Respect (and Sell To) Your Elders

* Don’t use scare tactics. Discouraging news about aging will not motivate them to respond or buy.

* When possible, target your communications to life-stage events (e.g., retirement).

* Target wealth, not just income. A good percentage of seniors have no income but plenty of money.

* Don’t use answering-system decision trees in your call center. Also, avoid interactive voice response (IVR) at all costs — they want to talk to humans.