286. No One Cares About Gen Z

Gen Z is already in your sales funnel—even if you haven’t noticed yet—and their buying habits are nothing like what worked with Millennials. 

In this spicy episode, I’m breaking down why ignoring this generation could be costing you thousands and how to adjust your sales strategy to keep up with who’s actually booking weddings in 2025.

Here is the thread I am reacting to: https://www.threads.net/@brandeegaar/post/DHqyTYmq8yd?xmt=AQGzPEyF4eMDTSQ-PR4OHQZHlAaWsEkj5bv1YGPLW2K3QA

This is the article I cited https://ecocart.io/gen-z-spending-habits/

You didn’t start your business to stay stuck. If you're ready to finally hit 6 or 7 figures WITHOUT burning out — book a call with our team → https://weddingproceo.com/application

Buying Habits of Gen Z Couples in 2025 https://weddingproceo.com/how-to-reach-gen-z-couples-2025/

The Assume Sales Training. 2x your wedding bookings in 30 days—step by step. Thousands of wedding pros have already used it to land more clients immediately! http://weddingproceo.com/freetrainingorg

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EPISODE SHOW NOTES BLOG & MORE:

https://weddingproceo.com/no-one-cares-about-gen-z/

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Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast. If you find these strategies helpful, make sure to share this episode with your fellow wedding pros. And remember, in the world of weddings, it's all about building genuine relationships and showcasing your best work. Until next time, keep shining, CEOs!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Controversial Topic Ahead
• 0:53 The Thread I Posted
• 1:37 I Buy Like This Too
• 3:25 Show Me The Data!
• 7:00 Buying Habits of Gen Z
• 7:22 42 Statistics on Gen Z Spending Habits
• 8:10 Forward Focused Business
• 11:59 Why Focus on Gen Z?
• 15:19 More on the Buying Habits of Gen Z

