Selling Energy Course Catalog
As you will see in our catalog, Selling Energy offers many courses focused on helping energy professionals advance their goals. We titled this course directory “Accidental Salesperson” because that’s what so many energy professionals are. Utility program managers, account reps, customer service, and engineers. Marketing people. Customer service. Trade allies. Most of their job titles do not include the word “sales.” Yet their success and the success of their organizations, programs, and customers all depend on their ability to identify the right prospects, attract and retain their attention, and be genuinely persuasive in advancing the adoption of energy solutions.
Our flagship programs include:
Selling in 6™ Platinum Edition is a superset of six-minute lessons on how to market and sell energy solutions more effectively. The following courses are included:
- Selling in 6™ Platinum Edition
- Selling in 6™, Designing Your Success, and Motivating Your Prospect
- The Real Value of Energy Upgrades and Supporting Financial AnalysisLearning Time
- Creating Value, Success Tools, Closing the Sale, and Beyond
- Advanced Financial Analysis of Energy Projects
- Overcoming Myths and Objections – Part 1
- Finding the Right Decision-Makers and Improving Networking and Communication Skills
- Selling Most Effectively in Each Market Segment – Part 1
- Selling Most Effectively in Each Market Segment – Part 2
- Success Tips from Sales Rock Stars, Getting in the Mindset for Success, and Optimizing Your Workplace and Habits
- Presentation Excellence (Selling in 6™)
- Capturing More Business and Marketing to Win
- Successful Selling in Residential Settings
- Sales Management
Selling in 6™ Residential Edition is a subset of those lessons. The following courses are included:
- Selling in 6™ Residential Edition
- Successful Selling in Residential Settings and Residential Income Properties
- Sales Success Tools and Selling to Human Beings
- Marketing to Win and Maximizing Your Impact
- Financial Analysis
Segment Guides™ is an online/on-demand database on positioning yourself as a peer when proposing energy solutions to prospects in 24 different market segments.
We have more than a dozen other one-hour courses that excerpt content from the larger Selling in 6™ program. And we have a handful of mid-length courses on timely topics like selling in a recession, generating more leads, and using logic and financial analysis to make the cost of delay more compelling.
As you decide which courses to take from this “Accidental Salesperson” catalog, please feel free to reach us at [email protected]. We could set a time to explore your team, your goals, and which of our courses would create the most value. We could also consider excerpting content for keynotes, live/virtual webinars, and other training approaches for your staff, trade allies, etc.
Thank you for your interest in our work. We look forward to partnering with you to make your energy initiatives more successful!
Mark Jewell, Co-Founder, Selling Energy
Selling in 6™ Platinum Edition
Selling in 6™ Platinum Edition [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 35 hours ONLINE
Access Expiration
One year after being assigned the bundle of Selling in 6™ Platinum Edition courses
CEUs
Up to 3.5 CEUs available. Learners can complete as many individual courses within the bundle as desired and receive the associated CEUs.
PDHs
Up to 35 PDHs available. Learners can complete as many individual courses within the bundle as desired and receive the associated CEUs.
Cost – $1188 or 11 points
Course Bundle Description
Selling in 6™ provides energy-solutions-specific professional sales training delivered in six-minute lessons that are accessible via smartphone, tablet, or any other internet-connected device. Lessons can be viewed or simply listened to. They are keyword-searchable, can be assembled into custom playlists, and, can be reviewed as often as needed. Each section of the curriculum features questions that check for understanding. The course content blends the instructor’s nearly 30 years’ experience selling energy solutions with the accumulated input of more than 11,000 energy professionals who have taken Selling Energy’s training so far. This program includes live/virtual access to the instructor via monthly two-hour Mastermind Group Coaching Conference Calls and one-on-one coaching via scheduled 30-minute Zoom calls; tip sheets and templates; and other supporting resources.
After completing this bundle of courses, you will be able to:
- Understand and communicate the utility-cost-financial, non-utility-cost financial, and non-financial benefits of a proposed energy solution
- Identify the market segments and roles that represent your most promising targets
- Modify benefits of a proposed energy solution so that they can be measured with market segment-specific yardsticks your customers use to measure their own success
- Explain projected energy savings to customers in the context of their day-to-day operations to make the benefits more compelling
- Concisely communicate your value proposition to capture and retain your decision-maker’s attention
- Demonstrate how financial metrics other than simple payback period can more effectively prove the merits of an expense-reducing investment
- Anticipate and overcome more than 65 myths and objections that can stall or stymie project approval
- Assemble and use a “Success Story Archive” and an “Objections Archive” to empower you and the rest of your sales team to get more proposals approved
- Skillfully prevail when faced with “three bids syndrome”
- Coordinate your marketing and sales efforts so that they genuinely support each other
Selling in 6™, Designing Your Success, and Motivating Your Prospect
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum introduces the advantages of embracing sales professionalism regardless of your title or role. Topics include focusing on “why” rather than technical details, understanding and communicating benefits beyond the obvious, reframing your value propositions to resonate with each prospect’s values, and more.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Determine and appreciate the difference between “selling” and “customer engagement”
- Understand how to leverage the “why” to attract and retain the attention of your prospect.
