Millennials Drive an Urgent Quality Gap

As boomers retire, decades of experience, and product and market knowledge, leave as well

A hot topic of conversation for many B2B industrial companies is the talent and skills gap due to the generational shift in the workforce from baby boomers to millennials. According to Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, “Too many employers are sleepwalking toward a significant skills problem that risks derailing their business strategy if not addressed. Not enough organizations are thinking strategically about workforce planning or even enough about the make-up of their workforce.”

Generational skills gap causing a quality gap

Recruiting and retaining millennials for sales teams is often cited as a primary concern. As baby boomers retire and exit the workforce, decades of quality experience, product, and market knowledge leave as well. Loss of quality is often the impact of this workforce transition on sales teams.

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The times, they are a'changin'

As Bob Dylan's anthem rightly states, "The times, they are a'changin'... A good salesman understands his customer's wants and needs and, looking from the outside, may be aware of needs before the customer. Relying on data mining probably works quite well in a static or, at best, slowly evolving ecosystem. In a rapidly evolving business and technology world, the historic data may not present an appropriate path forward with that customer. In the early 20th century, would this system not have informed Henry Ford that, "Indeed, people want faster horses!"