By Steve Ashkin, The Ashkin Group

It was only a few years ago when there wasn’t much competition around Green Cleaning. Not many building owners or facility managers were interested, and few sales people invested their time due to a poor return-on-investment. Thus for those few sales people who did become “experts” and who targeted those early-adopters, they could find sales success. Today however things have changed.

Today, the demand for Green Cleaning is accelerating and has become the fastest growing segment of the cleaning industry. Manufacturers of all types of products including chemicals, equipment, paper, liners, mats, buckets and more have invested heavily into greener technologies that perform well and are cost competitive compared to their conventional counterparts. In addition, local, regional and national distributors are now onboard offering an extensive bundle of Green products, and service providers of all sizes offer complete Green service options.

And beyond the supply-side of the market, the demand from building owners and facility managers continues to accelerate as Green Cleaning becomes recognized as the “low hanging fruit” as it becomes “expected” rather than a “value-added” program.

As a result, the number of sales people promoting Green Cleaning has grown from a small handful to thousands. Each has green products to offer, along with the promise of their expertise on the subject. After all, few sales people would ever admit that they really don’t know what they’re talking about when asking a customer for their business.

Thus the challenge today is to be recognized as a real expert. While certainly you can consider being recognized as a “Green Cleaning Professional (GCP)” through Green Cleaning University, but the real issue is understanding the information regardless of how you obtain it.

This is important because many of your competitors only know a few buzz words and their overall understanding of Green Cleaning is pretty shallow. For example, many sales people know what LEED is, but few actually understand how it works and what is really necessary for a building (customer) to achieve points for Green Cleaning. And among those sales people who understand how they can achieve the points for the product category they specifically sell, few understand all the pieces of the puzzle that the customer needs to achieve all the points available under Green Cleaning.

Thus in a crowded marketplace, success will come to those that truly bring value. And in this case the value is your deep understanding of Green Cleaning especially from the customer’s perspective.

So the following is a way to test your knowledge. Can you define:

• What is LEED?
• What are the document claims for energy, water and waste reductions as stated by the USGBC for buildings using LEED?
• What is LEED-EBOM?
• How many points can a facility get for Green Cleaning if they include everything that the custodial/cleaning staff is responsible for?
• Can you define the requirements/specifications for chemicals, paper, equipment and liners?
• Can you explain how LEED-EBOM addresses product categories that are not specifically covered?
• How does LEED-EBOM address manufacturer’s self-certification?
• What are the equipment requirements contained within LEED?
• Do you have a sample Green Cleaning Policy?
• Do you have a sample hand hygiene strategy which includes the use of waterless hand sanitizers?
• Can you provide the necessary training and documentation of it?
• Can you conduct the APPA Custodial Effectiveness Audit (EQ Credit 3.2)?
• Can you conduct a waste stream audit?
• Can you help a new construction building get an “innovation” credit by providing the appropriate documentation?

And this is just the beginning.

Please know that this is NOT a pass/fail test and that many of these same questions can be asked relative to the Green Cleaning programs from the likes of the Healthy Schools Campaign, Hospitals for a Health Environment, Green Seal and other related programs with Green Cleaning requirements. Rather it is to help make the case that there is a lot to learn and there still exists a tremendous opportunity for motivated and informed sales people to really become the Green Cleaning “expert” who can offer real value to the customers.

In the end, every manufacturer’s Green glass cleaner --- cleans glass. And most are priced cost competitively. Thus the real differentiator is YOU and your knowledge and ability to help the customer succeed.

Especially in these tough economic times when building owners and facility managers will be hard pressed to make large capital expenditures for sexy things like photovoltaic arrays and green roofs, they will still want to continue along their Green journey. And Green Cleaning will be one of the “low hanging fruit” that will be even more desirous than before.

And for those sales people that really are knowledgeable, the opportunity is only going to grow. Good luck with your studies --- and good 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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