By Steve Ashkin, The Ashkin Group

In last month’s Green Selling Tip I discussed how you can consciously select the type of sales person that you wanted to be --- kind of like selecting a role in a movie or play.  And in that article I discussed that this is the opportunity to audition for the role of the Green Cleaning “expert” and how I think this will affect your success and career.  I also shared my “opening line” to stimulate your thinking.  If you haven’t read the article or just want to refresh before reading this article click here.

Now that you are playing the role as the Green Cleaning expert, let’s think about some of the next steps to support your role and which will ultimately lead to successful sales and a fulfilling career.

Being the “expert” comes with some specific and somewhat obvious expectations from the audience (of course we mean the customer or prospect).  One of the most obvious expectations is that you have done this before.  The audience will expect that you have a long resume of other buildings where you have implemented a Green Cleaning program --- schools, universities, hospitals, commercial buildings, LEED-registered buildings, government facilities, restaurants, churches, etc.  If you’re playing or want to play the role of the expert you will need to build your resume. 

But what if you haven’t done a Green Cleaning program before?  Should you exaggerate your credentials and accomplishments?  After all, the theme of this series of sales tips is “playing a role”.  The answer is unequivocally NO!  Never mislead your audience --- NEVER! 

At the end of the day the only thing you have is your credibility and breaking that trust will significantly limit your success especially in higher level selling.  Please note how I phrase this --- unfortunately if your audience is only concerned about the lowest possible price and their own self-interest, then they tend to be less concerned about you or your integrity.  Unfortunately there are plenty of buyers who behave exactly this way.  But I have found that the higher up in an organization I go --- integrity and relationships become increasingly important.

So if you don’t have a long list of Green Cleaning projects (yet), you can talk about the list of buildings that you and/or your company are currently working with.  After all, what your audience really wants to know is that you have general experience and working in a lot of different building types will give you the background to help them.

Think about it --- every customer or prospect thinks that their building is unique.  And in many respects it is absolutely true.  Their combination of building age, design, systems and their state of repair, building use, location, budgets, custodial supervision and staff, and OCCUPANTS does in fact make each building unique.  So for you to play the role of the expert --- more than knowing all the right answers, you need to know the right questions to ask.  As this will help you determine the best program for your audience.

So after you have delivered your opening lines as discussed in last month’s DestinationGreen, you can begin to make the kind of statements that an expert would make or ask the questions that an expert would need to know so that they can help design the right program for that specific and unique building.

For example you can make a broad and general statement about the growing interest in green, green building and other environmental issues.  This can be supported by magazine articles in trade and popular consumer publications, as well as newspapers.  Initially because you may not know how your audience feels about these issues and unfortunately not everyone is as passionate about these issues as we are, so your statement doesn’t have to come across trying to “sell them” on these issues as much as a “statement of fact” that there is a clear and undeniable increase in interest about these issues.

Other topics include the increase in green buildings and the growth of the US Green Building Council and their LEED Rating System.  Again, your goal is not to “sell” them on the Council or LEED, but to recognize that these are emerging issues --- and as the expert your mention of them demonstrates your expertise because you are aware of them.

You can also talk about ‘we have been working with others and found that several years ago when green products didn’t perform well and cost more than traditional products that many buildings just weren’t interested in Green Cleaning.  But today because the products perform well and are cost comparably to their traditional counterparts that many buildings are now introducing Green Cleaning for a variety of reasons including the PR and marketing value as they try to position themselves as leaders, risk avoidance to their cleaning staff and occupants, improving occupant performance, employee retention and recruiting, reducing environmental impacts, introducing more complex sustainability issues, and similar reasons.’

Often I include the statement that ‘many facility managers are implementing Green Cleaning today because they read the writing on the wall.  And instead of someone in their organization telling them to implement Green Cleaning and questioning why they hadn’t done it yet --- these managers simply realize that they want to initiate the Green Cleaning program and manage it in the way that makes the most sense for them.  And in this way when that same person in their organization finally comes to them about Green Cleaning they can say that they have it already underway.”

These kinds of statements should be broad and delivered in a very factual tone.  It is really not a question or request, but rather the observations being shared by the expert (you). 

Generally what I have found is that when I make such statements the audience wants to offer their observation or experience, which will become your ‘clue’ as to where and how to take the discussion to the next level.

Just remember, they are going to buy Green Cleaning products and programs from someone and we’d prefer it’s from the expert (you)!  Good luck selling.

Steve

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About the Author:

A 25+ year veteran of the cleaning industry, Stephen Ashkin is the author of Green Cleaning for Dummies and a tireless advocate for environmentally preferable cleaning products. Often referred to as the “father of green cleaning,” Ashkin has played a pivotal role in setting industry standards, promoting environmentally preferable products, and advocating for socially responsible practices.

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