- Recognize and share the non-utility-cost financial and non-financial benefits of energy solutions in addition to the more obvious utility-cost-financial benefits, rebates, and incentives
- Reframe your energy solutions using each prospect’s segment-specific jargon and yardsticks
- Apply business acumen to craft more compelling value propositions for your prospects
The Real Value of Energy Upgrades and Supporting Financial Analysis
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum focuses on combining segment-specific research, business acumen, and other ingredients to create compelling value propositions that really resonate with decision-makers. This course will help you create more compelling visual representations of projected savings by comparing them to how hard your prospect had to work last year to generate a similar bottom-line benefit “the old-fashioned way.” After taking this course, you will be able to migrate the conversation from imperfect metrics like “simple payback” to more reliable measures of a proposed project’s financial merits, such as net present value and savings-to-investment ratio.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Communicate the benefits of your proposed energy solution so they resonate with each prospect’s values
- Convert an energy solution’s projected savings to the amount of revenue your prospect needed to generate last year to deliver an equivalent positive impact to their bottom line
- Recognize the difference between “popular” and “proper” financial metrics when evaluating the merits of expense-reducing capital projects
Creating Value, Success Tools, Closing the Sale, and Beyond
Learning Time
Approximately 4 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.4
PDHs
4
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum is focused on capturing your prospect’s attention using concise communication, collecting examples of past customer successes to share with new prospects, assembling a list of commonly heard objections and how to address them effectively, overcoming “three-bids syndrome,” linking energy solutions to outcomes your prospects truly value, and organizing your sales and marketing efforts to expand on previous successes.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Compose 15-second elevator pitches, three-sentence solicitations, and one-page proposals that capture and retain your prospect’s attention
- Create a “Success Story Archive™” to cross-fertilize your sales team and motivate your prospects
- Create and utilize an “Objections Archive™” to help you and your colleagues anticipate and address concerns that could delay or prevent worthwhile energy solutions
- Employ more effective ways to overcome “three-bids syndrome”
- Illustrate compelling links between your proposed energy solutions and non-utility-cost financial and non-financial benefits utilizing research into the 24 market segments featured in Segment Guides™
- Organize your sales outreach efforts to expand on previous successes
Advanced Financial Analysis of Energy Projects
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum focuses on calculating the financial merits of a proposed expense-reducing capital project and confidently sharing those findings with your prospect.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the shortcomings of simple payback period and other popular financial metrics
- Communicate the merits of using more reliable financial metrics like net present value and savings-to-investment ratio
- Apply life-cycle cost analysis to help justify higher-first-cost energy solutions
- Compare the costs and benefits of various project funding options
Overcoming Myths and Objections – Part 1
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum is the first of two parts dedicated to overcoming objections to proposed energy solutions.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Anticipate and overcome more than 65 typical objections to proposed energy solutions.
Overcoming Myths and Objections – Part 2
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum is the second of two parts dedicated to overcoming objections to proposed energy solutions. This course includes objections encountered when proposing energy solutions in income-property (landlord/tenant) settings, questions raised as you are presenting your proposal, and myths that have been known to hinder sales performance.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Anticipate and overcome dozens of objections related to implementing energy solutions in income-producing property settings
- Interpret and effectively address objections heard when presenting your proposals
- Recognize and dispel myths that can hinder sales performance
Finding the Right Decision-Makers and Improving Networking and Communication Skills
Learning Time
Approximately 3 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.3
PDHs
3
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum addresses the benefits of crafting your personal brand and competitive advantages; creating buyer personas to help you identify your best value propositions and prospects; integrating active listening throughout your sales process; adopting proven best practices for cold calls, warm calls, voicemails, email campaigns, and networking; and using a 24-step checklist to make your meetings more productive.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Design your personal brand and build an arsenal of competitive advantage
- Create buyer personas to help you develop compelling value propositions and identify the best prospects to target
- Find the right decision-makers and influencers who will help advance your energy solutions
- Integrate active listening to have more productive conversations with prospects and customers
- Perform more effective outreach using cold calls, warm calls, voicemails, email campaigns, networking, and more
- Implement the 24 steps to conducting more effective meetings.
