How do you connect with millenials?

By Wendy Eichenbaum

There are over 80 million millennials in America, one-fourth of our population. They have $600 billion in buying power according a recent Accenture study.

And they were the first generation to grow up with instant and constant interaction with technology. When developing your CX marketing strategy, it’s critical to consider what makes a great experience for millennials.

Millennials typically perform their own research when shopping for products. They use an average of three devices, so they expect an omni-channel experience with companies. At a minimum, your website should be responsive. And they will look at multiple sources for information. Social media is a primary source. An Elite Daily report showed that nearly half of millennials used social media to influence buying decisions. Only 1% of millennials said that traditional advertising influenced them.

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Jalopnik.com

Researchers find that Americans are particularly skittish about giving up control of a vehicle to an automated system. 

But a new study says car buyers are now simply fed up with semi-autonomous features like lane-departure assist and adaptive cruise control, the Wall Street Journal reports.

As part of J.D. Power’s annual Initial Quality Study, the Journal says car buyers reported being increasingly dissatisfied with the semiautonomous features showing up on vehicles.

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By Susan A. Lund, President of MR³

Selling is a lot like driving. People have beliefs that shape their behavior. Some beliefs are true and others are false. The false beliefs take take you off road and sometimes in the ditch. Today we are going to talk about another successful belief to keep you on the road driving in the fast lane to accelerate your success.

Belief #2

I am not a sales professional, thus I don’t believe I am selling or need to sell.

Is that true or false?

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The Detroit Bureau

Waymo, the autonomous vehicle spin-off from Google, has signed a deal with Avis to have the daily rental giant manage some of the self-driving vehicles it is operating in the Phoenix area as part of a ride-share test program.

Apple, meanwhile, is reportedly teaming up with Avis rival Hertz program, in this case to lease a handful of Lexus SUVs that it will modify as part of its own autonomous vehicle project – something that Apple CEO Tim Cook recently described as “the mother of all AI projects.”

In the race to get autonomous, along with more advanced driverless, vehicles on the road within the next decade, established automakers and tech firms alike are lining up to find partners that can help accelerate their development programs.

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LA Weekly

As weed heads for retail stores for users 21 and older starting next year, California leaders appear to be learning a lot from the mistakes of other marijuana-legal states.

One lesson is that a blood alcohol-style limit for drivers probably doesn’t work. Other states, including Washington, established a DUI limit of “5 ng/ml or more of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol” in a suspect’s bloodstream.

The problem is that this limit does not necessarily correlate to being high. Marijuana users could, for example, have smoked two days ago and still show a 5 ng/ml reading, experts say.

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Jacob’s Media

Flying cars?  Driverless cars?  It’s the stuff of The Jetson’s. And unlike the world of the future they promised us in the go-go 60s, it looks like autonomous cars are around the corner.

I’ve talked to many friends and colleagues in the business, living in areas of the U.S. where companies like Uber, Google, Tesla, and scores of other companies are all busily trying to perfect their autonomous driving technology.

Billions are being invested, and cities and municipalities are lining up to ensure their participation in what’s proving to be an amazing race with no drivers.

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The Verge

No steering wheel, no pedals, no problem

Starting this fall, students at the University of Michigan will have access to an entirely new form of transportation in the form of this adorable, completely autonomous shuttle bus.

The university plans to deploy two of the shuttles, manufactured by French startup Navya, to service a two-mile route between the Lurie Engineering Center and the North Campus Research Complex on Plymouth Road. The shuttle can carry a maximum of 15 passengers, and lacks a steering wheel or pedals.

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USA Today

A USA TODAY Network survey of nearly a dozen states hoping to lead the way in autonomous vehicles reveals varying degrees of readiness across the nation

Self-driving vehicles are synonymous with sophisticated sensors producing terabytes of data being analyzed by powerful computers. But it seems the success of this transportation revolution hinges on a decidedly low-tech material: Paint.

That’s because when it comes to getting the nation’s infrastructure ready for autonomous traffic, the most critical upgrade amounts to making sure the lines on our 4 million miles of roads are solid, bright and preferably white so they can be picked up by computer vision gear.

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By Laura Jozwiak, Senior Vice President of Sales and Client Relations, Wheels, Inc.

Do you need to walk in your customer’s shoes in order to truly understand their issues and provide the right solutions?

We have heard this saying many times before, and it could have been appropriate at the time, but time and challenges have changed. Customers still expect you to watch for cracks in the sidewalk and not let them fall. However, that is no longer enough for today’s fast paced environment.

Shoes are certainly foundational to the service equation. You can’t look forward if you aren’t on stable ground. However, I would suggest that we also tilt our heads up from our laptops and smart phones and provide an extra set of eyes for our customers. The greatest value comes from looking forward and into their future toward the next set of challenges and opportunities.

Do you take the time to look up? And when you do look up, do you stay there and consider options, strategies, and plans to move forward? Or do you quickly get distracted by the next email and bring your attention back to the cracks in the sidewalk again?

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New York Times

Want to work for Jaguar Land Rover? You could improve your chances by solving puzzles.

The carmaker announced on Monday that it would be recruiting 5,000 people this year, including 1,000 electronics and software engineers. The catch?

It wants potential employees to download an app with a series of puzzles that it says will test for the engineering skills it hopes to bring in.
“While traditional applicants will still be considered, people who successfully complete the app’s puzzles will fast-track their way into employment,” said Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by Tata Motors of India.

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