Merrill Lynch conducted a large study of Baby Boomers and found they consisted of five distinct segments:
Empowered Trailblazers—people that believe they have the world by the tail, and they have an almost god-like power to make things happen.
Wealth Builders—people that have done well and thus believe they are experts on investing because of the performance they have experienced in the last 10 years.
Leisure Lifers—people that live for leisure… six months at their summer place and 6 months at their winter place.
Idealists—people that want to make the world a better place before they leave this earth.
Stretched and Stressed—caregivers… people with little assets… grandparents who are parenting their grandchildren…
In, addition Boomers have been noted to have 6 distinctive traits:
- Entitlement—the world owes me a great life
- Personal gratification—I want it and I want it now
- Work ethic—hard work got me here and I’m not stopping now
- Control—I’m never giving up my independence
- Optimism—why worry? Everything always turns out ok
- Won’t accept status quo—I don’t care if that’s the way it was always done, this is different
How do you use this information to bring on more clients? Leverage it.
When it comes to Entitlement and Personal Gratification… what kind of experiences are you offering your clients and prospects? Are you treating them like gold? Are you creating an experience that makes them feel like they are the most important people in the world? Or, are you treating them like just another client?
Are you offering them the chance to wield more Control over their future? Do you give them the tools and education to make them feel like they have control over their financial future? Do you offer them a plan to mitigate the ravages that unexpected healthcare costs can cause to their financial independence?
Are you Optimistic when you talk to them? Or do you sell with doom and gloom? Telling a Boomer that they have to save for a rainy day is wasted as they know the sun will come up tomorrow.
Do you push the Status Quo? Boomers don’t want to know how it has always been done… they want to know how it can be done better. To heck with limitations… there are no limitations. You and I know there are, but Boomers don’t want to believe it. Our job is to help them educate themselves about why some limitations exist, but it has to be their conclusion, not ours.
Want marketing that works? Put on your thinking cap and figure out unique ways to leverage these segments and traits. If you do, you will be fabulously successful. Why? Because how many of your competitors have a game plan to leverage these things? Virtually none. Do the work… do the thinking… and you will own your marketplace.
