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Industry News

 

Survey Reveals Surprise Findings About Millennials in the Sales Force

Friday June 5, 2009

 

“Contrary to popular opinion, the Millennial generation born between 1978 and 2000 are not generally needy and unfocused. If understood and managed properly, they may be your overall best employees,” said Joseph DiMisa, senior vice president and sales force effectiveness practice leader at Sibson Consulting.
 
“Millennials are surprisingly distinctive in a critical area of corporate America these days: the sales force,” DiMisa observed. He pointed to a just-completed Sibson survey of large corporate sales forces around the country, which found that Millennials:
 

• Are more productive and work more efficiently than initially perceived by employers.
• Are highly motivated and strive for success.
• Are very goal-oriented and ever-critical of their own performance.
• Are interested in a career in sales.
• Strive in an environment in which team goals are infused with individual performance linkages.
• Achieve sales performance equal to or greater than that of other generations.

 
The survey found that there is a divide between employers and Millennials when it comes to customized, digital communication. Employers also often fail to create generational harmony within their organizations and suffer from a lack of understanding between generations, leading to numerous missed opportunities.
 
“Companies are not properly aligning strategies within their organizations to attract Millennials,” said DiMisa. “Although, Millennials are entering the workforce in increasing numbers and their population is already greater than most employers perceive it to be.”
 
According to Dennis Spahr, vice president at Sibson Consulting, there is a significant perception gap between employers and Millennials. Whereas 92 percent of employers said that attainment of sales goals by Millennials was just as good or better than by non-Millennials, only 79 percent of Millennials thought their sales performance was as good or better than the others.
 
An even larger gap exists regarding how willing Millennials are to work long hours. Forty-seven percent of employers reported Millennials are below average, but only 15 percent of Millennials said they are below average in willingness to put in long hours.
 
Spahr points out that perceptions of turnover also differ: 63 percent of employers believe turnover is the same for Millennials and non-Millennials, but nearly 80 percent of Millennials indicated turnover in their generation is higher than in the rest of their sales organizations. Interestingly, almost half of employers and nearly 90 percent of Millennials said Millennials are more likely to leave their companies than other generations.
 
With regard to why Millennials leave, ambition was the top reason mentioned by Millennials, and lack of advancement opportunities and no loyalty were most often cited by employers.
 
Communication between employers and Millennials is clearly a problem, but a large majority of employers report doing nothing new to reach Millennials for recruitment or in their communication with presently-employed Millennials. One tool Millennials all use is text messaging, but relatively few employers are texting with their employees these days.

“Millennials don’t pay as much attention to traditional corporate communications tools as older staff do, and employers really need to get with it if they want effectively to reach the Millennials in their midst,” concluded Spahr.

The survey by Sibson Consulting of 57 major U.S. companies and 80 Millennial professionals who work in both sales and non-sales roles was conducted in spring 2009.

For more info: http://www.sibson.com/services/sales-force-effectiveness/Millennials-in-the-Sales-Force-Survey-Results.pdf