Rebuilding Together Bombarded by advertising from an early age, Gen Xers dismiss traditional marketing in favor of straightforward approaches that let them evaluate objective information — just as online comparison-shopping does. Don’t hide information or make unrealistic promises. Do demonstrate that you’re on top of new products and trends. “They will place a great deal of trust in you if they think that you ‘get it,’” Anschel says.
Pettis says that Gen Xers “will most likely be analytical or business-like during the remodeler selection process, yet creative when sharing and brainstorming ideas.” It pays, he notes, to work with them in a consultative fashion based on establishing trust, building rapport, demonstrating credibility, and assessing the client’s lifestyle and future needs.
“As a generation, we’re just skeptical of everything,” says Melissa Benson, the 29-year-old president of Hammer Head Remodeling, Nicholasville, Ky. She says that she feels Gen Xers “are not taken seriously as a consumer group,” and she refuses to buy from businesses that don’t show her respect and help her get value for her money.
One approach Benson takes with Gen-X clients is using a checklist to ask as many questions as possible about their project and how they plan to use the finished space. Then she takes the time to prepare more than one estimate, using a laptop and PowerPoint to highlight the features and benefits of each. Gen Xers work long hours, she says, so she does the legwork for them.
“We have to recognize their opinions,” Hogan says. “I don’t go into a job saying, ‘We always do this. We always do that.’ Instead, I often ask, ‘What have you thought about? What are your suggestions?’” Gen Xers, he adds, “almost always have great ideas — a result of the available information.”
Thankfully, they’re open to other people’s ideas as well —another contrast to older clients, who tend to be set in their ways. Tenhausen recently worked with Gen-X clients who wanted to give their traditional house a stylized, contemporary kitchen, influenced by a pile of magazine articles they had torn out to show him. “As their consultants,” Tenhausen explains, “we said that probably wasn’t best for their home. We compromised on it, by educating them on the process and getting them to think further” — beyond ‘What’s in it for me now?’
Gen Xers in Action Finally, an anecdote: A couple of Gen-X clients recently remodeled the kitchen of their 1920s bungalow. One well-known design/build firm was more expensive than other companies, but they chose it for two reasons that seem to typify the Gen-X remodeler-selection process.
First, “we thought it would be worth the extra expenses because of the warranty service and because we wouldn’t be there to supervise,” says the female half of the couple. “From that perspective, they were great — they did the job without our holding their hand.”
The bigger reason that the couple chose this company was the saleswoman/designer. “She was articulate, thorough, detailed, and inventive,” the client says. “She solved lots of space problems and did things to make the project work, even though the company would have lost out on the markup.” She also “was great via e-mail — would send me links to samples of merchandise online so I could pick fixtures, etc. — and returned calls quickly.”
In addition, the client says, the saleswoman/designer — who has since started her own business — provided them with detailed budgets and tried very hard to stretch their money by having them order direct for materials. That contrasted sharply with another division of the same company, whom the couple asked to replace their windows. “They refused to provide us with a detailed budget, and the cost was extraordinary,” the client says. “We’re getting them done soon for half the price” — from another company that they learned about through a neighbor.