, blogs, multi-player gaming, etc.)
• Seek work-life balance
• Expect to be highly successful and are upbeat
• Reward and recognition driven
• Short term focused
• Supremely tech savvy
• Want managers they can admire

If you try to manage Gen-Y using an old, outdated, command-and-control style of leadership, this generation will walk out your door before lunch. And before the end of the day, they’ll blog, IM, and text about their experience with you (warning their friends to stay away).

Times have changed and leaders must change with the times or be left behind.

If you’re a leader looking for answers to your Gen-Y in the workplace issues then you need to know about Bea Fields.

Bea Fields is a coauthor of Millennial Leaders and is a Gen-Y in the workplace expert. Bea travels around the country and works with cutting edge organizations (large and small) who recognize the writing on the wall and want to change the way they’re doing business and become supremely attractive to Gen-Y employees.

If you hire, train, or lead Gen-Y you need to know what Bea Fields is teaching.

Bea is an IATF Visiting Faculty Member and will be our special guest on this FREE leadership skills TeleSeminar. In addition to sharing her unique and specialized knowledge of Gen-Y during the call, Bea will alos offer a Q&A session so you have a chance to talk with Bea one-on-one to get your Gen-Y questions answered.

CALL DETAILS

TITLE:

Secrets To Leading Gen-Y in the Workplace

PROGRAM LEADERS:

Bea Fields, President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc.

Tom Heck, IATF President & Founder

DATE:

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

TIME:

Starts at 1 pm Eastern (NY City time zone)
runs for 60 minutes

WHAT TO EXPECT:

Come to the call ready to participate in small group discussions, share ideas and resources, ask questions, answer quick polls, and be fully engaged as we put the newest distance learning telephone conferencing technology to use!

RECORDING:

This call will be recorded and made available at the IATF Members Only Area.

COST:

This call is free for all who subscribe to the free IATF e-newsletter.

REGISTER HERE:

CLICK HERE to register (it’s free). After you register, we’ll send you the phone number and PIN.

TELEPHONE CONFERENCING TECHNOLOGY

During this TeleSeminar we’ll be using the newest telephone conferencing technology that provides a remarkably engaging experience. CLICK HERE to learn more about this technology.

First, let’s look at who they are. As a baby boomer, I can tell you that this generation—sometimes called the “Connecteds”—are our own invention.    We raised Gen Y to believe that they can do anything and be anything.  We made their lives easy enough that they now believe they deserve to live first and work second. (How dare them!)  So the first thing we have to do is stop being pissed off at our own creation and embrace the brilliance of this Gen Y community.

This is the most optimistic generation to ever walk the face of the planet.  They absolutely believe that miracles are possible.  They refuse to work a job that does not bring them a sense of joy.  They care about the earth and servicing their community.  In Gen Y, we have created the possibility for everything that we wanted for the world.  So we must stop whining about them being entitled and embrace the power of this generation.  Once we do that, we can then begin to take a closer look at who they are, what makes them tick, and what they want from our businesses.

Let’s look at who has been successful at marketing to Gen Y: Apple, Jet Blue, Trader Joes, Jones Soda, Mountain Dew, and Red Bull, to name a few.  How do these companies speak to this demographic?  To answer that, we first have to understand the four areas Gen Y considers before purchasing a product or service:

Other Articles of Interest

• Small Business Marketing Articles
• 20 Internet Marketing Trends for 2009
• Internet Marketing Trends, Online Marketing Trends for 2010
• Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan

1. Cheap cost
2. Good quality
3. Fast service
4. An “experience”

When Apple created the 99-cent download that took eight seconds to transact, they hit the nail on the head with Gen Y.  Music is an experience, the quality is stellar, the cost is low, and the purchase happens instantly.  What did Apple do right?  They spoke directly to Gen Y and asked the question: What do you want?

So who gets Gen Y’s attention?  Living in an age where information is everywhere and where everyone can reach them, the Gen Y community is VERY selective about who they listen to.  Just look at their MySpace and Facebook accounts, and you’ll recognize that they get their information from one another—NOT from us, and certainly not from the media.  And the information they get from each other is not in emails, which most of them don’t even touch anymore (I know you probably thought you were being hip with your 100 emails a day!).  They text one another.  They IM.  They watch each other on YouTube.  And sometimes they do all three at the same time! Most importantly, Gen Y does NOT care about what you have to say unless you have been endorsed by their friends. They care about what their community says, and they take each other and their network’s recommendations VERY seriously.

So taking that into account, how do you reach them?  Well, understand that Gen Y is an “experience” culture.  They do not want to be told what to like or what to do.  They want to experience the world for themselves and pass their own judgment.  They love to be in the trenches of life, and they want to be there with their friends.  HERE is where you have to meet them if you want to be taken seriously and respected by this generation enough for them to buy from you:

• Concerts (Gen Y LOVES live music.)

• Extreme sporting events (skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX)

• Movies (mainstream as well as art-house)

• Hiking events (They love the outdoors)

• Video games and video game competitions (Cyber Athlete Professional League, GameCaster, Global Gaming League)

• Mashups (Weather Bonk, Where’s Tim Hibbard, Y! Mash,  Sims on Stage)

• Social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, del.icio.us, DIGG)

• Tattoo parlors (36 percent of them have at least one tattoo)

Before I wrap this up, there is one more major element we need to discuss, and that is how to earn their respect when you are talking with Gen Y:  AUTHENTICITY.  They don’t waste time on people or companies that are not being real with them.  Authentic is cool.  Authentic is dorky.  Authentic is hip.  Authentic is truthful.  This generation has seen it all, from televised wars to 9-11 to the hanging of Hussein.  They know real when they see it, and it takes them all of three seconds to pass that judgment.

So what does all this mean to you?  It means that you cannot directly market to them until you buy into them, until you value their perspective on life.  So while other experts are out there giving you “tricks” to market to Gen Y, I’m here saying STOP marketing to them and START listening to them.  Hang out with them.  Experience life with them. Respect them.  If you do, their outlook on life will change you. You’ll begin to behave differently, take on some new values, and begin to live more yourself.  When you do that, you’ll find your audience within this generation.

Get the cartoons here. Really funny one on this link by John Darkow.

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