Bridging the Generation Gap: How to Provide Quality Customer Service for Patrons of Any Age Professional Development Mini Conference February 2, 2011 Lorie.

Bridging the Generation Gap: How to Provide Quality Customer Service for

Patrons of Any Age

Professional Development Mini ConferenceFebruary 2, 2011

Lorie HardingInstructional/Reference Librarian

The Lawrenceville School

Talkin' 'bout my generation

• Does your “Generation” or a Patron’s “Generation” matter in our library interactions?

• What we’ll cover during today’s session:• Attributes & Characteristics • Major Events that define

each Generation• Why this pertains to

Customer Service• Case Studies that will

be used to brainstorm

Which Generation Do I Belong To? Does it Define Me?

• These are the Generations we have visiting our Libraries:• Silent Generation• Baby Boomers• Generation X• Generation Y (or Millennials)• Generation Z or C (Digital Natives)

• One caveat- we will be discussing the Generations on a broad scheme. There are many exceptions to these rules.

Silent Generation (Traditionalist's)

• Born 1925-1945 (Today about 5 Million)

• Major Events: Great Depression, World War II

• Famous People: Gore Vidal, T. Boones Pickett, Sandra Day O’Connor, Clint Eastwood, Mikhail Gorbachev, Neil Armstrong

• Attributes: Adaptive, Reserved, Likes Security, Likes Stability

• Pay Your Dues, Hard work, Clean living, Be a Lady/Gentleman, Commitment to God/Country.

Baby Boomers• Born 1946-1964 (largest population ever born in US about 80 Million)

• Major Events: Kennedy Assassination, Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, Moon Landing

• Famous People: Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, William Jefferson Clinton, David Letterman, Princess Diana, George W Bush, Richard Branson

• Attributes: Idealist, Energetic,Grew up in age of possibilities, questions authority, encouraged equality.

• Optimist's, Inquisitive, Competitive, Trend Setters, Like attention & recognition

Generation X

• Born 1965-1980 (46 Million)

• Major Events: Roe v Wade,Gas Shortages, AIDS,Challenger Explosion, Watched America’s institutions being questioned

• Famous People: Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Micheal Dell, Jeff Bezon (founder Amazon.com)

• Attributes: Reactive, Pragmatic, Individualistic, Risk Takers, being with friends/their families, goal oriented. Global citizens.

• Used to and adapts well to change, cynical, skeptical. Technology savvy. Biggest gap exists between them and prior generations.

Generation Y (Millennials)

• Born 1981-1995 (75 Million)

• Major Events: Columbine ShootingSeptember 11th, Personal Computer Age

• Famous People: Prince William, Venus and Serena Williams, Chelsea Clinton

• Attributes: Civic minded- they want to be involved, Used to diversity, Most protected generation ever, Grew up with technology, High Self Esteem

• Need direction, feedback, praise, reassurance and approval. Likes to try new things, be involved as a group. Short attention spans- don’t like to be bored. Wired to technology.

Generation Z or C

• Born 1996-

• Major Events: Internet, Social Networking, Hurricane Katrina

• Attributes: Digital Natives, Highly connected, Ideas of privacy are different

• Are children/teenagers at this point. So their attributes are still being defined. Consumer orientated. Individualistic and more self directed. More organized play- Reduced free time.

General Recommendations for

Customer Service• Be your customer. Put yourself in their shoes.

• Provide memorable service. Make customers feel important and appreciated. Smile, eye contact, show interest.

• Provide hospitality. Give more than expected. (Act like you’re on their side)

• Be a good listener.

• Know how to apologize. Manage expectations. Tell people “why”, ask a supervisor to join you if needed,

• In the end don’t take it personally, know you are good at your job. Everyone has a bad day from time to time.

• Consider what you could do next time. Learn what works/doesn’t work.

How this Relates to Our Customer Service?

• Silent Generation: • Look the part & Use Formalities• Clear lines of command- everyone adhere to same regulations &

policies• Patience• Consistent Service • Be personable & show genuine interest.

• Baby Boomers: • Pay attention to them, they believe they are the star and deserve

center stage• Treat them as individuals.• Ask them what they want done or accomplished.• Be solution oriented. If you can not fix something be honest. And

offer them alternatives. They want transparency and to included in the decision making process.

• Make them feel special.• Admire their appearance & physical stature • Look on the brighter side of every situation.

How this Relates to Our Customer Service?

• Generation X: • Takes a while to earn their respect. Be informal and relaxed. The greater

the formality the more they will be uncomfortable. • Allow them plenty of time to ask questions, since they tend to be

skeptical this demonstrates you have nothing to hide.• Treat them as equals regardless of their appearance.• Use humor • Show interest in/recognize their families.• Whenever possible use technology to assist them, keep written

information and forms to a minimum.

• Generation Y:• Appeal to their technical savvy nature.• Have procedures available with steps on what they need to do to make

changes. (Virtually if possible)• Be flexible and try to have alternatives for them to choose from.• Tell them how to solve it. Be specific.• Don’t make them wait- if it can’t be done quickly they might prefer to

come back when it can.

How this Relates to Our Customer Service?

• Generation C or Z:• Don’t react immediately to the situation. Be calm.

• Be consistent- but don’t expect teens/kids to know the rules.

• Create win/win situations.

• Remember they do not understand time constraints.

• Short attention spans.

• Don’t take it personally (hormones and all).

Case Studies