It's not necessarily glamorous, but it is hard and rewarding work. Every salesperson who knows his products and believes in their value and purpose is a better salesperson. And any time new, exciting products come to market, salespeople get the chance to introduce them to customers, looking for new sales dollars.

Arguably, it could be difficult to describe janitorial products as "exciting." But that's just not true in the specialized distribution world that deals in these commodities, distributors say. These products are important cogs in the daily routines of manufacturing, retail, food and hostelry industries. They keep businesses running as surely as the direct materials companies must buy to produce goods and services.

According to the experts, selling environmental and hygienic products is far more complex than supplying "soap and water" solutions to customers' needs. Proper training, product presentation and ongoing evaluation programs are all services distributors must provide.

Janitorial distributors find that their customers demand products that are safer both for employees and the environment in the long run. Plant and office managers are under more pressure to ensure safe, reliable conditions for employees, whether they are janitors or workers using washrooms and cafeterias.

Distributors are also acutely aware that they must prove savings to customers, but environmental and personal safety concerns provide the impetus for plants to invite new product trials. According to Jeff Schneider, vice president of sales and marketing for ASA Environmental Products in Stonington, Conn., plant facilities personnel rarely want to change from the products they have used for decades. However, the health and safety departments in those same companies have a far different take on the issue.

"We have pilot programs in place for up to a year before workers accept products as standards," Schneider says. "The trials must be driven by management, or workers will soon revert back to old cleaning products."

Schneider cites an example in which a plant had used an absorbent chemical-spill cleanup product for many years. He was unable to convince the purchasing department to set up a trial of a safer product until a worker read the warning label on the old product, precipitating a plant walkout.

The new product was immediately put into use and became standard in that plant, he says. The sales process begins by finding the right person and getting them interested.

"It's true that the person to see is the one charged with environment, health and safety, or EHS. They are under a great weight to be compliant with safety laws," Schneider says. "Just as important, they can convince management to try products over other probable objections. And there are always in-plant objections."

The person in charge may be overwhelmed with the responsibilities of EHS. He or she is often a human resources worker given the task to become compliant. In some cases, Schneider has started the sales process with a company's legal department.

New products, made from safer materials, boost sales for janitorial distributors around the country. However, those products must pass strict criteria from the U.S. government and other groups to be labeled "environmentally friendly." There are regulations for the percentage of content of dozens of chemicals in both solid and liquid form.

Over the more recent decades, then, it became a matter of necessity that chemicals become more benign in their use and disposal. Janitorial chemicals are no different. Workers who apply germicides and other cleaners are not the only ones exposed.

Customers need to be educated about janitorial products due to an increased awareness of the need for safety and good hygiene, according to Bob Hochtritt, director of marketing for SCA North America, Inc., a manufacturer of washroom hygiene products. Distributors can turn that knowledge into opportunities for system sales, Hochtritt says.

"We offer system solutions to end users who are looking to minimize costs while at the same time provide products that offer the maximum performance, hygiene and convenience," says Hochtritt.

One concept that combines hygiene, convenience and performance is a new, no-touch towel dispensing system. It uses microchip technology to sense moisture before dispensing towels, effectively eliminating cross contamination.

Along with better products, janitorial manufacturing sales organizations will include more product and service bundling in the future and offer more distributor cost saving opportunities, he adds. And, sales training will become increasingly important.

SCA has four regional field trainers, Hochtritt says. They provide product and sales training to the company's salespeople and distributor salespeople.

"We also utilize outside trainers ... for both SCA field personnel and distributor sales representatives," he says.

John Walker, president of managemen.com and Janitor University based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a man obsessed with cleaning up the clean-up profession. Janitor University, with classes and seminars held at Salt Lake's Delta Center, "is designed for cleaning industry executives seeking to broaden their skills and improve their organizations," Walker says. His Web site discusses the needs of janitorial service companies to protect their employees, a fact that goes hand-in-hand with industrial plant hygiene, Walker says.

"First of all, few people realize that cleaning work is the fifth most unsafe job in the country," Walker says. "The safety of cleaning workers is becoming a much greater concern for plant managers. Accidents cost more than the total amount of supplies a company buys in a given year."

Walker cites a university study in which the school started a campaign to reduce custodial accidents. After a year accidents were down 81 percent. The university saved $450,000 in accident costs, more than their custodial supplies expenditure.

When the costs of accidents are added up — workman's compensation, repairs, lawsuits and clean-up — it behooves every distributor or janitorial manager to understand that customers using products consider safety of paramount importance. When distributors do that, they are on the way to selling safety and compliance, and opening new sales opportunities.

"Unfortunately, almost all sales training is structured toward stressing ease of use, speed of use and lower cost per unit for products. Janitor University offers leadership training for cleaning industry executives who need to stress safety and preparation," Walker says.

The future of janitorial sales will go the way that all distribution is going — that is, toward consolidation with less importance in the role of the outside salesperson, Walker says.

"With consolidation, inventory management and the unfortunate continued emphasis on the lowest price per unit, I think the salesperson that thrived from the end of World War II to the 1970s is becoming less and less important."

In another vein, Walker is a proponent of the touchless washroom, and envisions not only touchless dispensers and towel dryers, but door latches and that won't need to be handled to open or lock. The need is profound Walker says. He cites examples from a study showing over 100,000 deaths due to infections at hospitals, caused by the hospital environment.

"Pathogens in the average washroom are a major health risk, and if [plant managers] could get accurate figures for their industries, I'm sure they would gladly pay the small difference for every touchless product," he says.

Companies that produce janitorial products and those that sell them have found more and more emphasis put on producing safer products each year. Since the 1960s, when environmental impact studies on water and air quality began in earnest, a combination of consumer groups and governmental studies brought the issue to the forefront of safety concerns.

All these companies, from the makers to distributors and users, must put in a concerted effort toward safer but reliable products, says Schneider.

"All the way down the chain, the emphasis must be on the process as a whole," he says. "It's mandatory anyway, by OSHA and many others. Working for safety now is a win-win solution."