Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Getting More Projects Approved! Volume 1

2014 Wall Street Journal bestseller, Winner of the 2015 Reader View Annual Literary Award (Business / Sales / Economics), 2015 International Book Award (Business Sales), 2015 Axiom Business Book Award (Sales Skills / Negotiation / Closing), 2015 National Indie Excellence Book Award (Business Motivational), 2015 Indie Book Award (Career), and 2015 New York Book Festival.

Given the abundance of commercially available energy-saving technologies, talented technologists to apply them, and even generous rebates to help finance them, why in the world aren't more efficiency projects approved? 
 
Based on thirty years of experience influencing efficiency decision-making in more than three billion square feet of properties, this author concludes that many more projects would be approved if energy professionals were actually trained to "sell" rather than simply "promote" efficiency. 
 
Energy efficiency products, services and programs all require effective selling. Professional sales skills make you more successful at advancing any energy efficiency initiative, regardless of your role in the process. Moreover, you need to think of yourself as a sales professional even if your job title does not include the word "sales."
 
This book contains more than 80 short essays, each of which examines a unique aspect of efficiency-focused professional selling. Many originally appeared on the Selling Energy daily email blog and smartphone app, which offer drip-irrigation reinforcement of concepts borrowed from Mark Jewell's award-winning training courses. 
 
As of this writing, thousands of our learner testimonials confirm the link between efficiency-focused professional selling and increased sales success: higher closing ratios, shorter sales cycles, deeper retrofits, and more. So what does efficiency-focused professional selling look like? 
 

• The confidence to reframe the benefits of efficiency so that they can be measured with the yardsticks that prospects are already using to measure their success. 
• A 15-second elevator pitch that is precisely tuned to a particular prospect's values.
• A one-page narrative proposal delineating efficiency targets, the rationale for change, financial projections, status, and action steps for moving forward. 
• A one-page financial summary that offers a clear and compelling treatment of both "popular" and "proper" metrics. 
• An ability and willingness to sell utility-cost-financial, non-utility-cost financial, and non-financial benefits .
• An ability to recognize and replace myths with the math and motivation that get projects approved.

Whether you are a manufacturer, specifying engineer, contractor, utility program manager or account executive, third-party program implementer, eco-entrepreneur or any other energy-related professional or job-seeker, you are sure to benefit from the insights provided in this book.

Mark Jewell and Rachel Christenson are co-founders of Selling Energy. 
 
Mark Jewell is President and co-founder of Selling Energy, the sales training company for the energy efficiency, electrification and demand reduction industries. With more than 30 years in energy, he and his team have trained more than 21,000 professionals and worked with more than 300 utilities. Mark is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! and a two-time Stevie® Award winner (2015, 2017). He holds a B.S. in Economics and Finance from Wharton.

Rachel Christenson has twenty years of leadership experience in business development and organizational management roles. She is CEO of Selling Energy. Rachel received her Bachelor's of Science Degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Utah and a Master's degree in International Management with a specialization in Corporate Sustainability from Portland State University.