Generational Shift: Servicing the Millennials
Overview
As family leadership transitions from one generation to the next, it’s not unusual for servicing needs to change to support the younger clients. Understanding the service requirements of different client life stages allows advisors and family office managers to adapt their service model to the needs of different generations, and reduce the risk of such shifts. In this 2012 FOX Fall Forum session, Greg McCann of McCann Associates Consulting and Jill Shipley of GenSpring Family Offices led a discussion of the challenges of engaging and communicating with a growing demographic, Millenials (otherwise known as Gen Y).
Some key observations:
- NextGen development critical to sustainability of the family enterprise
- NextGen tends to want to build their own advisory relationships (92% of advisors lose their NextGen clients after inheritance)
- Gen Y will make up 25% of workforce by 2025
- Currently the workforce consists of four generations with different work styles and expectations. Gen Y’s preferred mode of communication is often different from other generations (value electronic means over face time, high-level bullets to a longer presentation).
- McCann and Shipley recommend reflecting on differences -- adapt in some cases, coach in others
- We live in a world of exponential change due to rapid technological advances that puts a premium on innovation and entrepreneurialism
- Gen Y puts more stock in relationships than in credentials. Ask about them and be accessible in the ways they are most comfortable.
- MFOs recognize the importance of Millenials to their future business prospect and hiring them for their marketing departments
- Gen Y struggles with creating structure, but (according to McKinsey) most job growth will come in areas where they will need to create structure.