Builder - November 2008 - (Page 59)

SALES STRATEGIES TIPS AND TACTICS FOR SALES SUCCESS FORCE ■ EDITED BY RICH BINSACCA SALES Managing Gen Y T 24/7 access to information, and job-hopping nature—all of which builders and agencies need to leverage and integrate without allowing the inmates to run the asylum. “It’s a ﬁne line,” says Joy. Here are a few tips for getting along with the younger set: REINFORCE THEM. Having grown up in an era where everyone gets a trophy, Gen Y workers are used to constant and instant reinforcement and recognition, even The next generation of sales agents are motivated for menial tasks. Short-term goals, immediate rewards, and daily reports will sooth their anxieties and stroke by a different set of standards and practices. their egos. hey are about 70 million strong, depending on the LEAVE THEM ALONE, IN TEAMS. The next generation of workers wants birth years you count, and are unlike any generation before autonomy and responsibility, sometimes beyond their capacity, but them in their social attitudes and power to drive consumer are far from lone wolves. Used to teamwork, they thrive in group trends. No, they’re not baby boomers, but rather the so- dynamics, appreciate being consulted about company decisions, called echo boomers or Gen Yers that are now entering the and respond to expectations and standards if they are allowed to workforce—including real estate sales—in force. help create them. As boomers retire and Gen Xers take their top management GIVE THEM A BREAK. Echo boomers are loyal to their personal interspots, this mass of young workers ﬁ lling in behind them requires a ests more so than any employer and feel entitled to negotiate work new set of management tactics. “They look at things and value dif- hours that enable those pursuits. Employers thus need to consider ferent things in a different way,” says Nicki Joy, a real estate sales incentives such as short work weeks or work hours and midweek guru based in Rockville, Md. “The common or typical incentives days off. That attitude translates to the work environment, too, (see page 60) no longer resonate with them.” where comfortable “hang-outs” for work As if builders and real estate agencies didn’t have enough challenges in the current housing sales slump, adjusting to a generation of associates that expect immediate rewards and recognition, seek responsibilities with minimal oversight, are naturally skeptical of authority, and want to be treated more like customers than employees might be asking too much. “It’s difficult for previous generations to accommodate them,” says Joy. “But you have to consider and incorporate their needs” if you want to cultivate the next generation of successful sales agents, she says. Or to simply ensure a fully employed office in the years to come. Despite record employment rolls and trade association membership, the real estate industry remains dominated by older workers. The median age for Realtors is 51, according to the National Association of Realtors, and a 2007 Deloitte Research study indicated worker shortages in coming years. Enter Gen Y and its mature grasp of technology, W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM nov e m ber 2 0 08 B U I LD E R ■ 59 http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Builder - November 2008

Builder - November 2008 Contents Editor’s Notes B-Mail Book It Missing Links Inside Story Top Shelf Green House Business Update Sales Strategies Industry Insight Products Tech Tools National Best Seiders' Economy Sifting Through the Ruins Cottage Industry Upside Down Ad Index Last Word

Builder - November 2008

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