Selling Most Effectively in Each Market Segment – Part 1
Learning Time
Approximately 3 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.3
PDHs
3
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum is the first of two parts addressing the merits of taking a market segment-specific approach when selling. It is vital to understand the jargon, yardsticks, profit margins and more to approach each prospect as a peer rather than a salesperson. This course focuses on the benefits and principles of segment-specific selling. Part 1 drills down into 8 different market segments to help you become conversationally confident enough to present compelling value propositions to those prospects.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Utilize the jargon, yardsticks, profit margins, trade organizations, trade journals for 8 different market segments: Commercial Real Estate, Dairy, Data Centers, Government, Greenhouses, Grocery, Healthcare, and Hospitality
- Understand the connection between various energy solutions and the outcomes that each of these segments truly value (includes citations and hyperlinks to original sources that prove those connections)
Selling Most Effectively in Each Market Segment – Part 2
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum is the second of two parts addressing the merits of taking a market segment-specific approach when selling. It is vital to understand the jargon, yardsticks, profit margins and more to approach each prospect as a peer rather than a salesperson. This course focuses on the benefits and principles of segment-specific selling. Part 2 drills down into 10 additional market segments to help you become conversationally confident enough to present compelling value propositions to those prospects.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Utilize the jargon, yardsticks, profit margins, trade organizations, trade journals for 10 different market segments: K-12, Large Assembly, Manufacturing, Parking Lots, Residential, Restaurants, Retail, Senior Living, Warehouse and Cold Storage, and Water/Wastewater Treatment
- Understand the connection between various energy solutions and the outcomes that each of these segments truly value (includes citations and hyperlinks to original sources that prove those connections)
NOTE: Segment Guides™ (accessed via an additional license from Selling Energy) includes updates to these 18 market segments as well as 6 additional segments: Bakery, Biotech Laboratories, Colleges and Universities, Meat and Poultry Processing, and Service Retail. Segment Guides™ also includes research on Electrification.
Success Tips from Sales Rock Stars, Getting in the Mindset for Success, and Optimizing Your Workplace and Habits
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum addresses the attitudes and habits of truly successful sales professionals. Emulating those attitudes and habits is a reliable first step toward turbocharging your sales success.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Develop the attitudes and habits of truly successful sales professionals
- Plan your values, purpose, and mission before setting personal and professional goals
- Design activity-based metrics to help you track your sales performance
- Understand and apply the success strategies and tactics of effective sales managers
- Anticipate variations in deal flow and take steps to avoid sales slumps
Presentation Excellence (Selling in 6™)
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum focuses on what it takes to be genuinely concise and persuasive when presenting your ideas to prospects and customers.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Appreciate what it takes to be concise and genuinely persuasive
- Integrate an understanding of body language, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and business etiquette as you interact with prospects and customers
- Harness the power of PowerPoint and know when not to use slides
Capturing More Business and Marketing to Win
Learning Time
Approximately 4 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.4
PDHs
4
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum focuses on the interaction between your marketing and sales efforts. This course will help you use LinkedIn more effectively; leverage referrals; establish “coopetition” relationships with non-competitive vendors who service customers who are similar to your own; and draft compelling copy for both day-to-day correspondence with prospects, your website, and more.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Employ proven best practices when using LinkedIn and other social media
- Practice and master the art of referrals
- Utilize the power of “coopetition” by collaborating with non-competitive solutions providers
- Coordinate your marketing and sales efforts to generate more revenue
- Compose engaging marketing copy for emails, brochures, webpages and more
- Recognize and implement the 25 essential elements of an effective website
Successful Selling in Residential Settings
Learning Time
Approximately 3 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.3
PDHs
3
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum addresses best practices for selling energy solutions to residential prospects, including homeowners, income-property owners and managers, and tenants.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Know how to get homeowners excited about energy solutions
- Propose multiple-measure upgrades as a path to enjoying greater savings, comfort, and convenience
- Apply the 12 proven principles of successful in-home selling for consistent results
- Explain the financial benefits to homeowners from the perspectives of before-tax and after-tax returns, increased appraised value, and more
- Communicate the advantages of applying energy solutions in multifamily settings
- Create compelling 15-second elevator pitches and three-sentence solicitations to attract the attention of homeowners, income-property owners and managers, and tenants
- Compose one-page narrative proposals and one-page financial summaries that are appropriate for homeowners, income-property owners and managers, or other prospects
- Create and utilize a Success Story Archive™ to motivate your prospects to experience the success that similar customers are already enjoying
Sales Management
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ curriculum focuses on developing and executing effective sales management strategies and tactics. This course will explain setting and tracking sales goals; training, coaching, and drilling all levels of sales performers from top-producing veterans to new hires; designing effective compensation plans; hiring candidates most likely to succeed in your sales organization; and empowering non-traditional sales roles (e.g., customer service, field techs) to support business development activities.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Create and communicate realistic sales goals with corresponding metrics
- Predict sales performance and inform more realistic revenue forecasts
- Establish training, drilling, and coaching regimens that support the development of outperformers, underperformers, and everyone in between
- Design effective compensation plans
- Hire the candidates most likely to succeed in your sales organization
- Empower both traditional and non-traditional sales roles to contribute to revenue generation
Selling in 6™ Residential Edition
Selling in 6™ Residential Edition [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 8 hours ONLINE
Access Expiration
One year after being assigned the bundle of Selling in 6™ Residential Edition courses
CEUs
Up to 0.9 CEUs available. Learners can complete as many individual courses within the bundle as desired and receive the associated CEUs.
PDHs
Up to 9 PDHs available. Learners can complete as many individual courses within the bundle as desired and receive the associated CEUs.