Transcript

Brandee Gaar: 0:01

So apparently talking about the buying habits of Gen Z has become a controversial topic over on threads. Last week I posted a thread talking about how to sell to Gen Z and the things that they like and don't like, and the comment section blew up. this may be more of a hot take, spicy Brandee episode that you're getting today, but I wanna talk about the comments, why they were made, and why I feel strongly that you should care about Gen Z because they are coming up fast into our marketplace. And if you're ignoring them, you're leaving thousands of dollars on the table. so You're probably dying to know Brandee. What did you post that caused so much drama over on Threads? Well, I didn't think it was gonna cause that much drama, to be honest. Talking about Gen Z or the buying habits of couples in our marketplace doesn't exactly seem like a controversial topic, but apparently it is. So the. Thread that I posted was Gen Z. Couples don't want to inquire for pricing. They want clarity, speed, and a seamless booking process. If your inquiry process is confusing, they'll move on. And some of the comments that we got, I loved right, some of the com. I mean, I loved all the comments because over on Threads, that's where the hot debates happen. That's where everybody has an opinion, and we all know that it's the most difficult thing in the world that if you don't agree with something, you just keep scrolling. That's not really how it works on most of social media, and it's. Definitely not how it works on threads. Everyone has to drop in with their opinion and I'm here for it because I love talking about these kind of topics that are affecting our industry. So some of the comments that we got were, I'm a millennial and this is me too. And I was like, yeah, I'm Zennial like I call myself a Zennial because I don't really wanna be Gen X, but I was born on the cusp year. Okay? but I buy like that too. I want to know what I'm getting into before I even reach out. I wanna have an idea of the cost, and then I want to have a sales call. See if it's the perfect fit for me and buy like I'm the person. I'm every salesperson's dream because by the time I've reached out for a sales call, I know enough to know that if the sales call goes well, I'm buying within 60 seconds of getting off the call or even during the call, right? Like I am well researched before I go into the call in the first place, and there's nothing more frustrating or that will make me bounce faster. Then not being able to get the information that I need to make that decision ahead of time. this is something that I think a lot of generations value, but here with this newest generation, it's actually becoming a deal breaker because they are the first generation who's only known a life with social media and with technology in their hand. And that means that they have always been used to being able to get any information that they need or want immediately. They don't have to wait for it. They don't have to schedule a call. And while this strategy of getting someone on a call with no idea what your cost or what you deliver is. Might have worked 20 years ago when the only way that we could get information was by calling somebody or reading a printed article about them, or an advertisement about them, right? So that strategy may have worked 20 years ago. And listen, if it's still working for you today. I'm not the right coach for you. I don't know why you're listening to my podcast and I don't know why you're on my threads, right? Like I'm clearly not the right coach for you because I'm gonna tell you that's wrong. But if it's working for you, more power to you, bless and release. Go have fun. Kill it. I wish you all the best. I know I told you guys you were getting spicy Brandee today, right? What I thought was interesting about one of the first comments that I got on this thread, and I, I was out of pocket when, um, I posted this. So I didn't see it till later in the day, and I was just kinda like, huh? Like I'm reading it. And I was like, is this comment meant to be. A genuine question because it doesn't really seem like it's framed that way, but I really try to believe the best in people, right? Like texts can be taken out of context. I try to believe the best in people, so I was like. Yeah, maybe they're genuinely asking for clarification, so I'm gonna give it, but here's what they wrote. Dot, dot, dot. And you know this how? In all caps do you have empirical data to back up this claim? Factual evidence? You seem to be well positioned in the industry, so I'm guessing you're willing and able to provide some insights that corroborate your statement. Okay, so take that as you will. But I thought, you know, I mean they are asking for data, right? They're asking if I just made this up, and if you know me, if you've listened to my podcast for any length of time, you know that I always say I'm a data girly and I'm a business coach. I take that very seriously. I don't just come on here and whimsically tell you guys things that I just. Think, or that have only affected my business or that I kind of just like gut feeling made up one day. I don't come on here and do that. And if I do, I'm telling you like, Hey, this is kind of my hunch. This is what I think might be coming. Right? I tell you that. But when I make a statement like this, like Here's Gen Z's, buying habits, it's because I've been studying this. Why am I studying it? Because they are the next buying generation in our marketplace. And I say next, but in reality, they're here. I've done several episodes on Gen Z, so I would love for you to go back and watch some of those episodes where I really dig into their buying habits. But what you need to know is that here in 2025, the oldest Gen Z are about 27, 28 years old, and depending on what type of couples you serve in the marketplace, you're literally selling to them. Right now, my company blush, we typically serve a little bit more mature of a client, so we typically are serving. Late twenties, early thirties. So we're just now starting to see this generation Z in our sphere, right, in our sales funnel. But if you serve a client that's. Early, mid, late twenties. You definitely, like this generation is making up the bulk of your market, right? so by not researching them, by not understanding their buying habits and how they're different from millennials, you're really doing a disservice to your company and leaving thousands of dollars on the table. So all that to say, of course, I thought, let me believe the best in this post. Right? Let me, let me say. Yeah, it, they probably just want me to drop some data so that they can also understand these deeper buying habits of Gen Z. Right? So I drop in and I say there's actually lots of articles that talk about the buying habits of Gen Z. One of them, which I did a whole. Podcast on several months ago is the Knot Wedding Trends report, right? They talked a lot about the buying habits of Gen Z, but one that I really have enjoyed reading is an article by EcoCart and it is literally called 42 Statistics on Gen Z spending habits. Now, this is not directly focused on the wedding industry, right? It doesn't need to necessarily be, but it is focused on the buying habits and the spending habits of Gen Z. And so I loved this article. It was written last year, mid 2024, and some of the things that it says all retail brands should be paying attention to Gen Z spending habits this year. now that they've gotten their degrees and entered the workforce, we're beginning to see the shape of their views and desires. Like every generation before, they will one day transform American society. So it's important that we pay attention to their priorities. Gen Z spending power will shape retail over the next decade. And the reason that I wanted you to hear that part of the conversation is because as we get into some of these comments, I think that they're hysterical. I don't know any of us who are in business just for today. Yes. Are we really focused on the buyers