Sales

Your Millennial Sales Team Decoded

October 20, 2015

As a sales manager, it is your responsibility to do three things:

  1. Deliver on your number
  2. Recruit and hire top talent
  3. Keep a pulse on your sales organization

The first two are always top of mind. They are tangible. They can be measured. But how do you know what it is your team needs from you when you can barely understand what they are saying?

Newsflash: The new sales force is chalk full of Millennials. We are loud. We are opinionated. We are hard working. And most importantly we speak our own language (it’s totes full of abreves too!).

I was recently at a workshop where a conversation was sparked around Millennials. “My recent graduates kill it” one manager said, “but when they aren’t talking about our company or product I quite honestly have no idea what they are saying.”

“Do you ask for clarification?”  I asked. The room all but snorfled (snort-laughed).

Well, for all the sales managers out there who are too afraid to ask, it’s time to decode your millennial team and figure what these reps are (actually) saying.

Millennial Vocabulary Decoded

Yolo: (pronounced: yō-lō) Short for “you only live once.”

Rep A: Dude did you really just ask your prospect that?

Rep B: Whatever, yolo.

TBT: (pronounce tē-bē-tē)  Instagram lingo for “throw back Thursday”

Rep A: TBT the time we hit our goal?

Rep B: Ugh.

**Other Instagram Lingo:

    MCM: Man Crush Monday
  • WCW: Woman Crush Wednesday
  • FBF: Flash Back Friday
  • Bae: (pronounced: Bāy) Short for baby

    Rep A (while on his cell): Bae I won’t be able to make dinner, I have to make 10 more dials

    Can’t Even: A phrase used when an emotion is not enough

    Rep A: My prospect totally just hung up on me.

    Rep B: I can’t even with that

    TBH: (pronounce tē-bē-h)  Short for “ to be honest”, but mostly used to preface an obvious statement

    Rep A: I really want to hit my numbers for the week

    Rep B: TBH, you should probably make more dials then…

    Just Saying: A phrase that normally follows TBH—too soften the blow

    Rep A: I really want to hit my numbers for the week

    Rep B: TBH, you should probably make more dials then…

    Rep A: …

    Rep B: Just saying…

    Rep A: Ya, you’re right!

    Sammie: (pronounced- sam-mē) Short hand for a sandwich—But mostly a breakfast sandwich. (aka the Millenial’s achillies heel)

    Rep A: Ugh, this morning- I can’t even.

    Rep B: We have sammies in the kitchen.

    Rep A: Today just took a serious turn for the better!

Associate

<strong>CeCe Bazar</strong> is an Associate on OpenView's investment team. She was previously a Sales Strategist also at OpenView.