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SMALL BUSINESS IS BUILT FOR MILLENNIALS
Eyes roll, comments are muttered under the breath – some executives are outright exasperated. The ‘Millennial’ generation has just about everybody in a kerfuffle.
As a brand strategy firm that offers market research and brand strategy to agencies and mid-sized companies, Voccii hears that, and much more. Clients worry about marketing to Millennials, but more importantly, trying to hire and retain them.
Voccii of course is in the thick of studying Millennials. “The more organizations get to know this group, the more convinced everyone should be that they are built for small business,” said Voccii founder and Research Director. “These next decades should see small business flourish, due in part to this massive influx of millennials who will give them the smartest, most educated, free-thinking and technologically savvy talent pool to ever populate the earth.”
Here’s why Voccii thinks small businesses should be snapping up Millennials: Thinking outside the box and finding ways to do things, faster, better and more efficiently is exactly what many small businesses are selling…and precisely what Millennials can bring to the table. Thus Millennials get to exercise all that talent in an environment that rewards it. And they’ll help firms rapidly adopt the newest, latest technology to help firms win.
Millennials question…everything. Leaders who started their own small business are more likely to appreciate this attitude — they too left big “C” because they questioned how things were done and thought they had a better solution. For these young people, time honored wisdom does not impress. Why should it? Information access trumps longevity and experience. Millennials are watching older colleagues print out e-mails to read; call people on the phone and (horrors!) to leave voice messages, and a hundred other Luddite activities that prove their point.
For Millennials, the world is flat. They went from the classroom to the conference room as a learning environment and the teacher didn’t sit at the head of the class. School work was done in ‘teams.’ Collaboration and idea sharing was rewarded. Work was divided based on skill, ability and harmonious teamwork. As a result, hierarchy chafes. Titles are boxes. Small business are lean, flat and much more likely to offer an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to business challenges – and reward contributions by anyone. If the company’s new young salesman can solve a nagging IT problem, he’ll be praised rather than slapped down for overstepping turf.
Millennials are winners. They grew up at the height of the ‘self-esteem’ revolution, receiving praise and positive reinforcement for everything they did. In sports and in school, everyone got a trophy. This group thrives on feedback and a small business a much more likely place they’ll get it – both verbally, and through promotions and monetary rewards. Small businesses simply don’t have to worry as much about the “If I do it for her, I have to do it for everybody, and with 22,000 employees, that’s impossible,” mentality.
Millennials are hard workers, particularly when they can buy into a larger purpose. Give them a mission and explain how the firm makes the world a better place. This demographic group is very mission minded. They want to impact their world for good. They, care less about the trappings of success, and look for all kinds of ways large and small be a positive force. Small businesses are often mission driven and adept at building strong company cultures. They’re smaller. It’s easier to do. (It’s no coincidence that the rise of “entresponsible” startups is timed to Millennials entering the workforce.) Large corporations find ‘mission’ much harder to pull off.
Before the next hire, think of all the ways Millennials can rock the world and drive small organizations to success.
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