Your Client Demographic Is Changing. Are You Keeping Up?

Did you know that in 2021, the oldest millennial turned 40? This means that more and more of your client base is now in the millennial generation. In fact, they will soon make up the majority of your client base, given how entrepreneurial they are and how many millennials are now on the planet.

According to Millenials Decoded, a study done by Cargo in February of 2020, Millennials are:

• The largest generation alive today
• Between 25 and 40 years old (as of 2021)
• Born into the digital age
• The fastest-growing segment of small business owners in terms of starting their own or acquiring an established business

But that’s not all. They also have a tremendous amount of power when it comes to spending and making decisions. millennial-owned businesses have a collective spending power that now exceeds $150 Billion US. In the US alone, there are more than 78 million millennials. By 2025, millennials will be making the majority of B2B decisions including who they choose as their accountant and bookkeeper.

Personally, they are conscientious, they work hard and they want all the information they need to be available at their fingertips. They shop around. They read reviews. So if they choose you, it means they have done their homework and they like what they saw on your website and in your social reviews.

But what happens when you start to actually work with your millennial small business owners?

Unfortunately, this is where some firms stumble.

These tech-savvy clients expect firms to keep up and they have little tolerance for outdated technology - especially solutions that they can’t use easily on their mobile devices.  They need solutions that can keep up with their innate drive to HUSTLE.  Mobile access is considered table stakes.

They also HATE email and they don’t own scanners or printers.  

With this in mind, why is your firm using technology (email + a portal) that was coded in the 90’s?  The result is that your team spends up to 40% of their valuable time just gathering the documents from clients, and it's a frustrating experience for clients and your team.  Millennials in particular may not even tell you why they are leaving you - they just find another firm that meets their needs better.

Instead, you need to make it as easy, fast and secure for clients to send documents to you as it is for them to deposit a check using their online banking app. And, you need an app that also allow clients to text you and self-serve their documents.

In other words, you need to be the accountant in your client’s pocket. 

To meet the needs of your millennial small business owners, you need to:

• Eliminate email (hopefully, you have long since eliminated paper)
• Provide secure methods of communication and document exchange (because they are increasingly demanding financial security protocols equal to the banking industry)
• Be readily available (but in a way that allows you to control when and how you interact with them)
• Provide mobile service (in other words, they must have mobile app access to you)

When you make it easy for clients, you get happy clients who respond quickly to your requests. And you also get happy millennials are also likely to refer you to their friends!

You will present a truly modern face to your clients and differentiate yourself from other firms who are still using email as their primary means of requesting information from their clients. 

If you would like to see how Liscio can help you delight your clients and help your team get more done in the process, please book a personalized demo here.