7 Useful Tips to Help Increase the Sales of Your Multigenerational Team

Handling a multigenerational team can be tricky.

For one, each generation requires a unique managerial style. Second, every person has their way of getting things done.

If you want to help your diverse sales team improve, here are seven valuable tips that you can apply. 

Understanding Generational Differences

When you’re responsible for managing multigenerational workforce, it can feel overwhelming. However, once you learn to understand and consider their differences, you’ll be able to use those to your advantage. This includes improving their sales performance.

Generational differences shouldn’t get in the way of your team being able to do the job that you need from them. However, that doesn’t mean that ignoring these differences is the best course of action. That’s why you should learn to understand it first so that you can eventually overcome the barriers caused by these differences.

Generations That Make Up the Workforce

Nowadays, you won’t be surprised to find more than three different generations working together in one team. That’s why it’s a good idea to understand the characteristics commonly associated with each generation.

• The Silent Generation: Has difficulties adapting to newer tech but is excellent at getting down and doing the job directly.
• Baby Boomers: Also can have problems adapting to new tech, but are still hard-working and more self-confident.
• Gen X: Very independent and can adapt to a lot of situations.
• Millennials: Tech-savvy, hard-working, and always looking for achievement and career successes
• Gen Z: Also tech-savvy, diverse, open-minded, and are more driven by values

How to Increase the Sales of Your Multigenerational Team

Now that you have an idea of the different generations in your sales team, it’s time to figure out how you can increase their sales.

Invest in professional development

The hunger for professional development is more associated with Gen X and Gen Z

However, it’s always an excellent idea to invest in the professional development of your sales team, no matter what generation they come from. By investing in their professional development, you also get more skilled workers in your group.

No matter what generation a team member may come from, they are always interested in investing in themselves. Be it for personal and professional reasons.

By continuing to educate and train your multigenerational sales team, you equip them to be efficient in sales. Plus, you enable them to overcome generational bias.

 

     

Focus on individualized management               

When dealing with a multigenerational workforce, it might feel easier to manage them based on their generation. However, painting your team in broad strokes like that can do more harm than good. That’s why, instead of focusing too much on their generational stereotypes, it’s best to focus on individualized management styles.

By adopting a more individualized management style, your sales team feels less stereotyped. This can make them feel seen and motivated. It’s one of the best ways to keep your sales team motivated and happy with their work.

Plus, you’ll communicate better with your sales team members when you personalize your management to suit their wants and needs.

Foster opportunities for collaboration

One challenge of managing a multigenerational team is the generation gap.

If you want to help increase their sales, you have to find a way to bridge that gap and encourage more opportunities for collaboration. The key to a productive and effective collaboration between generations is to ensure that experience and expertise instead of age come into play.

Provide access and transparency

The younger generations expect a lot more from their workplaces other than providing them with a salary.

Often, they’ll be more loyal to workplaces that have values aligned with their own. That’s why they expect their workplaces to have as much transparency about their corporate decisions as possible.

Suppose you want to create an environment that leads to productivity and a multigenerational team. In that case, you should learn to be more open and transparent with your team, including ones from the older generation. 

This transparency will attract and encourage your sales team to perform better, regardless of their generation. 

Avoid age stereotypes and labels

As a multigenerational team manager, it’s your job to acknowledge the differences of dealing with different generations. However, it’s not practical to base all of your managerial decisions on generalized descriptions of each generation.

As mentioned before, individualized managing styles resonate better for multigenerational teams. If you want to help increase their sales, you should also look inward and acknowledge your biases to become a better leader for them. 

You are understandably going to have an initial preference and bias towards the generation you’re from. However, training yourself to be aware of that bias and working against it can make for a better working environment for everyone. 

Be flexible and accommodating

Flexibility and adaptability are becoming increasingly valuable skills in the workplace. For a multigenerational team to work, you need to have an open mind and the ability to adapt to any situation and setting.

You don’t need to have your management style perfected immediately. If you find that a particular management style is not working, make adjustments and see how it can influencer your multigenerational team’s performance.

Socialize in non-work settings

The best way to get everyone’s walls to come down between one another is to get them to bond with each other more. Hence, it can help if you can organize non-work-related events where everyone can socialize.

Team building activities are great for your multigenerational sales team because they encourage people to work with one another. This also allows them to break down generational bias. 

Over to You

From investing in their sales training to a positive self-reflection as a sales leader, there are things you can do to keep your multigenerational sales team more productive. It all boils down to the following:

• Caring for your sales team
• Treating them as professionals, regardless of age and generation
• Recognizing their efforts
• Celebrating wins, big or small

If you want to become a better and certified sales leader, we encourage you to take the Certified Professional Sales Leader program.