Environmental Technical Salesperson

Imagine it is early in the morning and you are driving along the highway with a cup of coffee in your hand. You are an environmental technical salesperson on your way to your first appointment of the day, with the head of the hazardous waste department of a neighbouring city. You work for a company that sells products for handling and storing hazardous materials.

Today you are going to discuss a new spill barrier product line your company carries. You want to demonstrate to this supervisor how effective these new barriers are and how valuable they would be to the city’s hazardous waste department. Environmental technical salespeople sell a range of environmental products and services, for example, equipment, chemicals, transportation, or laboratory services. Some salespeople are responsible for outside sales calls, where they visit clients to demonstrate products and discuss services. Others spend more time in their office answering technical questions and providing support to clients.

Environmental technical salespeople combine technical knowledge of complex equipment and processes with business and marketing skills to successfully sell their products and services to a wide range of clients. At the end of your demonstration, you give the supervisor copies of technical brochures for the barriers and set a date to follow up on your meeting. You have another appointment this afternoon, but before that, you’ll be in your office following up with other clients and new contacts, as well as with the various manufacturers your company deals with.

Having participated in a full-day training seminar with the barrier’s manufacturer, you know a lot about this product and are able to respond to most of the supervisor’s technical questions. When a question arises to which you don’t have the answer, you promise to ask the manufacturer and get back to the supervisor as quickly as possible.