Your Future Clients Are Looking For You Online: Are You Visible?

Why should I care that 52% of the world’s population is under the age of 30 or that Gen Y outnumbered baby boomers back in July of 2010? I care because these people are my future clients and if you’re a professional (lawyer, accountant, consultant) these young folks are also your future clients. Here’s what not to do: Don’t be that fuddy-duddy who unconsciously references your experiences, values and habits to make sense of the new Social Era. These future clients started interacting with technology at an early age. You didn’t. Get over it. If you want to earn their trust and their business you need to understand their world not yours. You need to be where they are. Consider:

• Their world is driven by social media and online networking. Source: Kevin McKeown’s Powers of Observation
• 96% of Generation Y have used social media tools. Source: Trendspotting
• 1/3 of adults under 30 get their news from social media tools. Source: Pew
• They view “communication” differently–not in-person, over-the-phone or email but exchanging messages online all the time via text or Twitter. Source: Kara McKenna and Jenna Tomko

Who the heck are Kara and Jenna? They’re part of that 52% in their late 20s. Talk to them. Visit their blog. They will verify my bullets and so will Erik Qualman. What’s Kara perspective?

Today, I could follow [a] person on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin and start to learn the things that they care about – get a sense for who they are…Getting to know someone with the tools online can be the equivalent of a handful of F2F coffee or lunch meetings.

And, Jenna?

I google people all the time before I meet with them, and I’m sure they do the same to me. It is so important for every professional to have a handle on their Internet identity.

My point? You need to be visible online. Don’t fight the numbers. Don’t ignore the trends. Be where you future clients are. Period. You need to cultivate trust and connections via the Internet these days. BTW, don’t look at the Internet as just another marketing channel for securing new Gen Y clients. According to an analysis of 4,200 companies by the McKinsey Global Institute, social technologies stand to unlock from $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value. How so? MGI estimates suggest “that by fully implementing social technologies, companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity of interaction workers—high-skill knowledge workers, including managers and professionals—by 20 to 25 percent.” If you’re involved in B2B professional services and you want to make money, you ought to thumb through that report.  Photo: Kara & Jenna