5 years in the past, when potential clients began asking questions in regards to the carbon footprints for Hewlett Packard Enterprise services and products, members of the sustainability crew had been referred to as in. Their mission: Reply authoritatively; uncover buyer ache factors associated to issues corresponding to decreasing and reporting on carbon emissions; and illustrate how HPE merchandise meet these wants.
HPE tracked the monetary impression 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 total $28.5 billion in income for fiscal yr 2022, but it surely’s a 400 p.c 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 must find out 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’ll inflate or cut back carbon footprints — in addition to how they may be used to measure ESG-related metrics and handle them.
“Notably in industries like banking, the place they’ve large information facilities, an enormous IT footprint,” Batchelder mentioned. “They’re like, ‘The [chief information officer’s] obtained this sustainability KPI. We’re not sustainability individuals. 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 at the least in your vitality draw.”
Antoine Poincare, vice chairman of The Local weather College, a coaching initiative supplied by consulting agency Axa Local weather, mentioned company sustainability studying and improvement efforts are beginning to embrace a gross sales agenda. “Each main tech agency is now beginning to roll out know-how designed for sustainability, and so they want their salespeople to debate these merchandise with confidence,” he mentioned.
The necessity to do that isn’t distinctive to tech corporations, Poincare mentioned, noting that as extra business-to-business corporations search to report on the carbon footprints of their provide chains, gross sales coaching will change into extra widespread throughout all industries, even partly to stay aggressive.
Turning salespeople into sustainability professionals: 4 modules
What does this coaching appear to be? HPE launched voluntary on-line courses in its fiscal yr 2023 to show pre-sales, gross sales and buyer engagement staff into advocates for what it calls “sustainable IT.” (This system can be obtainable to the community of gross sales companions who promote HPE merchandise. )
The coaching movies embrace 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 embrace prime HPE technologists and specialists from throughout the corporate.
In a kick-off gross sales professional module, HPE Chief Gross sales Officer Heiko Meyer talks up why sustainability is necessary 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 corresponding to “ESG” and “round economic system,” the usage of which could recommend an IT skilled is open to a sustainability product dialogue. He describes ache factors clients may expertise, corresponding to inflexible enterprise fashions or not sufficient industry-specific aggressive info to make educated selections about sustainability technique, and cites potential objections, like prices. He additionally offers the next questions that salespeople may take into account asking prospects:
- Is sustainability, and particularly sustainable IT, a essential a part of your technique and, if not, are you beginning to transfer in that path?
- Do you’ve gotten 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 complete 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 may cut back a company’s vitality prices by as a lot as 30 p.c. Further background supplies embrace 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 will probably 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 internet 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 staff had accomplished the gross sales professional modules. That far outpaces the common of 1,000 learners yearly for related non-mandatory HPE gross sales coaching initiatives, in line with Batchelder. “A number of thousand extra” individuals 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 reply to 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 govt committee is tied to the corporate’s efficiency towards its net-zero targets — based mostly on targets particular to every division, corresponding to assembly sure design targets for vitality effectivity or the usage of recycled content material. HPE’s aim is to chop operational emissions by 70 p.c by 2030, based mostly on a 2020 baseline.
“For us, I believe [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 necessary for corporations to get to internet zero.”
Is your organization equipping its gross sales groups to pitch sustainability? What has been the impression on income? Inform me your story at [email protected].