Cost – $588 or 6 points
Course Bundle Description
Selling in 6™ provides Selling in 6™ provides energy-solutions-specific professional sales training delivered in six-minute lessons that are accessible via smartphone, tablet, or any other internet-connected device. Lessons can be viewed or simply listened to. They are keyword-searchable, can be assembled into custom playlists, and can be reviewed as often as needed. This version of Selling in 6™ is customized for the residential market segment and addresses best practices for selling to homeowners, residential income-property owners and managers, and tenants. Each section of the curriculum features questions that check for understanding. This content blends the instructor’s nearly 30 years’ experience selling energy solutions with the accumulated input of more than 11,000 energy professionals who have taken Selling Energy’s training to date. This program includes live/virtual access to the instructor via monthly two-hour Mastermind Group Coaching Conference Calls and one-on-one coaching via scheduled 30-minute Zoom calls; tip sheets and templates; and other supporting resources.
After completing this bundle of course, you will be able to:
- Demonstrate how energy upgrades can provide attractive after-tax cash returns and support increased appraised value.
- Concisely communicate your value proposition in terms most relevant to the homeowner, income-property owner or manager, or tenant
- Compose 15-second elevator pitches and three-sentence solicitations that capture and retain each unique prospect’s attention
- Create and utilize a Success Story Archive™ to motivate prospects to emulate the success that your other customers are already enjoying
- Create and use an Objections Archive™ to anticipate and address concerns that can delay or prevent approvals
- Apply the 12 proven principles of successful in-home selling for consistent results
- Implement effective behaviors that make a prospect want to become a customer – pre-call planning, making the most of your in-home visit, generating the right proposal, and foreshadowing post-sale follow-up
- Employ active listening techniques, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, micro-facial expressions, and body language to build genuine rapport and deliver more effective presentations
- Generate more compelling designs for your website, brochures, social media presence, and email campaigns
- Propose multiple-measure upgrades as a path to enjoying greater savings, comfort, and convenience
- Combine your sales and marketing efforts so that they properly reinforce each other
- Establish the best practice of asking for referrals every time, without exception
Successful Selling in Residential Settings and Residential Income Properties
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ Residential Edition curriculum focuses on getting homeowners motivated to pursue energy solutions. Topics covered include understanding each homeowner’s values; expressing financial benefits in term of before- and after-tax cash returns as well as improved appraisal value; using analogies to capture and retain the homeowner’s attention; and 12 proven principles of successful in-home selling.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Communicate the advantages about applying energy solutions to get homeowners excited
- Demonstrate how energy upgrades can support after-tax cash returns and improve appraised values.
- Concisely communicate your value proposition to capture and retain your decision-maker’s attention
- Apply the 12 proven principles of successful in-home selling for consistent results
Sales Success Tools and Selling to Human Beings
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ Residential Edition curriculum focuses on effective communication. Topics covered include crafting 15-second elevator pitches and three-sentence solicitations that attract your prospect’s attention; compiling a Success Story Archive™ with examples of how your offerings are already benefiting similar customers; assembling an Objections Archive™ with answers to commonly heard objections; and, using a checklist of best practices to implement before, during, and after an in-home visit. Additional topics include leveraging active listening, body language, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to build rapport and win the sale.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Compose 15-second elevator pitches and three-sentence solicitations that capture and retain your prospect’s attention
- Create and utilize a Success Story Archive™ to motivate your customers to emulate the success that similar customers are already enjoying [verify w/ Mark]
- Create and utilize an Objections Archive™ to anticipate and address concerns that unnecessarily impede the flow of program-eligible projects
- Implement effective behaviors that make prospects want to become a customer – pre-call planning, making the most of your in-home visit, generating the right proposal, and foreshadowing post-sale follow-up
- Employ active listening techniques, neurolinguistics programming, micro-facial expressions, and body language to build rapport and deliver more effective presentations
Marketing to Win and Maximizing Your Impact
Learning Time
Approximately 3 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.3
PDHs
3
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ Residential Edition curriculum focuses on more effective outreach on both the marketing and sales fronts. Topics covered include designing more compelling collateral material, webpages, and social media posts; coordinating marketing and sales efforts to make them collectively more effective; making the request for referrals a no-exceptions best practice; and fine-tuning your phone calls, voicemails, and emails to make them more effective.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Generate more compelling designs for your website, brochures, social media presence, and email campaigns
- Combine your sales and marketing efforts so that they properly reinforce each other
- Establish a no-exceptions best practice of asking for referrals
- Employ strategies and tactics that will make your phone calls, voicemails, and emails more effective
- Leverage a proven technique for revitalizing prospects who go silent
Financial Analysis
Learning Time
Approximately 2 hours ONLINE
CEUs
0.2
PDHs
2
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This portion of the Selling in 6™ Residential Edition curriculum focuses on calculating the financial merits of a proposed energy-saving upgrade and confidently sharing those findings with a prospect using language that even a homeowner or tenant lacking financial sophistication would understand and appreciate.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the shortcomings of simple payback period and other popular financial metrics
- Communicate the merits of using more reliable financial metrics like savings-to-investment ratio using analogies and other concepts that are easily understood
- Apply and clearly explain life-cycle cost analysis to help justify higher-first-cost energy solutions
- Compare the costs and benefits of various ways your prospect could pay for a proposed upgrade
- Propose multiple-measure upgrades as a path to enjoying greater savings, comfort, and convenience
Learn the Secrets of Selling in a Recession: Put the Wind Back in Your Sales!
