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BOOSTING YOUR BUSINESS


INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY While millennials inherited the tech world, Gen Z was raised on technology. How convenient it is to work with your company can depend on the technology you choose to integrate. “Your customer acquisition journey via


a website with a handy customer com- munication and payment portal should be frictionless and intuitive (also secure),” Berry says. “If you force them to do busi- ness with a call center and a checkbook, you can kiss them goodbye.” Stark encourages adopting new plat-


forms and tools to stay relevant with the more tech-savvy generations. “I think really being open to introduc- ing new software and platforms that are really specifically digital and tech-forward is only going to push you ahead,” Stark says. “If you try to fight that and you try to deny it, I truly believe not only are you going to have difficulty communicating to that next generation from a business standpoint, but you’re also going to have difficulty recruiting.” Parsons has found in his experience


Photo: Philippe Nobile Photography


that younger generations respond better to 3D landscape designs over 2D designs, as it helps them visualize the space more. Wraley’s software Groundwork allows


for virtual site visits and he says while it was designed with the future in mind,


they’ve found it’s easily adopted by anyone who can use the camera on their smartphone. “Good technology should be easy


for anyone to adopt,” Wraley says. “In my experience, companies that implement tech that may affect how they interact with non-techy customers, they realize quickly that the benefits far outweigh the challenges. It just takes a bit of training and hand-holding, which is well worth the effort.”


PREFERRED COMMUNICATION One big discussion point when it comes to different generations is preferred communication methods. Fischer notes that more clients are asking for clear communication, regardless of age. Yet often, younger generations are seeking out information from the get-go. Hopper suggests providing all your information upfront and being constant about your service. “They want to know what they will get, the timing, and price early in the sales process,” Wraley says. “They have the pow- er of the internet to figure it out if you don’t educate them. They may not get the right info from their searching, but they’ll get something. You might as well be the one to educate them and walk them down the process toward buying.” Stark says while less than 50 percent of


their maintenance clients have signed up to access their customer portal, the ones who do use the portal are millennials or younger. With the portal, they can access a dashboard and have full transparency of what’s going on. They can see when Ground Works was last at their property, any uploaded pictures of updates or problems, notes, and more. While Gen X and boomers prefer walk-


ing a property with a technician, millen- nials would rather have a virtual video visit or reach out if there is a problem. “They want more of a list in email or communication in real-time,” Fischer says. “While they would probably prefer to text on occasion, it’s something I tend to discourage; for tracking, I prefer email.” Parsons says since they switched to SingleOps, they do all their communi- cation via email. He says this simplifies things instead of having to go through Facebook Messenger, text messages and emails to find a previous conversation. Allen agrees younger generations do


well with email, but she also believes in making the clients wait a reasonable amount of time to get back to them. “There is nothing instant about what


we do and we need to train our leads and clients that we have a process that needs to be followed,” Allen says. “I give my clients 100 percent attention when I’m with them. That can’t happen if I’m


30 The Edge //May/June 2023


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