The 3rd of 7 critical insights into the Mindset of the Boomer Generation
Insight #3 – Don’t Make the Mistake of Calling a Boomer a Senior
The Baby Boomer Generation is comprised of individuals born between 1946 and 1964 who are 45 to 63 years of age. Do not make the mistake of confusing them with the Silent Generation, those born between 1924 and 1945 a generation who like generations before them accepted and were therefore called “Senior”, or Senior Citizen.
Silent Generation is a term coined in the November 5, 1951 cover story of Time to refer to the generation coming of age at the time, born during the Great Depression or World War II. The article, (which defined the generation at the time as born from 1923 to 1943), found its characteristics as grave and fatalistic, conventional, possessing confused morals, expecting disappointment but desiring faith, and for women, desiring both a career and a family. The article stated:
Youth today is waiting for the hand of fate to fall on its shoulders, meanwhile working fairly hard and saying almost nothing. The most startling fact about the younger generation is its silence. With some rare exceptions, youth is nowhere near the rostrum. By comparison with the Flaming Youth of their fathers & mothers, today’s younger generation is a still, small flame. It does not issue manifestoes, make speeches or carry posters. It has been called the “Silent Generation.” (Wikipedia)
Whereas the Wikipedia definition of the Baby Boomer is: In general, baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values; however, many commentators have disputed the extent of that rejection, noting the widespread continuity of values with older and younger generations. In Europe and North America boomers are widely associated with privilege, as many grew up in a time of affluence. As a group, they were the healthiest and wealthiest generation to that time, and amongst the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.
One of the unique features of Boomers was that they tended to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that had come before. In the 1960s, as the relatively large numbers of young people became teenagers and young adults, they, and those around them, created a very specific rhetoric around their cohort, and the change they were bringing about. This rhetoric had an important impact in the self perceptions of the boomers, as well as their tendency to define the world in terms of generations, which was a relatively new phenomenon.
The baby boom has been described variously as a “shockwave” and as “the pig in the python.” By the sheer force of its numbers, the boomers were a demographic bulge which remodeled society as it passed through it. (Wikipedia)
As you can see, there are marked differences between the two generations, making the assumption that Baby Boomers will want to be called Seniors could be bad for business. Most Baby Boomers do not like the term Senior, they don’t think of themselves as a Senior Citizen, and many may never adapt to being called one. For example, let’s say you have a customer who is 65 years of age who freely admits to being a Senior Citizen, and you have one who is 63 (a leading edge Baby Boomer), who has never mentioned it. Err on the side of never calling this customer a Senior Citizen, he or she might be highly offended.
Gail Sheehy, a Sociologist and Author of the Best Seller “New Passages” has done numerous studies of people in different generations who are experiencing increased life spans and she has concluded that labels such as “Age of Mastery” for those who are age 45 to 65 and “Age of Integrity” for those who are 65 to 85+ are much more appropriate terms for today’s aging population.
Boomers believe that they should be treated special just because they are Boomers and if you are offering a “Senior Discount”, like an “Early Bird Special” to your customers, it is important to know that Boomers do not like to be thought of as not having the financial wherewithal to pay for goods and services. Consider designing your “specials” around the Boomer consumer, make them the central focus and the reason for having the special. Do a survey of your customers to see what product or service you offer that they like best and why, be sure to get their age. Then design your promotions around the information you have collected.
If you have always offered a Senior Discount of some sort and would like to continue doing so, think of changing what you call it and make sure that you train your staff so they understand why you are doing this. Perhaps you could call your Senior Discount the Age of Integrity Discount and train your staff to ask the customer if he or she is in the Age of Integrity. This minor change is sure to cause Boomers to feel special and much more comfortable with being asked if they would like to take advantage of a discount, and more comfortable about purchasing products and/or services from your business today and in the future.
