OLD SCHOOL VS. YOUNG GUNS

Lessons from another generation give seasoned sellers and 20- and 30-somethings alike the boost they need to write their own tickets to sales success.

How old are you? If you are part of the biggest demographic in the industry, you’re between the ages of 45 and 63.

Indeed, if you break down the industry by Advantages’ readership, Baby Boomers make up the largest set: The industry is made up of about 3% Gen Yers (born between 1982-1995), 26% Gen Xers (1965-1981), 64% Baby Boomers (1946-

1964) ; and 7% of those from the Silent Generation (born before 1945).

With four different generations in the workforce, industry newbies and veterans alike are fi nding they can learn a lot about sales just by observing one another. For example, with three years in the industry, 26-year-old salesperson Lauren Itzkovitz considers herself new and is soaking up whatever she can learn from her boss, Larry Cohen, the 45-yearold president of Axis Promotions in New York (asi/128263). His philosophy is that Axis needs to be a creative resource. “It’s not about which item we sell our clients,” he says. “It’s how that item works in the context of their advertising campaign.” Searching through catalogs for ideas is one back-to-basics trick he’s taught Itzkovitz.

“My generation is more inclined to do things online,” she says, but she has found that fl agging catalog pages is also helpful. When she’s fl ipping through catalog pages, Itzkovitz is thinking about future pitches and future campaigns. She’s assembling ideas.

Cohen realizes that asking his salespeople “to do the mental gymnastics for the client” is a tough requirement. “It does make the job that much harder.” But a job demanding mental exercise is ideal for a person of Itzkovitz’s generation, Gen Y. These 75 million Americans are characteristically innovative and resourceful.

Still, Cohen isn’t doing all of the teaching. It turns out, Itzkovitz, and other members of Generation Y, have a lot to teach members of the older set as well.

One key lesson: how to leverage the Web as a networking tool.

GENERATION Y: Masters of Social Networking

Members of Generation Y have a few strategies of their own to share with older workers. This age group has made Facebook and Linkedin its business tools.

Adam Wright, 25, an account executive at Freestyle Marketing in Scottsdale (asi/198342), says that by using social networking sites, “I know everything about the prospect before I call them.” That’s the easy part. The diffi culty is connecting by phone. “For the entire month of February all I did from 8 a.m-11 a.m. was cold-call every single day, and I probably spoke to four people the entire month. It was voice mail, voice mail, voice mail. Nobody returns calls,” he says.

Still, Wright remains undeterred, because he’s had great sales training at Freestyle from owner Michael Stoll, who has been in the ad specialty industry for over 35 years. “When you start at Freestyle,” says Wright, “you get fi ve straight days of sales training; 100% prospecting, introductions, how to continue to wow a client, and how to use ad specialties as an advertising and marketing medium.” Wright’s colleague, Christine Westrum, 32, says Stoll challenges young salespeople to come to the office and not turn on the computer, but instead pick up the phone and make appointments. She sees the value in that, but Twitter and Facebook are her generation’s substitute for just driving by to say hello. “A lot of clients have become more than clients, they’ve become friends,” she says, “so I do my best to try to keep in touch with them on whatever platform I can – keep Freestyle and my name in front of my clients as often as I can, and the more often I do that the more successful I am.” Stoll, who is in his early 60s, is very open to learning about technologies like Facebook. “But his concern is that you’re spreading yourself so thin that you just forget to do business, forget to do sales,” Wright says.

Taking Stoll’s concerns into consideration, Wright makes sure he uses these networking applications as money-makers, not time-wasters.

Technology is the great divide between the generations that grew up before and after 1987, when the personal computer was in 19% of homes and was poised for enormous growth.

“Most of our great timesaving ideas have come from our younger salespeople,” says Nate Bettinger, sales manager of Pingline (asi/78137), in Chicago. “We have been able to offer new services, like our eMergeDrive, by listening to our younger salespeople’s ideas. One of them came to us and said, ‘Why can’t we make a logo pop up, then go away, or play a video every time the drive is plugged in?’ After consulting with our engineers, there were only a few hurdles.” The result was a new software promotional item.

GENERATION X: Results-Focused

Gen Xers were also raised in the era of video games and computers, but their world wasn’t defi ned by the Internet in the same way as 20-somethings’. Gen Xers grew up in latchkey homes and are generally characterized as selfreliant, impatient and skeptical, but team players.

Atlanta-based LogoSurfing.com (asi/246818) is owned by partners Matthew Watkins, in his mid- 30s, and Brenda Porter, mid-50s. Both are comfortable with technology. Porter had run an IT company and was familiar with e-commerce tools, but not the newest generation of such tools. What Watkins brings to the company is knowledge of getting results with that technology: search engine optimization, how to get prominent positioning on Google, and how to use the social aspects of the Internet to market.

Porter is a natural at personal, peer-to-peer relationships.

“When you’re on the bleeding edge, really trying to maximize the technology that is available, It tends to obscure the fact that business is still done one to one,” says Watkins.

“Brenda is always trying to remind me of that – we still have to be making those phone calls and having our customer base engaged on all levels.”


BABY BOOMERS: Teachers, Mentors

Boomers, like Porter, have good people skills. They believe in playing by the rules and paying one’s dues.

They tend to be good at bringing along younger workers, the way Randy Eubanks and Bob Scala do. The duo, both in their early 50s and partners in Suncoast Marketing (asi/339154), in Fort Lauderdale, FL, appreciated the mentoring they received 30 years ago and now are mentoring others, including Bob’s sons, Chris, 24, and Greg, 21, who are both on Suncoast’s sales staff.

“We grew up pressing flesh and establishing relationships, which we try to encourage the younger ones to do,” says Scala.

Eubanks says one of the lessons he was taught by mentor Gus Stavros, who owned Better Business Forms in Largo, FL, was that on commission, you can make as much as you want. “You don’t want to work for the same check every week,” he says. “The other thing Gus said to me was, ‘In sales, like in all of life, the act of standing still is the beginning of decline.’” Eubanks says he has shared the lesson over and over that “you can’t tread water for long.” While the partners notice that the youngest members of the staff are energetic and bring a willingness to go out and knock on doors and bring in new business, they sometimes notice some of the older sellers coasting. “As we get further along in life and the kids move out, the pressure to sell may not be as great,” says Scala. “It’s good to have the young bucks here. They show the older folks, ‘Hey, there’s business out there.’ ” Eubanks agrees that enthusiasm is contagious.

“When the younger guys get excited and the sales trainer gets excited and I, as VP of sales, get excited, yeah, it’s contagious. Success breeds success,” he says.

SILENT GENERATION: Disciplined at Cold-Calling
Think of the generation tagged “Veterans” as the older brothers of Vietnam War protesters. These workers, now 64 and up, have a vet’s respect for authority and take satisfaction in a job well done.

Phil Sunshine, 71, with 41 years in the industry, is a member of that group.

Damien Wiesenfeld, 33, a salesman turned coowner of The Sunshine Group (asi/339525) in Maitland, FL, credits his partner with teaching him, above all, discipline. Wiesenfeld says he learned the benefi ts of cold-calling from Sunshine. “I hate it, but he proves time and again that it works. People my age don’t want to do that. We want to use the Internet, send an e-mail,” he says.

The Silent Generation also exudes trustworthiness.

Melinda Nestor, 55, owner of Momento Advertising Specialties in Chillicothe, OH (asi/275300), learned the principles of sales from her father. “He taught me your word is your bond,” she says.