“When you sell Green Cleaning products, your first consideration always must be moving the entire Green Cleaning program forward,” – Tom Murphy

Tom Murphy has worked in the cleaning sales industry for 23 years and says he started selling Green Cleaning products in the mid 1990s—back before anyone ever heard of the term, Green Cleaning, and his products were known only as “environmentally friendly.”

Today, as sales manager for RoVic Inc., one of New England’s leading distributors of full line maintenance equipment and industrial cleaning products, Murphy manages a staff of 33 people who sell Green Cleaning products throughout the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Murphy and his team achieve $3-4 million annually in Green Cleaning product sales and RoVic Green Cleaning customers include the Boston Public School system and the city governments of Springfield, Mass. and Manchester, Conn.

RoVic’s three New England locations not only serve as product distribution hubs, they function also as customer training venues for Green Cleaning processes such as: Improving Indoor Air Quality, Selecting a Cleaning System to Fit Your Needs and Green Cleaning for Health and Safety. The equal attention the firm pays both their Green Cleaning products and their correct application is the core of the firm’s success, or as Murphy would say, “Green Cleaning products, by themselves, are not the ‘be all and end all’ of what we’re doing. The product sales come because we are doing a good job of everything else.”

Recently, The Ashkin Group interviewed Murphy about his experiences and insights for achieving multi-million dollar annual Green Cleaning product sales.

The Ashkin Group: What are the differences a sales person must take into account selling Green Cleaning products versus standard industrial cleaning chemicals?

Murphy: When you sell Green Cleaning products, your first consideration always must be moving the entire Green Cleaning program forward. When you meet a customer, rather than just telling them a product is going to clean soiled areas, you explain that by carrying out a full Green Cleaning they will achieve health benefits, improved indoor air quality and lowered incidents of reported sensitivity to chemicals. We literally present lists of all the benefits customers can experience. For example, a Green Cleaning program utilizes liners that correctly fit building trash cans so there is unnecessarily wasted plastic. We explain how the trash cans of emptied is important too and that under a Green Cleaning program, trash cans are not emptied until they are more than half full because to do otherwise is labor and product inefficient.

Secondly, we conduct a green audit where we tour the customer’s facilities and identify all the different possibilities for carrying out greener cleaning processes. The Audit is vital.

Thirdly, we produce a cost-benefit analysis that inevitably shows the customer it won’t cost any more to switch to a Green Cleaning program. Finally, we convey that converting from a standard cleaning program to a Green Cleaning program is not as difficult as they often fear it will be.

 

The Ashkin Group: What is your No.1 tip for growing RoVic’s sale of Green Cleaning products?

Murphy: There is no silver bullet and no one thing is going to a Green Cleaning salesperson successful. It all has to part of a process and there are several planks to that process as I’ve just described.

 

The Ashkin Group: What do you think is the most common mistake some Green Cleaning salespeople make?

Murphy: The biggest mistake made is when a salesperson really doesn't know what he or she is talking about. Too many Green Cleaning product sales people don’t do the necessary research and the homework. They simply give a “me too” statement by saying they also offer Green Cleaning products without knowing all the issues involved with an effective Green Cleaning program.

Every customer has a certain level of understanding. You have to ascertain that by asking the right questions, conducting an audit so you can see what they are actually doing rather than what they think they are doing. It involves doing the homework and then asking the right questions.

 

The Ashkin Group: What do you think is the biggest challenge in selling Green Cleaning products?

Murphy: Misconceptions – a lot of people are out there saying a lot of different things about Green Cleaning products and much of it is untrue. So the biggest challenge is educating potential customers about what Green Cleaning really offers.

 

The Ashkin Group: What do you think are the latest trends in Green Cleaning?

Murphy: Microfiber. It is going to grow much more rapidly than it is growing now. Also, within the next five years, Green Cleaning will be the industry standard.

 

The Ashkin Group: What do you think are the biggest benefits of a Green Cleaning program for facility managers?

Murphy: Getting rid of one more workplace worry. Many are getting pressure from the top to go green and so doing it takes that pressure away. Also, they see better overall health in their buildings. Customers have told me that indoor air quality is improved and occupants don’t seem to get sick quite as often.

Also, it’s the right thing to do. More than anything else, Green Cleaning makes our industry a better corporate citizen of the world. It’s going to make everyone’s life a little bit better and that’s what we should all try to do.