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If you have a predetermined notion of Gen Z’s work ethic, you’re not alone. You might be envisioning a boundary-setting hybrid employee, who’s rightly in touch with their sense of personal space. If you’re a millennial, maybe it’s someone with a unique communication style and a whip-smart use of tech. For boomers, who traditionally have a very different working style, it might be even more nuanced. Regardless, the sales world has long had a symbiotic relationship with young professionals looking to jump-start their careers, but today’s breed is reshaping the profession in more ways than one.
According to a 2023 study by the Sales Education Foundation, over 50% of college graduates, regardless of major, take their first job in a sales role—even if just on a trial basis. Enter Gen Z: a group with unique expectations and more stereotypes than you can shake a stick at.
Here’s what three Gen Z sales professionals told Revenue Brew about how to get the most out of their generation.
Balancing structure and freedom
Cole Timbol, an account executive at cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike, says he enjoys when management provides structure, which he can then meld with his unique approach, with clear expectations and workflows early on.
“You have these big goals. You want to be CEO of the company in five years, but first hit your sales target, and here’s how we’re going to do that,” Timbol said. “Then I’ll go out and with that kind of initiative found my own ways of doing that.”
Timbol described balancing the expectations of management and Gen Z desires as a push-pull dynamic that could be reconciled. “The idea here is give the employee, like the Gen Z employee, flexibility to go out and do their things, but you also need to keep them grounded in what their job actually is and what their duty is to the company,” he said.
On some other issues, he struck a realistic tone on generational differences.
“There’s probably a bit of professionalism that’s come down a bit, like everybody’s wearing super casual stuff nowadays,” said Timbol. “Maybe [that] could use some work, and I say it as like a fashion tip, but the culture could maybe be a bit more professional all around.”
Management > micromanagement
Isabell Rashid, an account manager at sales intelligence software company Apollo.io, echoed Timbol, suggesting Gen Z employees do not want to be micromanaged simply because they are younger.
“Sometimes managers, especially new managers, want to control everything,” Rashid said. “There’s a fine balance between it all, of course, but I think trusting that your reps, especially the ones that have been there longer know what they’re doing, will bring results.”
This isn’t to say Rashid wants managers to be completely hands-off. Rather, she thinks a team works best when a manager is able to identify when reps need help and use their institutional knowledge to facilitate better work, which she said requires initiative from younger employees.
“I know you know the industry; you’ve been working in it way longer than I have. Tell me how you’ve been thinking about X, Y, Z, and then they’ll share their perspective, and then I’ll share my perspective,” Rashid said. “Then it usually turns into a more fruitful conversation.”
Partnership can go a long way
Another key driver for a more content Gen Z worker: reciprocity. For Ally Langan, account manager at TheRealReal (see recent Q&A here), getting the most out of Gen Z employees comes down to making them feel like you are willing to do as much as you are asking them to do.
“I think that Gen Z, we value ourselves and our time. I do think that some companies don’t value the time, the effort that Gen Z puts into everything they do, and just in general, the cost of living has gone up, and salaries have kind of stayed the same,” Langan said. “So Gen Z, we’re not going to go the extra mile if we feel like the company isn’t going the extra mile for us.”
Langan said this entails making the effort to build trust via personal relationships.
“When it comes to Gen Z, even if [management] would be like, ‘What are your favorite TikToks? What reality shows are you watching?’ Like, get to know the person, and get to know the team. That’s how you make a strong sales team.”