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Cam Marston

Cam Marston

Expert on the generations

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Fee Range: 10000-19999, 20000-39999
  • Cam Marston is the leading expert on the impact of generational change and its impact on the marketplace.
  • Marston’s expertise has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the Chicago Tribune, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Money, and Forbes, as well as on Good Morning America, CNN International, and the BBC.
  • He writes a column for InvestmentNews, CNBC, Investment Advisor, and has been a featured columnist in Agent’s Sales Journal, AdvisorOne Magazine, ThinkAdvisor and Multi-Housing News, among others.

*Fee ranges are presented as a guideline only. Speaker fees are subject to change without notice. For an exact quote, please contact your Speaker Exchange Agency representative.

Cam Marston is the leading expert on the impact of generational change and its impact on the workplace and marketplace. As an author, columnist, blogger, and lecturer, he imparts a clear understanding of how generational demographics are changing the landscape of business.  Marston and his firm, Generational Insights, have provided research and consultation on generational issues to hundreds of companies and professional groups, ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, as well as major professional associations, for over 20 years.

Marston’s books, articles, columns, and blog describe and analyze the major generations of our time: Matures (born before 1946), Baby Boomers, (born 1946-64), Generation X (born 1965-79), Millennials (born 1980-2000), and iGen (born 2000+).  He explains how their generational workplace and marketplace preferences affect every aspect of business, including recruiting and retention, management and motivation, and sales and marketing. 

His first book, Motivating The “What’s In It For Me?” Workforce (2005), explores the characteristics and motivations that each generation brings to the workforce and suggests management tactics applicable to any business setting. His next book, Generational Insights (2010) is a guide to the best practices in managing generational issues. Generational Selling Tactics That Work (2011) is the first book-length study of generational approaches to sales and marketing. His two DVD training videos have been best sellers since introduced in 2005 and his short book The Gen-Savvy Financial Advisor (updated in 2017) is a must-read in the financial services industry. Today Marston offers short, to the point, training micro-videos designed to be viewed on the go focusing on Sales & Service, Management & Retention, and Recruiting via his website, www.generationalinsights.com. 

Marston’s half-day training program, “Leading Multi-Generational Teams,” features the Gen-Flex® process which teaches leaders how to be flexible in their generational workplace preferences to get the best performance out of their teams. 

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University and is a native and resident of Mobile, Alabama.

Five Generations In The Workplace

For the first time in history, five distinct generations — Matures, Boomers, Xers, Millennials and iGen— are employed side by side in the workplace. With differing values and seemingly incompatible views on leadership, these generations have stirred up unprecedented conflict in the business world. Effective management of this generational divide is vital to longevity and success. In fact, it is the most important demand your company can make of its leaders.

In this engaging presentation, Cam Marston teaches how each generation developed its core values, how that manifests in the workplace today, and why they can all not only operate alongside each other, but do so with extraordinary success. This program provides the generational insight, concrete examples and specific approaches to help frustrated managers build the individual connections needed to boost employee performance and retention.

As you will learn, the only common ground is the intensity with which each generation holds fast to its value systems. Understanding and respecting those generational biases are critical to bringing out the best in every employee.

​Selling Across the Generations

The first rule of selling is steadfast: Know your customer. With four distinct generations playing active roles in the buying decisions of companies worldwide, that tenet is increasingly difficult to fulfill. It is no longer enough to be personable and knowledgeable about your product. Changing dynamics require changing strategies. To succeed in today’s business climate, you need to approach each buyer with an informed generational perspective — recognizing the underlying biases, values and expectations that pave the way to “yes”.

In this presentation, Cam Marston shows you how to identify subtle shifts that indicate upcoming leadership changes, create a fast and genuine connection with new customers, sell to your customer’s expectations, build trust between generations, and avoid communication pitfalls.

Throughout the presentation you will see how companies are effectively engaging generational marketing techniques to appeal to the unique decision-making traits of each generation and give you the understanding required to develop a solid sales process based on generational biases and business preferences.

Recruiting and Retention

We hear it all the time: “Our people are our greatest asset.” But finding good talent is hard to find and even harder to keep. How do you build your people assets? What do today’s employees want? In today’s multigenerational workforce, Millennials want meaning and freedom, Generation X wants openness and flexibility, Boomers want recognition and authority. Matures like rules and respect. What about the iGen, the generation following the Millennials? Much remains unknown but early indications suggest they want even more freedom and lots of attention. Each generation has something to offer so every business needs to offer something to each generation.

Retaining employees is far more cost-effective than recruiting and training new ones. This presentation profiles each generation of employee – what will get them on the clock and what will keep them ticking. Cam Marston will help you adapt your recruiting and retention program to suit the ambitions and goals of each generation, choose from the best that each has to offer and realize the full return on investment in your workforce.

Recruiting, training, experience, and institutional memory make your employees your most valuable assets. Effective multi-generational hiring and retention efforts will help ensure that those assets keep working for you and not for someone else.

​The Gen-Savvy Financial Advisor

For decades financial services have focused on demographic groups that are now moving into and past retirement. The Matures (born 1945 and prior) and the Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964) are the generations that the financial services industry grew up with and their client relationships were defined by traditional business models. Now, new generations who have different economic and cultural experiences are moving into age ranges that make them prime markets for investments, retirement planning, insurance, and other financial services.

Cam Marston understands the attitudes and expectations of the upcoming generations and what they expect from service providers. He has learned how they buy, how they value different types of information, what their definition of “expert” is, how they apply it to financial advisors and what they want financial advisors to teach them. He understands their preferred methods of communications, which sales tools to use and how to use them effectively.

The next generation of financial services client has arrived. They will not tolerate being treated the same way their parents were treated. Learn what they want in this exciting and impactful presentation.

Leadership in a Distracted World

Our world today is loud, cluttered, and busy. There are countless attempts made each day to get our attention and distract us from our goals. What must leaders do to gain the attention and respect of those around us? What must leaders do to maintain their own focus and their team’s focus. Learn how our society has formed generations whose communication styles and priorities vary greatly and how leaders must work differently with each group to keep them focused on their goals.

Workplace Culture: A Strategic Differentiator

A strong workplace culture is a recruiting tool. It’s a retention tool. It’s a motivator for employees to come to work every day and feed off the culture and then contribute back to it. Strong workplace cultures foster higher performing teams. They reflect the purpose of the business whether it is customer first, constant innovation, or growth for the future.

Successful workplace cultures aren’t accidental. They are carefully and intentionally built by management and leadership. Successful workplace cultures are, in fact, purposeful. But they are not easy to build. They take work and a lot of maintenance. Learn how management and leadership can prioritize which actions to take that will have the greatest ROI in making your workplace culture a strategic differentiator.

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