By Stephen Ashkin

What Buyers Should Look For and What Sellers Need To Know

One of the “hot topics” expected at this year’s ISSA show will be Green Cleaning. But as more and more companies jump on the bandwagon, here are some questions that you can ask to help determine who the best suppliers might be. And if you are working a booth at the trade show, these are questions that you need to be prepared to answer.

1.What do you know about Green Cleaning?
How did you learn about Green Cleaning? What seminars have you attended? Do you have any certifications or other training on Green Cleaning? This question will help you get a sense of what they really know, how deep their knowledge is, and how they learned what they know. A supplier can’t be a good guide if their knowledge is only superficial.

2. Who else are you doing it for?
Can I contact your references? What benefits did you achieve for them? Did you document the benefits? This will help you determine how much experience they really have. Working with a company that has achieved success for others and can document the benefits is a much better partner because that information will be very valuable to your customers and prospects.

3. What is the extent of your Green products or services?
Do you offer a single, innovative product? Do you offer a complete line of products? Do you offer a complete system, such as chemicals, tools and equipment? Some companies are coming out with single products used for multiple purposes, while other companies have broad product lines. There is no right or wrong answer to this. Just know clearly what they are offering so you can make the best decision for you and your customer.

4. Are you familiar with the US Green Building Council and LEED?
Are you a member? How do you participate? Are you involved with a local chapter? Are you on any committees? Do you have a building in LEED – your own or one of your customers? Does your program meet the requirements of LEED-EB? If so, which points can you help deliver? Will you help with the actual submission documentation? It is hard for me to believe that a company that is really into Green Cleaning wouldn’t be a member of the US Green Building Council or know much about LEED-EB (LEED for Existing Buildings). Just make sure if they claim to be an “active” member of the Council that they can document it. Their contacts could be very valuable, as long as they are real. And if they are exaggerating their claims here, they likely are exaggerating their claims elsewhere as well.

5. What makes your Green Cleaning program different from a traditional program?
Everybody has a “green” glass cleaner and everybody’s glass cleaner works Is your program more than just products? If so, how? Have you modified your procedures to reduce exposures and improve the health of building occupants? Try to determine what makes them different, what is of value, and how much help they can really be. And please remember that Green Cleaning is NOT about “doing more with less”, reducing costs, labor efficiencies, etc. While these may be important, Green Cleaning is about protecting health and reducing environmental impacts.

6. Are your products and equipment certified?
Green Seal for chemicals Carpet & Rug Institute for vacuum cleaners Green Seal or Chlorine-Free Paper Association for janitorial paper Are you “self-certified”? If you only have 30 minutes to make a presentation to a prospective customer, why spend half of it trying to explain what makes your products green? It is so much easier to just used “certified” products and you’re done. Then you can spend what little sales time you have on the real issues. Furthermore, many of the new programs (i.e. LEED-EB) require that your green products meet these standards. Thus, certified products make it easier on everyone – unless of course you’re the sales person having to make excuses why your products aren’t certified.

7. What is your local expertise?
Everyone has a “technical expert”. But are they available when you need them? Is your technical expert 1,000+ miles away at corporate headquarters? What kind of training on Green Cleaning do you put your local representatives through? If you’ve ever had a problem during a complete strip-out at 2 o’clock in the morning, then you can appreciate how helpful it is to have someone local who can help solve your problem. Local expertise is well worth it. Just make sure that their local reps are well trained on Green.

8. How can you help me communicate the benefits to my customers?
Stickers for restroom mirrors
Articles for newsletters
Tent cards
Door hangers
Other?
Communications is an important aspect of implementing and maintaining a successful Green Cleaning program. Working with a supplier that has these materials already completed can be very valuable.

9. What kind of training programs do you offer?
Are the training programs comprehensive or only for single products? Are the training programs designed for people who don’t speak or read English? Are the training programs focused only on procedures, or do they offer programs to help with workloading and staffing requirements? As stated previously, Green Cleaning is much more than just products. Finding a good training program is incredibly valuable. Look for one that addresses the needs of people who don’t read or speak English. And make sure that it is more than just OSHA Right to Know info which focuses on the hazards of individual products based on their MSDS.

10. If you had a blank slate, where would you begin?
This question is that “open ended” question which gives them an opportunity to demonstrate what they really know and how much they’ve thought about what it will take to really help you succeed. In all of this remember our goal is to transform the cleaning industry and through the sale of Green Cleaning products generate exceptional sales, commissions and profits. But today, Green Cleaning still represents only a small portion of the total market.

Thus, our real competitor is NOT the person trying to sell a competing Green Cleaning product or program, but rather the billions of dollars of traditional products being sold and used every year. Our goal is to convert all of our customers from traditional products to those that are more environmentally preferable (reduce impacts on health and the environment compared to similar products used for the same purpose).

And selecting the best suppliers at ISSA and truly being prepared to help end-users implement a Green Cleaning program will ultimately help us achieve our goals. Keep in mind that customers are going to start buying Green Cleaning products and programs from someone – and we’d prefer that it’s from you.

Good selling and see you at ISSA.