Gen Xers want to research things and come back and confer with you, he says. That makes them tougher customers, always on the lookout for frauds. They like to “stalk” information. You need to let them do that research and then set a date to get back to them after they’ve done their homework. Forcing it doesn’t work.
Younger Millennial clients, meanwhile, are staying attached to their parents longer, Marston said. They are optimistic but they were frightened by the recession and tend to shy away from stocks. They also communicate differently. They want more communication, but they want it fast and tend to put technology between themselves and the outside world if they can.
“They will let your call go to voicemail," he said. In fact, they will actually sit and watch your face appear on the call screen and not answer.
Still, it’s important to get to these people. Generation Y is “due to inherit a big pile of money from their baby boomer parents,” Marston said. “And when they come in with their parents to my office, what do I say? What do I do? How do I engage them?”
Millennials are not only technophiles but they are “adult-olescent.” They are taking longer to get married and have kids and they have a much longer attachment with their parents.
“Yesterday’s baby boomers at 21 are today’s millennials at 29,” he said.
The advice for this group must be unique, Marston offered. “They want what their friends have with a unique twist. The metaphor is the tattoo in the millennial generation. I too have a tattoo. I am a part of a herd, but mine looks like this because it’s on my arm instead of my leg.”