Learning Time
Approximately 6 hours ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.6
PDHs
6
Cost – $588 or 6 points
Course Description
When it comes to reacting to what is happening in the economy, you have two choices. Give up or step up. Outside sales professionals need to prospect for and close business deals remotely. Inside sales professionals need to engage and motivate distracted prospects and customers. Customer service and other support staff need to “embrace their inner sales professional” so they can help drive revenue. As keen observers of the previous four recessions will attest, many top performers not only prevailed but also gained market share despite the turbulence. This course will support you on this new journey and help you “put the wind back in your sales” so that you can continue to create value for your customers.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Employ strategies for remaining optimistic, motivated, and focused to win
- Identify prospects in recession-proof and counter-cyclical industries
- Adapt the benefits of your solutions to empathize with the specific challenges your prospects are facing today
- Illustrate how energy savings can replace bottom-line profits lost from missed revenue
- Adapt and prevail despite multiple constraints, such as social distancing, spending freezes, and general uncertainty
- Present more persuasive online meetings by applying tips on sharing screens, getting participants engaged, sending the right materials before and after the meeting, and more
- Anticipate and overcome objections related to budget freezes, price increases, and more
- Pivot your approach from outside sales to inside sales to cope with social distancing constraints, more prospects working from home, and other post-COVID dynamics
- Explain if and how prospects could leverage lower-cost capital to help get projects approved
- Convert ignored, stalled, or rejected proposals into revitalized opportunities
- Utilize any downtime to “sharpen the saw” and cultivate your sales skills
Learn the Secrets of Selling in a Recession: Put the Wind Back in Your Sales! – Residential Edition
Learning Time
Approximately 7 hours ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.7
PDHs
7
Cost – $588 or 6 points
Course Description
When it comes to reacting to what is happening in the economy, you have two choices. Give up or step up. Outside sales professionals need to prospect for and close business deals remotely. Inside sales professionals need to engage and motivate distracted prospects and customers. Customer service and other support staff need to “embrace their inner sales professional” so they can help drive revenue. As keen observers of the previous four recessions will attest, many top performers not only prevailed but also gained market share despite the turbulence. This course will support you on this new journey and help you “put the wind back in your sales” so that you can continue to create value for your residential customers, which include homeowners, income-property owners and managers, and tenants.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Develop a smart seller’s strategy to not only survive and prosper, but actually win market share during a recession
- Employ innovative new ways to reach potential customers despite the constraints of social distancing
- Pivot your selling approach from outside sales to inside sales using Zoom and other platforms given that remote selling approaches continue to gain market acceptance
- Compose 15-second elevator pitches, three-sentence solicitations, and one-page proposals that capture and retain your prospect’s attention
- Explore various innovative approaches to perform certain audits remotely
- Explain projected financial savings to homeowners (and apartment building owners/managers) to make the benefits more visually obvious and compelling
- Generate maximum value with your marketing budget
- Perform check-ins to not only highlight your empathy, but also explore the potential for cross-selling and up-serving, collect referrals, and do hypothetical selling for future quarters
- Highlight the greater health, convenience, and financial benefits of energy upgrades for prospects who have started working from home and are now more aware of the shortcomings of their home’s mechanical systems
Generating More Leads Than You Need: Finding New Customers Despite Social Distancing and the Recession
Learning Time
Approximately 6 hours ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.6
PDHs
6
Cost – $588 or 6 points
Course Description
There are two secrets to generating high-quality leads in today’s challenging selling environment. First, you need to know how the headwinds of COVID-19 and the recession are affecting various market segments so that you can focus your efforts on your most promising targets. Second, you need to learn and emulate the habits of the world’s best lead-setters so you can generate a bounty of new leads without the benefit of trade shows, customer visits, and other outside sales activities that social distancing mandates have crushed. Learn the best and worst prospects to approach based on up-to-date research on how COVID-19 and recession have impacted more than a dozen market segments. Discover how top-producing lead-setters are keeping their sales teams well-stocked with hot prospects despite the challenges all sellers are now facing.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Implement new and efficient ways to sell remotely and prevail despite fewer trade shows, customer visits, and other outside sales activities
- Develop video selling strategies and tactics that will improve your results when selling remotely
- Establish effective scripts for cold calls, warm calls, and even voicemails
- Optimize your own approach to cold calling by first understanding why you would accept an incoming cold call
- Research your targeted market segments, organizations, and prospects in advance to make cold calls “warmer”
- Compose the perfect opening lines for your cold calling campaigns
- Understand how attitude, smile, tone, and other factors impact your success when generating leads
- Demonstrate confidence when addressing common objections encountered when cold calling
- Determine ideal lists of prospects to cold call or warm call using proven techniques for doing so
- Create emails with confidence using effective subject lines, closings, and postscripts
- Employ the most useful sales performance metrics to measure both individual and team performance
Rethinking Energy Solutions Sales in the Wake of Market Disruption
Learning Time
Approximately 5 hours ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.5
PDHs
5
Cost – $588 or 6 points
Course Description
Enhanced efficiency and other energy-related initiatives hold great potential to help both buyers and sellers regain their financial footing in the wake of COVID-19 and the recession. However, harvesting that potential (perhaps even gaining market share in the process) requires sellers to change the way they plan, hire, train, market, collaborate, sell, and track their sales success. This course provides tips you can start using immediately to find powerful growth opportunities hidden in all that market disruption.
