Generation X CEOs are at an advantage when it comes to engaging with customers. Having grown up with the Boomers and raised the Millennials, Gen Xers have an intimate understanding of all segments of the populace, no matter what industry they work in. Here are 4 ways you can leverage your skills and knowledge as a Gen Xer to engage with customers:
1) Create Community
Building a tribe of people who love and are loyal to your business and brand involves helping your clientele connect with each other in mutually beneficial ways. The more customers know and like each other, the more they will also support your company, especially if you are the one who brought them together in the first place. Customers who regularly engage with each other and with you will develop loyalty to your brand for life.
Here, Generation X CEOs have a leg up on CEOs from any other cohort. Using their knowledge of the way older and younger people think, Generation X CEOs can help make those all-important connections, not only between customers within their own cohorts, but across cohorts.
2) Stay Authentic
Generation Xers often live with or near customers from different generations, and are or have been intimately involved in their lives. Therefore, Generation X CEOs intrinsically know what customers from various cohorts want and need. If they don’t, they are likely part of social circles which include the widest range of ages (such as families, churches, gyms, and clubs, not to mention your workplace itself). Thus as a Generation Xer, you are able to talk to and survey the old, the young, and the middle-aged to find out what each cohort truly desires and find innovative ways to offer them real value in products and services that they actually want.
3) Speak your clients’ language
Creating a truly useful product or service, and then tweaking the marketing to suit the tastes and desires of different clientele cohorts is the key to business success. In this, Generation Xers are at an advantage, because they can understand how different client bases think and work, skillfully using traditional methods to reach an older populace while adapting to new technological trends and social media platforms to reach out to younger consumers.
Generation Xers grew up on the language and ideas of their predecessors, and helped influence the development of communication among the younger cohort. They can speak or learn to speak text-speak and memes, but they still understand the art of the handwritten thank-you letter. More than any other cohort, they are able to speak to the hearts of the widest range of clientele.
4) Host an Event
Hosting an industry event, local meetup, webinar, or open house is a great way to engage with customers in person and make them feel heard and important. Inviting customers and potential customers to an event makes them feel special and valued, part of an exclusive company, which, in turn, will improve the way they feel about you and your business.
Generation X CEOs have the experience, knowledge, and skills to host all kinds of events, in person and online. You are familiar with both black-tie affairs and casual online meet and greets. Generation X CEOs are most able to combine social, technological, and business skills with life experience and learning to create unforgettable events that will draw and keep customers no matter how the economy changes.
A successful CEO must be successful at gaining and retaining customer interest by engaging with them, and leaving them with a powerful positive impression of your brand and service. Generation X CEOs have multiple advantages when it comes to engaging with customers, including a wide reach and intimate understanding of multiple age cohorts, extensive experience and access to a host of powerful tools and technology to increase customer engagement. With just a little thought and creativity, you can use customer engagement to drive your business to the top of the pack.
