5 years in the past, when potential clients began asking questions concerning the carbon footprints for Hewlett Packard Enterprise services, members of the sustainability crew had been known as in. Their mission: Reply authoritatively; uncover buyer ache factors associated to issues comparable to lowering and reporting on carbon emissions; and illustrate how HPE merchandise meet these wants.
HPE tracked the monetary affect of these conversations on serving to shut offers. The outcomes had been comparatively modest on an annual foundation till fiscal yr 2022 (ended Oct. 31). That’s when the worth of contracts pushed by the sustainability crew’s efforts to speak up vitality effectivity, circularity and different associated options reached $1.3 billion for the yr.
That was only a small slice of HPE’s general $28.5 billion in income for fiscal yr 2022, but it surely’s a 400 % improve in contrast with 2018 outcomes, in line with HPE’s newest ESG progress report. Then, curiosity in sustainability discussions grew dramatically final yr, far past what the devoted specialists on HPE’s sustainability crew might deal with, in line with Monica Batchelder, HPE’s chief sustainability officer for 10 months. So the corporate began a program to coach its salespeople on the significance of company sustainability for purchasers and prospects, in addition to how HP applied sciences can play a job in assembly sustainability targets.
What clients have to learn about sustainability
Over the previous two years, Batchelder mentioned extra IT clients have begun requesting details about how sure know-how investments will help with company net-zero targets — how they will inflate or cut back carbon footprints — in addition to how they is perhaps used to measure ESG-related metrics and handle them.
“Notably in industries like banking, the place they’ve enormous information facilities, an enormous IT footprint,” Batchelder mentioned. “They’re like, ‘The [chief information officer’s] acquired this sustainability KPI. We’re not sustainability folks. We don’t even perceive greenhouse fuel emissions. Assist us perceive how we quantify this, how we put a technique in place and the way we report on it.’”
For sectors outdoors manufacturing, she mentioned: “Your IT property might be your greatest supply of operational emissions or a minimum of in your vitality draw.”
Antoine Poincare, vp of The Local weather Faculty, a coaching initiative supplied by consulting agency Axa Local weather, mentioned company sustainability studying and growth efforts are beginning to embody a gross sales agenda. “Each main tech agency is now beginning to roll out know-how designed for sustainability, they usually want their salespeople to debate these merchandise with confidence,” he mentioned.
The necessity to do that isn’t distinctive to tech companies, Poincare mentioned, noting that as extra business-to-business firms search to report on the carbon footprints of their provide chains, gross sales coaching will change into extra frequent throughout all industries, even partly to stay aggressive.
Turning salespeople into sustainability execs: 4 modules
What does this coaching appear like? HPE launched voluntary on-line courses in its fiscal yr 2023 to show pre-sales, gross sales and buyer engagement workers into advocates for what it calls “sustainable IT.” (This system can be accessible to the community of gross sales companions who promote HPE merchandise. )
The coaching movies embody greater than 9 hours of technical periods in addition to 4 “gross sales professional” modules that define finest practices for buyer discussions. The modules had been created at HPE and the people featured embody high HPE technologists and consultants from throughout the corporate.
In a kick-off gross sales professional module, HPE Chief Gross sales Officer Heiko Meyer talks up why sustainability is vital for HPE and its clients, in addition to why it’s a possibility for income progress.
In a second module, the corporate’s chief technologist for sustainable transformation, John Frey, identifies phrases comparable to “ESG” and “round financial system,” the usage of which could counsel an IT skilled is open to a sustainability product dialogue. He describes ache factors clients would possibly expertise, comparable to inflexible enterprise fashions or not sufficient industry-specific aggressive data to make educated selections about sustainability technique, and cites potential objections, like prices. He additionally supplies the next questions that salespeople would possibly contemplate asking prospects:
- Is sustainability, and particularly sustainable IT, a vital a part of your technique and, if not, are you beginning to transfer in that course?
- Do you have got carbon neutrality aspirations?
- What’s the timeline for these and the way large of a job do your IT operations play when it comes to your organization’s whole footprint?
Within the third module, Batchelder gives finest practices for delivering the HPE sustainability narrative, together with ESG market insights and case research involving different HPE clients.
Lastly, the fourth module within the collection is a 13-minute pattern pitch for its cloud service, GreenLake, which might cut back a corporation’s vitality prices by as a lot as 30 %. Extra background supplies embody an interview with HPE’s CEO, Antonio Neri, about its ESG technique and coaching movies about matters just like the 5 largest sources of greenhouse fuel emissions.
The modules can be refreshed later this yr with updates and new programs, and HPE plans to create a “badging” program that designates people as specialists on sustainability matters.
How salespeople will assist HPE get to web zero
Curiosity has already far exceeded HPE’s expectations for participation. As of late July, near 2,500 gross sales, presales, channel companions and different workers had accomplished the gross sales professional modules. That far outpaces the typical of 1,000 learners yearly for related non-mandatory HPE gross sales coaching initiatives, in line with Batchelder. “A number of thousand extra” folks attended in-person trainings, she mentioned.
Batchelder is inspired. “Salespeople aren’t going to take this except their clients are asking about it, and that they know they should equip themselves to answer these questions,” she mentioned.
HPE salespeople are incentivized on product gross sales, regardless whether or not the merchandise have a sustainability focus. Compensation for its government committee is tied to the corporate’s efficiency in opposition to its net-zero targets — primarily based on targets particular to every division, comparable to assembly sure design targets for vitality effectivity or the usage of recycled content material. HPE’s purpose is to chop operational emissions by 70 % by 2030, primarily based on a 2020 baseline.
“For us, I feel [this sales training] is especially essential as a result of two-thirds of our carbon footprint is downstream buyer use, proper?” Batchelder mentioned. “That skill to affect buyer habits and have interaction with clients even earlier than the sale of the product goes to be more and more vital for firms to get to web zero.”
Is your organization equipping its gross sales groups to pitch sustainability? What has been the affect on income? Inform me your story at [email protected].