This course includes a single-user, full-year license to Selling Energy’s Segment Guides™ online resource ($588 value). This tool provides insights into 24 market segments, each of which has been updated to include the impacts of COVID-19 and the recession. Segment Guides™ features plenty of segment-specific, non-utility-cost financial and non-financial benefits to energy projects that could be included in your proposals, underscoring how your proposed project would help your prospects regain their financial footing in ways far beyond simply lowering their monthly utility bills.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Implement segment-specific and role-specific messaging to reach your most promising prospects
- Refine your competitive advantage and, if appropriate, begin collaborating with your “co-opetition” (i.e., vendors who serve customers similar to the ones you seek but who sell them non-competitive offerings)
- Synthesize how to hire, train, and motivate salespeople with the highest potential to succeed today
- Adapt your “remote selling” strategy to include new technology-enabled approaches and tools
- Generate revenue and profit growth despite social distancing, slower decision-making, budget freezes, supply chain constraints, and hiring challenges
Getting More Projects Approved with Concise and Compelling Financials
Learning Time
Approximately 5 hours ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.5
PDHs
5
Cost – $588 or 6 points
Course Description
Most decisions are made emotionally and then justified financially. Hence it is vital to present concise and compelling cost/benefit analyses when seeking funding for energy projects. This course explores three closely related keys to giving your prospect the confidence to move forward now:
- Understanding, calculating, and explaining net present value, modified internal rate of return, and savings-to-investment ratio, which do a much better job of evaluating the merits of a proposed expense-reducing capital project than the inherently flawed metrics many prospects typically use (simple payback period, return on investment, and internal rate of return).
- Coaching prospects to think more clearly about the relative benefits of paying with all cash, phasing implementation over multiple years, financing, and using an “…as-a-service” option (and emphasizing other important opportunities, such as rebates/incentives, tax deductions/credits, PACE, etc.), all with a goal of enabling a more confident and prompt decision on the best way to fund a given project.
- Using six creative ways to express the “cost of waiting” more powerfully, which will help capture and retain executive attention and motivate faster project approval.
This program is appropriate for all energy professionals, whether they have any background in financial analysis or not.
Financial analysis templates are also provided to model cash inflows and outflows over time and calculate the most important financial metrics. Several projects provided by the instructor are analyzed to demonstrate these concepts at work.
This program also includes a single-user, full-year license to Selling Energy’s Segment Guides™ online resource ($588 value). This tool provides insights into 24 market segments, each of which has been updated to include the impacts of COVID-19 and the recession. Segment Guides™ features plenty of segment-specific, non-utility-cost financial benefits to energy projects that should be included in your cost/benefit analysis to make an even stronger case for project approval.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Compose and present concise and compelling cost/benefit analysis when seeking funding approval for an energy project
- Recognize how common metrics many prospects typically use to evaluate expense-reducing capital projects, such as simple payback period, return on investment, and internal rate of return, are flawed and which more effective metrics to use instead
- Cite, calculate, and confidently explain net present value, modified internal rate of return, and savings-to-investment ratio
- Communicate the benefits of paying with all cash today, phasing implementation over multiple years, financing, and using an “…as-a-service” option (and emphasizing other important funding opportunities, such as rebates/incentives, tax deductions/credits, PACE, etc.) to help address your prospect’s affordability concerns
- Employ six creative ways to express the “cost of waiting” more powerfully, any of which could help you capture a decision-maker’s attention and motivate faster project approval
- Utilize financial analysis templates to model cash inflows and outflows over time and calculate the most important financial metrics
One Hour Primers
Making the Perfect Pitch [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost –$75
Course Description
You may think your proposed energy solution is a “no-brainer.” However, unless you distill it down to its most concise form and make a compelling case when presenting it, your proposal will be ignored, stalled, or rejected. This course offers dozens of tips for actually presenting to your prospect. Learn how to make the best use of your allotted time to present, what your PowerPoint presentation should look like if you decide to use one, and much more.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Harness the power of PowerPoint and know when not to use slides
- Create and deliver more compelling presentations
Overcoming Objections to Your Proposal [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
You’ve gotten past the gatekeeper, identified the right decision-maker, had a great first meeting, and sent your prospect a proposal. You are so close to closing the deal! However, it’s not uncommon for your prospect to have questions that need to be resolved before they sign on the dotted line. Learn to address and dispel your prospect’s concerns so that they become thoroughly confident to move forward.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Interpret and effectively address objections encountered when presenting your proposals.
Presentation Excellence [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost –$75
Course Description
Presenting your proposal is your time to shine. This is your opportunity to show exactly how your project will deliver benefits that really resonate with what your prospect values. Moreover, your presentation skills and finesse will position you as a trusted partner through the entire process. Taking the time to hone your presentation skills will vastly improve your odds of getting a “Yes!”
