ESG for Sales: Questions B2B Teams Should Be Ready

ESG for Sales: Questions B2B Teams Should Be Ready for in 2025

ESG is no longer contained within sustainability departments or investor reports. In 2025 it appears in unexpected places, including sales calls and early-stage commercial conversations. For B2B organisations selling into ESG-mature markets, particularly in the UK and EU, the pressure to demonstrate awareness has increased. Sales teams are now the first point of contact where ESG expectations are tested. Procurement questionnaires, partner due diligence and inbound buyer queries mean that even companies that are not yet ESG ready must be able to speak about their position responsibly.

This article provides an overview of the questions that sales teams are likely to encounter from ESG-aware buyers. It explains why these questions appear, the risks of responding without preparation and how to build a communication framework that protects credibility and accelerates sales cycles. It is not legal advice or compliance guidance. Instead, it is a research-led support tool for sales enablement.

1. Why ESG Appears in Sales Conversations

Three systemic trends explain why sales conversations are becoming ESG-adjacent:

Procurement protocols are expanding
Large buyers are incorporating ESG checkpoints into vendor evaluation. Even if the seller is not regulated, the buyer is and needs to assess exposure. This creates indirect requirements for language maturity.

Reputational spillover
Partnerships imply shared values. Companies are cautious about association. Incorrect or inflated claims can create perceived reputational risk, causing buyers to slow or withdraw.

Due diligence acceleration
ESG is becoming part of early-stage due diligence. Buyers do not want to progress to commercial negotiations if the vendor’s ESG narrative contains red flags.

For sales teams, this means that ESG questions do not necessarily indicate a lack of fit. They indicate a need for clarity. Responding with honesty and boundaries is often more effective than attempting to project maturity that does not exist.

2. The Commercial Risk of Unprepared Answers

When ESG questions appear without preparation, the most common outcomes include:

• Overselling or implying capability that does not exist

• Misuse of terminology such as compliance, certification or alignment

• Confusion between ESG outcomes and product outcomes

• Commitments made verbally that cannot be fulfilled

• Delays in sales progression due to clarification requests

Unprepared responses create friction. Buyers seek clarity, not perfection. Sales conversations that treat ESG as a marketing opportunity rather than a risk-aware communication task often produce the wrong signals.

A responsible answer does not need to be impressive. It needs to be accurate.

3. The Questions to Expect in 2025

Below are the ten questions most likely to appear in B2B sales contexts when ESG becomes relevant. They vary by sector but follow consistent logic.

1. How does your product relate to ESG or sustainability?

2. Do you have any certifications or recognised standards?

3. Do you measure the impact you claim to create?

4. Are you compliant with ESG regulations or frameworks?

5. Does your product reduce emissions or environmental impact?

6. Are you aligned with CSRD, GRI, SBTi or similar frameworks?

7. Do you have an ESG policy or public statement?

8. How do you avoid greenwashing or overclaiming?

9. Are you part of any sustainability initiatives or partnerships?

10. What is your roadmap for improving ESG maturity?

These questions are not traps. They are checkpoints. A buyer who asks them is attempting to understand the seller’s position in a landscape where ESG immaturity can become a liability.

4. Building a Response Framework

Rather than scripting answers individually, sales teams benefit from a framework that reduces variance and risk across all responses. A research review of ESG communication practice suggests four pillars for sales language.

Pillar One: State the role correctly
Be explicit about what the product does and does not do. If the product is not a compliance tool, say so. If it is not designed to reduce emissions, do not imply it.

Pillar Two: Describe the journey
Most early-stage organisations are not ESG mature. Acknowledging this is credible. Buyers value the difference between progress and promise.

Pillar Three: Clarify terminology
Words like alignment, compliance, certification, assurance and contribution have specific meanings. Use them deliberately.

Pillar Four: Boundaries first
Before describing benefits or potential contributions, define the limits. Boundaries prevent misinterpretation.

5. Model Responses for the Top ESG Sales Questions

These responses are templates, not final answers. They must be adapted to each organisation’s context.

How does your product relate to ESG or sustainability?
“Our product is not a carbon or compliance solution. However, it can support responsible operations and decision making depending on how it is used. We focus on clarity and avoid making impact claims without evidence.”

Do you have certifications or recognised standards?
“We do not currently hold certifications. We follow developments in relevant frameworks to inform our communication and internal planning. We avoid implying compliance or verification.”

Do you measure the impact you claim to create?
“We only make claims that we can evidence. If measurement is not available or not appropriate, we do not attribute impact.”

Are you aligned with CSRD, GRI or SBTi?
“We reference terminology from common frameworks for language consistency, but we do not claim alignment or compliance.”

Does your product reduce emissions?
“We avoid quantifying or guaranteeing impact. In some contexts our product may support efficiency or better decision making, but results depend on the specific use case.”

6. What Sales Teams Should Not Say

The following statements create preventable risk:

• “We are fully compliant”

• “We reduce emissions across the value chain”

• “We guarantee sustainable outcomes”

• “We are aligned with all major frameworks”

• “Our product is a sustainability solution”

These statements imply capabilities that require verification. Without evidence, they function as claims and can be challenged.

7. Preparing Sales Collateral

For many organisations the issue is not verbal communication but the content that surrounds it. Sales collateral can unintentionally make claims that individuals avoid in conversation.

A risk-aware review should include:

• Website copy

• Slide decks

• Procurement templates

• FAQ sections

• Partnership proposals

• Product sheets

The review should check for impact language, certification language, unverifiable claims and terminology related to regulation. For SMEs, the most effective approach often begins with removing or rephrasing high-risk language rather than adding ESG content.

8. The Business Value of ESG Ready Sales

There is evidence that clarity-oriented ESG communication increases commercial velocity.

• Shorter due diligence cycles

• Higher compatibility with enterprise procurement

• Reduced friction in cross-border sales

• Lower likelihood of reputational contestation

• Easier integration with partner ecosystems

Sales teams that treat ESG communication as capability rather than performance send a stronger market signal. They demonstrate operational honesty.

Conclusion

In 2025, ESG communication is entering the sales domain. The shift is structural. Buyers are exposed to new accountability mechanisms and require clarity from vendors to manage risk. The commercial question is no longer whether companies can demonstrate ESG impact but whether they can speak about ESG without misrepresentation.

Sales teams that invest in clarity, boundaries and terminology literacy will outperform teams that rely on aspirational language. In this context, maturity is not measured by certification but by accuracy and restraint.

Responsible ESG communication is not a limitation. It is a competitive advantage.