The Millennial Customer
In the field service industry, we read a lot about workforce transformation and the current employment crisis. We consume acres of content relating to the best way to attract younger people to field service work and how to facilitate the transfer of skills between the different generations.
However, what we don't see so much focus on is the role of millennials as field service clients. With this generation now in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties, they are becoming a serious force in the world of business. They are now reaching the point in their careers where they are taking on managerial and executive roles, and they are becoming responsible for making the decisions which will shape the future of the brands they represent.
For field service companies, this means that we must not only concern ourselves with how to attract young people to the industry as employees but also with how to win them over as clients and customers.
Millennial Movers and Shakers
As the new generation of managers and executives, millennials have around 600 billion dollars in buying power to play with each year. This means companies that are able to understand and effectively target millennials will be tapping into a massive resource of business and revenue - one which is unlikely to deplete for many years to come.
The main obstacle B2B brands, such as those in field service, come across when looking to market to millennials is finding the best way to reach them. Buyers today do not want their days disrupted by visiting sales reps or generic email blasts. They want to feel like the people trying to do business with them understand their wants and needs and that they know when and how to make contact.
Millennials use a wide range of devices and consume content through a variety of channels. They are not only plugged into social media and email, but they are also consuming video content, blogs, news, podcasts, and more from all over the internet.
This doesn't necessarily need to be seen as a challenge, but rather an opportunity. It gives your brand a range of touchpoints to meet the millennial customer where they are and engage them on their level. High-quality written, video, and audio content posted across a wide range of channels is an amazing way to reach the millennial customer. Millennials are far more likely to head online to seek out solutions to problems themselves before calling in the professionals, so how-to guides and similar materials are some of the best assets to establish your brand as an authoritative voice in the industry and attract millennial buyers.
Digital Technology
While they may not be 100 percent digital natives like GenZers, millennials are adept and savvy when it comes to the use of technology. They'll naturally gravitate towards brands which also use the latest devices and tech-driven experiences to carry out their work.
This presents a great opportunity for field service brands to grab the attention of millennials by promoting their use of the latest digital technology in their operations. Predictive maintenance using IoT sensors installed in machinery is allowing faults to be detected well in advance of a large-scale breakdown and dealt with accordingly. The data from these sensors can also be used to identify patterns which can drive more intelligent component choices and maintenance schedules.
Millennial customers don't want to have to waste time monitoring every detail of their businesses. Having both IoT sensors in their machinery and automated field service management software on the backend allows providers to book appointments, arrange schedules, produce invoices, and more, with an absolute minimum of human interaction.
Also, going back to the point we made about millennials preferring to Google solutions and try to fix things themselves before falling back on professionals, augmented-reality powered glasses can help a millennial client carry out small fixes themselves while being guided through voice and image by a trained off-site technician.
Final Thoughts
The millennial customer knows what they want from the brands they do business with and they aren't willing to compromise on the details. They want field service brands who know and understand them and can meet them where they already are. The millennial customer also wants to work with companies which deploy the very latest in Industry 4.0 technology and share their passion for the latest digital advances.
The millennial customer is set to be a hot topic at Field Service Connect 2019, taking place in November at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa, TX.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.