A few years ago, Joe Navarro was looking for a way to makehimself more marketable in the job market. He thought gettinganother degree would help him do that, so he started looking intoall the options.

After some thought and consideration, Navarro enrolled at theUniversity of La Verne in La Verne, Calif., and started working ona master’s degree in gerontology. It’s not an obviouschoice—brokers and agents obtain advanced marketing degrees, MBAsor even liberal arts degrees—but Navarro says it was the rightcall.

He learned about far more than just the elderly. He learnedabout the process of aging, and that helps him think about ways tocommunicate with the different generations represented in theAmerican workplace.

“The primary reason was I was looking for something to add to myscope of experience and education,” says Navarro, who’s now themarketing director for Warner-Pacific in Westlake Village, Calif.“A lot of people think studying the aging process is studying oldpeople. But you also study what happens as you age. By doing so, Iwas able to concentrate on all the different generations, whichmade me able to present on the four generations because of thedeeper understanding I had.”

For the first time in history four generations of employees areon the job—matures, baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y—and they all havedifferent preferences when it comes to communication.

A smart communications strategy that understands the fourgenerations helps agents and brokers sign new clients and work withemployees once they enroll in their company’s benefits plans. “Theone-size-fits-all approach does not fit at all anymore—it’s a wholedifferent conversation with each generation,” Navarro says.

Matures

Industry sources say matures prefer a more personal approach tocommunication with their benefits providers and in-plancommunications. Matures are less comfortable with electronic andmobile forms of communication and as well as interactions they viewas impersonal.

“These are the people who’ve been influenced by World War II andthe Great Depression — they like hard work and they’re privatepeople,” explains Marsha Whitehead, vice president of marketingcommunications for retirement services at OneAmerica inIndianapolis.

“The communications we formulate are somewhat formal and veryrespectful, sort of serious. We did some research on this group tosee what they like and they like that whoever is communicating withthem take their financial security as seriously as they do. Theylike more face-to-face and more handholding. They don’t like thesales pitch. They’re direct and don’t want to waste time.”

“I have a couple clients who are older—they are an interestingbunch,” says Pavlina Sustr of IMA Corp. in Denver. “They want theone-on-one interaction throughout the year. They don’t want it justonce.

They want to know in three months they can come back to you.They lose comfort with the customer service part—they want to dealwith one resource.” If a broker takes the time to foster anin-person relationship with someone from this generation, though,it can pay off. Matures also believe words mean something. “Theyhave time and they’re very social,” Navarro says of matures. “Forthat agent who plans to take the time and have a business plan toaccommodate that, it’s a lucrative and large market.”

Baby boomers

Generally defined as being born between 1945 and 1964, babyboomers are the largest cohort of the American population. The sizeof the group has shaped the country in profound ways.

For instance, baby boomers are beginning to retire, which hasled to serious debate on the solvency of Social Security and thelong-term affordability of Medicare. An industry stat claims 10,000baby boomers will retire every day for the next 19 years.

They’re also called the “sandwich” generation. Many boomerfamilies are taking in their parents while their children arecoming home after college because of the weak job market, whichmeans, Navarro says, that marketers have an opportunity tocommunicate with three different generations all living in the samehousehold. Many boomers expect to work past the age of 65.

Baby boomers were hit hardest by the economic downturn of 2008,with many seeing deep impacts to their retirement plans. Brokersand agents can mix communications with boomers a bit.

While they like person-to-person communications, they’ll alsowant details to arm themselves to make a decision. Boomers willtake part in webinars, watch videos and use the Internet, too, butagents and brokers should be prepared to answer questions.

“Baby boomers are hard working, they like the terminology ‘we’vs. ‘I,’ Whitehead says. “They’re pretty competitive, they likeface-to-face, and they’re pretty open and direct. They wantdetails.

They don’t want you to tell them what to do, they just want theinformation to make decisions.” Brokers and agents looking toeffectively communicate with boomers also should know that not allof them are as technically savvy as their children; somethingyounger brokers and agents should keep in mind.

Generation X

Generation X refers to those born roughly between 1965 and 1980.They’re sometimes difficult to separate from Generation Y, ormillennials, but they aren’t exactly alike. Members of Generation Xseek to balance out work, family and friends and don’t trust thegovernment and people in authority, according to MetLife’s 10thAnnual Study of Workplace Benefits.

“People have always picked on Gen Xers because they don’t thinkthey’ve contributed enough as the baby boomers or the matures,”Navarro says. “The reason for that is because that group is half aslarge.”

Most industry sources say members of Generation X prefer onlineforms of communication and interaction.

E-mail is the preferred medium, they say, but agents and brokersbetter be prepared to correspond electronically, too, as Gen Xerswill want to ask questions over e-mail. They expect to get answers,too. Web tools such as tutorials and calculators work well withGeneration X as well as blogs. Generations X and Y are far moreinterested in voluntary benefits than their predecessors, sourcessay, because the generations grew up in world filled withuncertainly and scandal.

When it comes to items such as long-term care or disabilityinsurance, the younger generations tend to think it’s theirresponsibility to plan for those contingencies rather than rely onanyone else.

The same holds true for retirement planning. The sentiment thatSocial Security won’t last is especially strong among Gen Xers, butboth younger generations want employers and benefits providers toprovide more resources so they can learn how to plan for retirementthemselves.

Generation Y
Members of Generation Y showed up after 1980. Millennials grew upwith video games and tend to interact over their smart phones.Social media also plays as huge role in the life of amillennial.

“They’re very high tech, they sit in their world gaming a lotand don’t like authority. They do their own thing,” Whitehead says.“They do research on the web. They like challenging work butbalanced with having fun.

They’re more into texting and instant messaging as far as howwhat forms of communication they like.” Brokers and agents shouldbe prepared to use just about every kind of electroniccommunications tools they have, including social media, texting,instant messaging and email. Millennials place weight in onlinecomments and message boards, too.

“This is agnation that doesn’t want to be talked to, this is ageneration that wants information and then will come back to you,”Sustr says. “They want the pamphlet, they want to go to thewebsite, they want the app and they want to just go out and findit, do it and email questions. Once they’ve done that they’ll comeback to talk to you. They’ll go out and read comments on websitesand look at their Facebook comments and make decisions.”

Another thing to keep in mind about millennials is that they maybe new to the benefits game. Sustr says one way Obamacare isimpacting Generation Y is in the provision that children areallowed to stay on their parent’s health plans until age 26.

“We’re seeing some enrollees who tell us this is the first timethey’ve ever had to learn about health care benefits becausethey’ve always been on their parents insurance,” Sustr says. Also, Navarro adds, many Gen Y workers will have had six to eightdifferent jobs by the time they’re 30.

Mind the gap

New information about each generation seems to emerge every day.Most brokers and agents should do their best to stay abreast of allthe information about their clients as they can, but it allbasically comes down to understanding your audience.

“Be open minded and have the ability to put yourself in youraudience’s shoes,” Sustr says. “Put yourself in their daily routineand see what their world is like. Also, be flexible and creative. Ipersonally like to think I’ve had success with everyone because ofthe mix of my clients.”

Nathan Solheim is a Denver-area writer. He can be reached [email protected].