Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 39

Weekly Recap, March 19, 2023

Here are our sales-enhancing tips from this week's Selling Energy Blogs...

Perseverance

Winston Churchill once observed, “Success always demands a greater effort.” If you’re passionate about what you’re doing and believe it is of benefit and value to others, then perseverance can take you a long way.

Improve Your Pitch

Yesterday, we talked about choosing your words wisely and why you should rid your elevator pitch of “fluff” words. Today, I’d like to share a strategy for improving the effectiveness of your elevator pitch by piquing your prospect’s curiosity. If you can come up with a compelling statistic that is easy to understand and that makes your prospect eager for more information, you’ll be on the right track to a great pitch.

A year or so ago, I heard about a solar hot water system that could provide up to 1,000 gallons of hot water to a small dairy farm. It paid for itself in about 18 months (assuming California propane costs at the time) and was projected to last for 20 years.

Focus on Your Customer's Story

I’ve written about how increased productivity in an office space can more than outweigh the utility cost savings in the wake of an efficiency project. Today, we’ll look at another example of how reframing utility cost savings can boost your value proposition.

A few years ago, I was teaching the weeklong Selling Energy Boot Camp and a gentleman, who we’ll call Jack, came up to me and told me that he was having difficulty getting church leaders to focus on energy efficiency as a key driver of decision-making. One pastor told him he had his hands full trying to keep a congregation attracted to the church and trying to raise enough money to feed and clothe the needy.

The Language of Capital Expenditures

Today we're going to explore Capital Expenses (also known as Capital Expenditures or “Cap Ex”) in the context of how it could benefit a prospect or a customer.

To start, a Capital Expense is a fixed asset purchase or a purchase that adds to the value of an existing asset where the useful life extends beyond the current fiscal year. This includes things like machinery, lighting systems, chillers, boilers, etc.

Get Visual

With the ever-present stimulation and fast pace of modern society comes the decline of attention span. If you want to capture the attention of a prospect who doesn’t have the attention span (or ability) to fully understand a formal written proposal with its complex financials and technical appendices, consider adding some visuals to convey value.
I heard a story several years ago that I’d like to share with you about a campaign created by JCPenney to transform the behavior of its tens of thousands of store associates:

JCPenney hypothesized that behavioral modification was a great way to save energy, so they spent $50,000 to hire a professional cartoonist to create a comic book that featured caricatures of the energy manager and all the C-level executives at the company. They even created fictional characters like “Energy Man” to guide readers through the story of how their associates could have a meaningful impact on the energy management of a typical store with zero capital impact. Prizes were given to the stores that saved the most energy – simple stuff, like pizza parties, “Extreme Energy Make-overs” of staff break rooms with ENERGY STAR® appliances, and tiny cash bonuses for the managers of high-scoring stores. They called the campaign “March Utility Madness” to coincide with basketball season.

Turbocharging Your Sales Machine

I’m glad that I came across Chet Holmes’ The Ultimate Sales Machine recently.  He not only believed in focusing your efforts but streamlining them until you’re efficient and unstoppable.  As a whole, the book is a callback to a notable quote from Bruce Lee: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” 

Unfortunately, Chet Holmes passed away from leukemia in 2012. However, his message holds up and compliments what we promote at Selling Energy.  Today I want to further his mission.  The Ultimate Sales Machine believes that training yourself (and your staff) is imperative.  And not only that – you don’t stop there!  Keep training.  Keep learning.  Don’t just sell your product, sell yourself and everything you have to offer.  Make an effort to speak to the most important people and make your message clear and imperative. 

Weekly Recap, March 12, 2023

Here are our sales-enhancing tips from this week's Selling Energy Blogs...

How to Cut Your Email Time in Half

Successful sales professionals need successful communication; however, the constant connection that we maintain through emails, phone calls, texts, push notifications, and social media can be overwhelming, stress-inducing, and productivity-killing. According to a poll by Adobe, 40% of employees wish they had less email. People who check their emails constantly can be more stressed out and less productive than those who only check their emails occasionally. 

Discover the Value

There’s an age-old saw (pun intended) about selling benefits rather than features. Guess what? You shouldn’t be selling benefits either! You should be selling the value.

I like to use the Leatherman® tool as an example: Why do people buy a Leatherman? Do they buy it because it has scissors, tweezers, a toothpick, a corkscrew, and a saw in the same tool? Do they really fall in love with the Phillips head screwdriver or the can opener? Is that why they buy it? No. These are just features of the product.