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Communicate your value proposition concisely to capture and retain your decision-maker’s attention
- Integrate an understanding of body language, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and business etiquette as you interact with prospects and customers
Getting Homeowners Excited About Energy Efficiency [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Most residential energy professionals are “accidental salespeople.” Many have received little or no formal sales training and see themselves as building technologists rather than salespeople. Learn how to assess your prospect’s values and emotional triggers, reframe benefits to make them more compelling, communicate the wisdom of installing multiple measures, and share success stories to give your prospect the confidence to pursue upgrades.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Communicate the many advantages of energy upgrades to get homeowners excited about your proposed solutions
- Propose multiple-measure upgrades as a path to enjoying greater savings, comfort, and convenience
Helping Customers Compare Financing Options [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Sometimes your prospect is already sold and just needs to figure out the best way to pay. Other times, they need to be convinced that your project is something they could afford to do at all. In either setting, you should be able to “do the numbers” and confidently demonstrate the pros and cons of each financing approach: paying with cash today, phasing the project in as cash becomes available, financing the entire project now, or taking an “as a service” approach to implementing the project.
This 60-minute session will demonstrate how to use a concise one-page financial analysis that not only shows all the cash inflows and outflows and when each occurs, but also delivers financial metrics like net present value (NPV) and savings-to-investment ratio (SIR) that will enable more confident decision-making.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the shortcomings of simple payback period and other popular financial metrics
- Communicate the merits of using more reliable financial metrics like net present value and savings-to-investment ratio when evaluating expense-reducing capital projects
- Compare the costs and benefits of various project funding options
Communicating a More Compelling “Cost of Waiting” [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
There are many ways to communicate the cost of waiting to implement an energy-saving measure. “Think of how many dollars in savings you’re missing every day you don’t do it” may be the most popular. However, that angle is not very compelling. Most decisions are made emotionally and then justified financially. This course demonstrates six other ways you can reframe the “cost of waiting” to make a much stronger case for immediate project approval.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Reframe your energy solutions using each prospect’s segment-specific jargon and yardsticks
- Employ six creative ways to express the “cost of waiting” more powerfully – any of which could help you capture a decision-maker’s attention and motivate faster project approval
Finding and Motivating the Right Decision-Makers and Influencers [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Finding your best prospects is not just about studying company org charts and LinkedIn connections. It starts with identifying your competitive advantage, defining your brand, and determining the market actors for whom you could create the greatest value. Next steps include creating profiles of your ideal customer, knowing who the decision-makers and influencers are, and understanding how to fine-tune your messaging to resonate with each one.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Design your personal brand and build an arsenal of competitive advantage
- Create buyer personas to help you develop compelling value propositions and identify the best prospects to target
- Find the right decision-makers and influencers who will help advance your energy solutions
Finding New Customers [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
There are many more creative, productive ways to “find new customers” than buying and dialing down a list of strangers so you can tell them about your company and offerings. In fact, much of your success in identifying and successfully courting new customers will depend on what you do before you make your first call. Taking the time to refine your value proposition and competitive advantage. Thinking about what would make you stay on the phone if you found yourself on the receiving end of a cold call. Sharing vivid descriptions of previous client successes that your prospects can genuinely resonate with. Actively listening to every word your prospect says and responding appropriately. These are just a handful of the many actionable tips you could start using right away to capture plenty of new customers.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Perform more effective outreach with “warmer” cold calls by researching your targeted market segments, organizations, and prospects in advance
- Integrate active listening to have more productive conversations with prospects and customers
Debunking Myths that Prevent Income-Property Owners from Pursuing Efficiency
[Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Myths relating to how efficient a building currently is, who should pay for upgrades, and who would enjoy the savings, etc. can stymie even the most worthwhile opportunities to reduce energy waste. This course provides a roadmap for making efficiency happen in landlord/tenant settings. Learn how to debunk more than a dozen of these myths, dramatically increasing your odds of convincing income-property owners and managers to approve efficiency-related projects.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Understand how various lease types allocate a project’s costs and savings between landlord and tenant(s)
- Calculate the relationships between operating expense savings, net operating income, and property appraisal
Anticipate and overcome dozens of objections related to implementing energy solutions in income-producing property settings
Leveraging Your Customers and Your Coopetition to Grow Your Revenue
[Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost
$75
Course Description
Smart sellers know to focus on two powerful sources of additional revenue: existing customers and other vendors. Existing customers often have affiliates, supply chain partners, and others who would be likely candidates for your offerings. If approached properly, your current customers can also provide a healthy flow of referrals. “Coopetition” vendors – those who work with customers like yours but who sell different offerings – can become excellent collaborators who could help you prequalify prospects (and you would do the same for them). This course provides dozens of tips on how to clone current customers, create referral programs, and nurture coopetition arrangements that are mutually beneficial.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Organize your sales outreach efforts to expand on previous successes
- Utilize the power of “coopetition” by working with non-competitive solutions providers
- Employ proven best practices when asking for referrals
Selling to Small Business Owners [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Successfully selling to small business owners requires a solid understanding of their decision-making process. This course offers field-proven tips to get decision-makers excited about your energy solutions. Attract and retain their attention using segment-specific reframing of the benefits you’re proposing and concise, compelling communication.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the unique decision-making dynamics of small and medium-sized business owners and managers
- Describe the benefits of a proposed energy solution so that they can be measured with market segment-specific yardsticks your customers use to measure their own success
- Illustrate compelling links between your proposed energy solutions and non-utility-cost financial and non-financial benefits
Making Efficiency Work in Landlord/Tenant Settings [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
It can be challenging to get energy projects approved in landlord/tenant settings given the many different lease types that define “who pays” versus “who benefits,” myths surrounding “split incentives,” and other issues. This course provides a roadmap for making energy solutions happen in these complex settings.
