Today, globally, there is no bigger trend
than the aging of baby boomers. The largest concentration of wealth on the planet is in the hands of the aging baby boomers, multi million strong-and getting older. They will wield significant economic power over the next decade. If you don’t have a strategy to capture the values of this generation you need to get cracking! Potentially great organizations will be crippled if leaders are refusing to be aware of this diverse stream of new possibilities and continue to manage their business as usual.
The whole landscape is changing and businesses will have to reshape their strategy around it in order to manage these new possibilities. Since the baby boomers demand higher quality, choices and value-added products, their enormous spending capabilities and desires will create a new economic environment where quality will become more affordable. It’s a lot of change and it will be a challenging transition. But businesses will gain a huge amount from a better recognition of the diversity of opportunities and new business possibilities. Rather than closing your eyes to forewarning indicators and hoping that things don’t change too much, you must be willing to break with your own successful conventional practices and discover different ways of tapping into the curiosity of the boomer generation.
You need to ask questions such as: What can I do differently that would generate different possibilities? What processes are we using to deal with change? What could happen? How can we better understand and reach this powerful consumer segment? What will baby boomers need and want in five years and ten years? How could the business of bankers, retailers, manufacturers and trainers change in the coming years to support the baby boomer market?
There are a great many baby boomers that
are not choosing to retire. In actual fact many baby boomers are at the peak
of their earning years and have comparatively large discretionary incomes to
spend. So how can your businesses prosper from the baby boomers lifestyle?
To understand what baby boomers are going
to really choose to buy, businesses must recognize what is truly important to
them. They must appreciate that ‘the desire to do what you want when and where
you want’ is the common psychological denominator of baby boomers. Baby boomers don't think they are old, and they certainly don't want to be perceived or depicted that way, either. In this environment, companies that excel in making sure their clients are made to feel special and respected will out-perform their competitors.
Take a look at what you currently offer in your business and see if you can't make a few tweaks to capture this huge target audience. The key to unlocking the participation and purchasing power of baby boomers is knowing what inspires them.
