Using Timberland Footprint For Sales Impact

When I bought a pair of summer pumps recently, I was intrigued by this sticker on one of the soles.

Global brand Timberland push their green credentials in quite a novel manner.

The weblink at the bottom has perhaps since changed. I think the data they refer to is now found in their responsibility section.

The measures of sustainability presented here are;

climate impact, use of renewable energy

chemicals used, pvc-free

resource consumption, eco-conscious materials & recycled contents of shoebox

trees planted…

product footprint, green index rating

It did make me think. Not least because of my interest for all things sustainable.

In Sales terms, what’s our equivalent of this sole sticker?

I thought immediately about a front-page of a Prop.

So often someone in ‘corporate comms’ or marketing dictates some nonsense front sheet. Ignore that wherever you can. In my case, I always like to have the prospect’s logo with a sentence in huge font depicting the problem I am going to resolve and pay-off anticipated.

There tends to be a lot of empty space. So why not a small box, bottom-right say, in a similar format to the Timberland design?

Think of some numbers that are customer-facing.

You could probably conjure more than their half-dozen.

What is important to your client? Ask them if necessary.

R&D investment? Service level stats? Delivery times? Industry ratings?

Anything that your potential client values in which you outperform alternatives is worthy of inclusion. You could even give it as a task to a keen sales support or marketeer to get their teeth into. Create a menu of them so you can use the best (most relevant) as and when.