Learn strategies and tactics that not only increase your odds of getting a “yes,” but also shorten the approval process, such as prequalifying properties; identifying and addressing each of the many influencers and decision-makers; and reframing the benefits in a way that motivates all stakeholders to collaborate productively and approve your proposal.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the decision-making dynamics of income-property owners, managers, and tenants in the context of energy proposals
- Identify the main categories of leases and help all of the above-referenced parties collaborate more effectively to reap the financial and qualitative benefits of energy upgrades
- Describe how energy savings can be harnessed to improve cash flow and property value in a variety of lease structures
Escaping Three-Bids Syndrome by Focusing on Value Not Price
[Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Sales professionals migrate the discussion away from “features” and beyond “benefits,” putting all the focus on their prospect’s values. They also reframe benefits so they can be measured with the prospect’s yardstick. Once you understand what your prospect truly values, you’re in a much better position to help that prospect make a better evaluation that transcends “lowest first cost”.
Learn why proposals that you thought you lost on price were likely lost on value, how to prevent that from happening in the future, and a sure-fire way to overcome “three-bids syndrome.”
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Recognize the difference between “features and benefits” and “values”
- Apply business acumen to craft more compelling value propositions for your prospects
- Communicate the benefits of your proposed energy solution so that it better resonates with what each prospect values
- Incorporate insight and discovery (and minimize the time and effort of purchasing) to improve the value your prospect perceives as they evaluate your proposed solution
Finding and Quantifying Non-Utility-Cost Financial Benefits [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Are you struggling to capture your prospect’s attention, increase closing ratios, and shorten sales cycles? Learn how to combine segment-specific research, business acumen, Success Story Archives™, and other tools to create compelling value propositions that really resonate with decision-makers.
This course will teach you how to find and share “sound bites” that prove your ability to create benefits that are far more desirable than utility-cost financial savings alone. This course also illustrates how to empower both traditional and non-traditional sales roles (think customer service and field techs) to share those sound bites with both customers and prospects. Applying this simple two-step process will make your proposals more compelling and help you win more approvals.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Utilize financial analysis templates to model cash inflows and outflows over time and calculate the most important financial metrics
- Illustrate compelling links between your proposed energy solutions and non-utility-cost financial and non-financial benefits using market segment-specific yardsticks
Winning with Concise Communication from Initial Pitch to Proposal [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Concise, compelling communication helps you capture the attention of decision-makers and influencers. Well-crafted elevator pitches, three-sentence solicitations, and compelling LinkedIn connection requests are the first steps to more effective selling. Two out of every five B2B buyers select a vendor based on the professionalism of the salesperson. Taking the time to fine-tune your communication will yield to more promising prospects and ultimately more sales.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Compose 15-second elevator pitches, three-sentence solicitations, and one-page proposals that capture and retain your prospect’s attention
- Explain projected energy savings to prospects in the context of their day-to-day operations to make the benefits more visually obvious and compelling
Financial Analysis Basics for Expense-reducing Projects [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
It is much easier to secure funding for a proposed energy-saving project if all associated costs and benefits are properly quantified and the resulting financial return is compelling. This course will teach you three key financial metrics you should be using to evaluate expense-reducing capital projects. It will explain how to migrate the discussion away from metrics like Simple Payback Period that may be popular but have many shortcomings. See these principles properly applied using Selling Energy’s acclaimed one-page financial analysis template.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Communicate why it makes more sense to evaluate expense-reducing capital projects using net present value and savings-to-investment ratio rather than the more popular “simple payback period”
Overcoming Objections that Delay and Derail Energy Projects [Register Here]
Learning Time
Approximately 1 hour ONLINE
Access Expiration
90 days after being assigned to the course.
CEUs
0.1
PDHs
1
Cost – $75
Course Description
Far too many worthwhile energy projects fail to secure the approvals they deserve simply because the salesperson is not properly equipped to plan for, recognize, and neutralize potential objections. Moreover, many salespeople and prospects alike fall victim to myths that hide worthwhile opportunities to create value with energy solutions.
This course identifies and conquers common myths and objections excerpted from the Selling in 6™ curriculum. Leave with a bounty of insights that will give you renewed confidence and success in getting to “Yes!”
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Anticipate and overcome some of the most common objections to energy projects
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