Market Planning Idea
Financial Milestones
Major demographic forces at work in our country have signaled the largest population shift and created one of the greatest marketing opportunities of our time.
- There are more older Americans today than ever. In 1980, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 30 million people in the U.S. were over age 65; by 2000 there were as many as 45 million. Startling medical breakthroughs, healthcare advances and lifestyle improvements mean more of us will not just survive, but thrive to the oldest ages.
- The U.S. Census Bureau reports the proportional increase in the number of elderly will be steady, if non-dramatic, until 2011. That's when the first Baby Boomers reach age 65. The 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1965, who became the Baby Boom generation, represent one-third of the population.
- By 2050, about 8 million Americans will be 90 years old or older, compared with under 1 million in 1990. Overall, people 85 and over will soon be the fastest growing part of the elderly population. However, the social, political and economic clout of this new group is already being felt.
Thinking Generationally —
What It Means to You
Specifically, by "thinking generationally" you'll be better able to:
- Understand your existing marketplace or new market segments, whatever they are and wherever you may be.
- Tailor your prospecting activities and approach techniques to appeal to people in different age groups.
- Know your customers, and understand how to marry your products and services to them; and more important, you'll be able to...
- Build the long-term personal connections with clients that are at the heart of relationship-based selling. Relationship-based selling is understood as the key to long-term success for financial services professionals.
The Bottom Line
Your business is helping people — individually or through their businesses — achieve the "good life". That is, lifetime personal financial security, the pursuit of which is a core value that transcends generations. While each of us has his or her own definition of the "good life", different "generational cohorts" tend to approach personal financial security in their own unique ways.
By positioning yourself and thinking generationally, you'll be there for the first wave of "Matures" as they reach their last financial security milestones. And you'll have plenty of time to catch the second and third waves, as the "Boomers", "Gen-Xers" and "Cyberboomers" roll in not far behind.
Source: Financial Milestones, Pelican Island Publishing,
Available 2003.
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