that are in our marketplace today? Yes, for sure. But are we also forward looking and thinking, what can we change about the way we sell, the way we market, the way we brand ourselves, the way we've built our team, the way we position our pricing, all of our strategies we should. Always be forward thinking. Who are we selling to? What do they want? What do they like? How is it working in our sales funnel? How's our marketing funnel working? Right? Like as business owners, we shouldn't just be thinking about today. If you are, you're already behind. We should be forward thinking as to what we need to do to continue growing our businesses. when they say Gen Z is gonna shape buying over the next decade, this is who we're looking at, right? This is the generation that we should be looking at. Even though Gen Z is still young, this is going back to the article. Even though Gen Z is still young, they're spending power significant, their current spending power is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Hundreds of billions, and as they get older, this number will only increase. On top of this, younger Gen Z holds influence over older generations as their boomer, gen X and millennial family members purchase gifts and even necessities. Gen Z is an important demographic that companies, especially those in e-commerce, must pay attention to. This is huge you guys, and so to ignore this generation, to not think about it is a disservice to your own business, right? And again, this is what I want you to understand is you have to know as a business owner. Who do you serve? Who is your demographic? What is the average age range of your ideal client? If it's thirties. Then you're not here yet, right? This is coming up. This is coming up, but you're still very much serving a millennial. Right? But if you serve early, mid, late twenties, these are your people. These are your people. These are the people you should be focused on and how they're spending. Now, the reason that it's so important that we understand that their spending habits are so different is because it's not just that Gen Z is a totally different generation than millennials, and they do have different buying habits. It's also that Gen Z snuck into the marketplace. So when I first started my business back in 2007, all we talked about was how to sell to millennials, literally. That's every conference, every article, every blog, every everything. Everyone was telling you how to sell to millennials, right? And so what's interesting is that there's actually very little data or, or emphasis being put on how to sell to Gen Z. And the reason for that. I believe is because they became adults during the pandemic shutdown, during the Covid shutdown. That's when they became adults and came into the marketplace. And so we were so focused on just how to survive that, that we didn't realize. All of a sudden they're 28 years old and they're here. Like they're already buying, like they're, it's huge, right? And so we really haven't put a lot of emphasis on this, and I am. I love helping wedding business owners to understand their client, like understand what they want from them, the strategies that are working. And so understanding the buying habits of this newest generation is a really big piece of that. So I've been talking about this honestly, probably for a year now. If you go back and look at different podcasts, different YouTubes that we've done, you'll see that I talk about this a lot. I talk about Gen Z, a lot, and I'm not gonna stop doing that. So. Anyway, I dropped the article. I kinda said, gen Z snuck into the marketplace while we're all focused on the pandemic. I dropped the articles, blah, blah, blah. Right? So this is where it got interesting, and this is where, why I decided to do an episode on this, because I was like, okay, um, so I'm thinking the best, right? I'm like, I'm gonna drop the data. Yes. I, I have the data. Of course I do feel free to look at it or Google. There's literally millions of articles on this. And so the response was. But Why do you have such a focus on Gen Z? The article you cited said Gen Z contributed to a whopping 5% of all spending in the US with the oldest Gen Z being 28, barely entering into the average marriage age range. Why focus on such a small market share? okay.. So before I go on to tell you uh, let me, let me tell you about a few of the others. So. someone actually responded before I could, which I love and kinda, and kind of jumped in and said, why so much? Focus on disputing what she's saying here. Gen Z is of marrying age, as you just mentioned. If you don't intend to service Gen Z clients, that's fine, but she wasn't wrong here to post about the newest generation trends. So I love that she jumped in before I did.'cause I wasn't going to reply to this again. then he comes back again and says, again, gen Z accounts for five in all caps, percent of total spending. I'm an educator and teach workshops too. That's such a niche market to be focused on. It's odd advice. Okay, so here's my thing. Again, I told you guys, you're getting spicy Brandee today, right? So if you're listening to this on the podcast and um, you haven't been watching on YouTube, I'm gonna encourage you to go over to YouTube because one, it's fun. It's fun. I'm sitting in my office, spicing it up. so here's my thought. This article does say that Gen Z accounts for 5% of all buying. Why? Because they are not a huge piece when you consider that there are still millennials, gen X and boomers, all still in the marketplace. So yes, gen Z makes up for 5% of total spending in all of America.'cause these are US based statistics, right? It's not global. So yes, they make up for 5%, However that's expected to more than triple over the next five years, first of all. So let's start there. And second of all, the article and what I was saying is really meant to say, if you know your client, this could be a much larger piece of the pie for you if you service young, mid, or late twenties. So I thought it was kind of funny that he was like, um, they're barely of marrying age. I'm like, what? there are. Literally tens of thousands of couples who get married before the age of 28, So, if you know that that's your demographic, this is making up a much larger piece of the pie for you. So you do need to be focused more on how am I selling to this generation? What strategies do I need to change in my sales funnel, in my marketing funnel? How I speak to them, the way that I'm converting them, the way that I'm. Servicing them, right? All of these things are so, so important, and even if they're not that larger pie for you, even if you are serving a more mature couple, this couple, this generation is coming into your marketplace, you're going to start seeing them in your sales funnel any day. Now, they will be making up a large percentage of your. Buyers over the next five years, and I don't know about you, but I didn't build a business that would go away tomorrow. I'm building a business that has long-term planning, long-term strategy. I plan to still be around five years from now, and the only way to do that is to make sure that I'm staying on trend, that I'm staying up with the strategies that I understand who my buyers are and how they buy, what their buying habits are, and what they're looking for in my company. Well, friends, thank you so much for joining me for this episode of What the Heck Happened on Threads last week. I've absolutely loved having some fun with you today. If you wanna know more about the buying habits of Gen Z, specifically, what they're looking for, and I go into it in a lot more detail. Go back and listen to episode 2 77 where I break down exactly how to reach Gen Z couples in 2025. I'm telling you, CEO do not sleep on this newest generation that's coming into our marketplace. if you have, comments about this episode, I would love for you to drop me a DM over on Instagram. I'm at Brandee Gaar and I love getting dm. So let me know what you thought about this episode and I will see you next time.