In April this year, I took a road trip from Auckland to Dunedin and back again. I bought my golf clubs along for the ride which gave me an opportunity to break up the journey.
I would pull into these cool little country clubs along the way, sometimes playing by myself and other times joining others I would meet at the course.
One awesome sunny day, I pulled into the Kaikoura Golf Club and started playing. I was playing well over the first couple of holes (thought I would add that in) when I met a local fella we will call "Barry," (because I can’t remember his name) and we decided to play together. Barry owned a local business, an electrical enterprise I think but it doesn’t really matter. He was an older guy, not elderly, but definitely older than me.
By the 8th hole, while we were waiting for the group ahead to move on, Barry turned to me with a question: "If I'm going to hire a salesperson, should I hire a youngster or someone our age?" I looked at him, firstly thinking there was no way he and I were in the same age bracket, but it was a solid question. He immediately followed it up with another: "Are you a better salesperson now than you were in your twenties?"
Leaving the question of our shared age alone, (It seems to happen a bit to me these days) I gave him my response:
"Well Barry, using myself as an example, it really comes down to the exact role you need filled. If you need a technical specialist or someone focused purely on high-volume prospecting, it is probably not me. I reckon my strengths are focused in different areas. I have no knowledge of your industry, and my network is not the right fit for your business. Every salesperson brings a unique toolkit, so matching their specific strengths to your business need is key." What a politically correct answer I thought, still struggling with him thinking that we were about the same age.
"As for whether I’m a better salesperson than I was 25 years ago? 1000% yes. You cannot overstate the value of wisdom and experience that happens over time. I doubt there are many sales situations that I haven’t been in. I should say at this point that I have learnt a lot from my mistakes over the years and to a lesser extent the successes, but I am not so arrogant to think that I know it all.”
It is a conversation that is worth thinking about, what different generations bring to a business, particularly from a sales perspective? That exchange got me thinking on how value changes across different career stages. Rather than looking at limitations, every decade brings distinct strengths to the table. These are generalisations but we literally see them every day.
This is what I see that are the positives for each generation. I decided to leave out the negatives to not inflame some people which is a shame as I would have enjoyed writing about that, but I will leave that for you to work out.
20–29 Years Old: An unpolished diamond, energy to burn, great on tech, different views in life (good and bad). Eager to learn, highly adaptable, and excellent for generating good momentum and high activity.
30–39 Years Old: Energy still there, maybe even more drive and combined with growing professional maturity. Eager to execute, building networks, and learning about the balance between strategy and execution.
40–49 Years Old: Good experience, better strategic knowledge with good commercial insight. Better negotiation skills, and hopefully a proven background of client results. Can offer more credibility at C-suite and open more doors. Less imposter syndrome which can hold youth back.
50–59 Years Old: High emotional intelligence, at a place in your life where values become more important, ability to leverage extensive networks to open doors. Customers and prospects value their experience. Know who they are and have nothing to prove. No interest in hiding imperfections.
60–70+ Years Old: Offering wisdom, industry authority, and perspective. Invaluable as advisors and mentors, capable of opening doors through decades of established credibility.
I have highlighted these differences for a few different reasons. Firstly, different age demographics do bring unique qualities to specific sales roles and situations. You have probably noticed how your own approach to sales and your effectiveness has evolved through time. This may be something that you reflect on as you think about the makeup of your own current sales team and your future hiring choices. Ok I know, before HR confiscates my golf clubs, I should say age discrimination in recruitment is illegal so up to you what you do with that information.
Did I mention I was playing pretty good golf at the Kaikoura Golf Club. I did manage to give Barry a hiding? I enjoyed that, especially after he said we were the same age. Just saying…
