Selling to Millennials is easy! If you know the right formula...

Recently, I've read more and more articles asserting that Millennials are one of the most difficult consumer segments to nail down and serve. It's a complicated equation with moving and changing variables, with every company scrambling to find out which social media platform, which YouTube video, and which new mobile app will give them the sustainable competitive advantage that they need to corner Millennials.

I'd actually argue it's a simple equation. The classic formula is well understood:

Sales = Speed + Price + Service

But just as Leonhard Euler’s clarification of Descartes formula will forever be known as “Euler's Formula For Polyhedra” (F-E+V=2) and James Clerk Maxwell’s improvements on Michael Faraday’s pioneering work is still known as “Maxwell’s Equations” 170 years henceforth, I submit for your critique, “McMyler’s Equations of Millennial Mathematics”:

First Postulate:

Technology = (Greater Speed + Better Pricing + Superior Service) or

Technology = Sales^x

The emergence of technology into our everyday lives has changed the way this generation perceives the world, and in turn, their expectations from it. Technology has enabled us to do everything we used to do...faster, cheaper, and arguably, with better service. Millennials know this, and prefer companies who embrace it.

But at the end of the day, it’s the same basic calculus: It’s not because you have a hip YouTube video or a Facebook page; it’s not because you have cool apps or tens of thousands of “likes.” It’s because you are able to do the basics…faster, cheaper, and with better service.

Since even Einstein acknowledging that his famed E=MC^2 would be met with skepticism and therefore immediately set out to defend it, I feel I should do no less. And so, for your consideration: 

This past February I moved to a new apartment. As a skilled professional procrastinator, I waited 8 weeks until the end of March to remember to purchase renter’s insurance.  The occasion for my recalling this omission was that it was Friday night. Not just any Friday night but the Friday night before my Tuesday 4am sojourn to the airport for a restful vacation far from the country I called home. 

This unfortunate, yet real situation demonstrated to me the morbid time limitations of the classic model – or equation for getting quotes and purchasing insurance coverage.

I hopped online to try and get some quotes. I called a mutual insurer who, in addition to having a real solid insurance product, possessed the advanced technology platform that would allow me to get coverage in a timely manner…er… test my mathematical hypothesis.

If the classic calculation describes time as measured by the activity of purchasing insurance, The McMyler’s Equations of Millennial Mathematics demonstrated how the time element of purchasing insurance – in all its components, could be shifted, bent and even stopped. 

I called their customer service number and got connected to the sales department. I asked a ton of coverage questions, all of which the woman was able to answer. When we were done, she emailed me my quote. Like a good little insurance geek, I thoroughly read through the entire policy (no lie, policy review is actually my favorite part of getting insurance) and emailed my supplemental list of questions. Within the hour, her electronic responses almost magically appeared in my inbox. Along with the quote, I got a link to an eSign service to initial and sign the documents. Great, we're moving along! 

While that should be sufficient proof of the integrity of the McMyler’s Equations of Millennial Mathematics, I am willing to provide further proof.

As the Princess of Procrastination, it was 6am at the airport – well to be more specific, on the tarmac waiting to take off that I remembered that I forgot to sign those documents. So I confidently pulled out my smartphone, accessed the email that would link me to the eSign URL, signed the documents, reviewed the confirmation  and went on to have a (fabulous) vacation free of any worries of my apartment or insurance coverage.  (I did however keep wondering if I locked the door and shut off the lights).

This company definitively proved the McMyler’s Equations of Millennial Mathematics:  faster than expected, at the right price, and flawless customer service provided through effective use of technology.

But more than just my business, they earned my loyalty. The mathematical probability of my leaving them approaches Zero. Of course, due to the mathematician Zeno’s 2500 year old work, known as Zeno’s Paradox of the Tortoise and Achilles it can approach but never achieve absolute Zero. But I digress just long enough to complete my Second Postulate:

Second Postulate (also known as McMyler’s Constant):

Sales Mass = Circle of Influence  where Technology  ≥ the Customer’s Expectations.

In the great tradition of mathematicians, I seek thoughtful peer review.

Nikole is a Certified Insurance Geek, and when not reading over insurance policies for fun, she’s an Account Executive for Aon Risk Services, working with middle-market and national commercial risk accounts. Nikole encourages you to reach out if you would like to connect and learn more about the services Aon can provide.

The views expressed by the author are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Aon or its affiliates. The standard information provided in this blog is for general purposes only and should not be construed as, or used as a substitute for, financial or other professional advice.