Millennials in Sales

How to Hire Thriving Millennials in Sales

As millennials enter the job force, many of them are going into sales. There are new schooling opportunities, like the DuPaul University Center for Sales Leadership, that make a sales career even more viable for this generation of individuals. Robert Lambert, interviewed by John Golden, discusses hiring millennials in sales.

This expert interview discusses millennials in sales, including:

• The expectations of this generation
• How they integrate with technology
• The way that millennials like to be managed, and how they become managers
• The differences in how millennials like to be compensated

Millennial Expectations:

Millennials aren’t entitled, but they do have strong expectations. It’s not why they are looking for certain things, it’s what they are looking for and what they are expecting from the company that they work for. This generation typically wants to know what you are going to provide them in terms of development. They want to work for a good company, with a good reputation, that participates and gives back to their community. First and foremost, though, they want to make money, they want a solid career track, and they want to be poured into and developed as individuals and professionals. There is a tendency for companies to say, “why should I invest in someone who is only going to be with the company for a year or two years?” but the reality is that millennials will choose not to stay with a company for more than a year or two years if they aren’t invested in first. It has to be a two-way street. If an organization invests in an employee, they will happily stay at the company longer.

Millennials and Technology:

One of the benefits of this new generation and how they are being introduced to the workforce is that they are being trained on CRM and other sales technologies from the get-go. For many individuals who were already working in the sales field when the development of these new tools was released, there was a learning curve and difficulties adapting. However, for millennials, they are even getting trained in CRM systems while in school. Students at the DuPaul University’s center for sales leadership is going to be using Pipeliner CRM in their courses, preparing them to use this necessary tool in their careers.

Millennials and Managers:

70 to 80% of sales managers in this country have never had sales managers training. This includes hiring, recruitment, and onboarding, and continuing training for employees. Coaching is a major skill required for successful sales management, and it’s even more important for millennials who want to be developed. Also, as millennials are getting into sales leadership positions, they want more training for that role so that they can be most successful. Managerial training is vital as this next generation gets hired into the sales force, and promoted into leadership positions.

Millennial Compensation:

One of the biggest differences in millennial preferences is how they prefer to be paid. Newly onto the job market, most of the new hires want to put less at risk financially and prefer a larger base salary and smaller commission structure. This is quite different from how previous generations requested compensation plans. However, after the new generation has been in the job force for a while, they opt to receive packages with smaller bases, and larger commission structures. This initial risk aversion is something to consider when hiring and onboarding someone from this generation.

For more information about millennials in sales, and how to hire millennials for a sales career, watch the entire expert sales interview.

About our Host:

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.