The
big buzz word is “Green.” Frankly, I’ve been in the business of saving the
planet and I didn’t even know I was doing it. Way back in the 1970s, when the
first oil shock wave hit, my company knew we better get into the energy-saving
business or someone else was going to lock us out of our own customers’
basements. And we weren’t going to allow that.
We
learned about energy-saving heating systems, water-saving devices, electrical
controls and more. When the price was spiking, it was a “no-brainer” to sell
this stuff. But once the price backed down and we got adjusted to it, we fell
back to our old habits and you can see where that’s gotten us.
What
you need to understand is that people in general are saying they’d like to be
“Green,” but if you scratch below the surface just a little they vote with
their pocketbook.
To
really own the “Green Business” and do the world and your company a big favor,
you need to:
1. Be green at your own business. If you talk green but
aren’t that’s called “Green washing” and you’ll be exposed for the hypocrite
you are.
2. Sell Green for the money it saves and not just
because it helps the planet.
3. Create packages of energy
items you can sell that do reduce waste and saves people money.
4.
Invest in the energy audit technology and the training. It’s a small price in
the long-run to be capable of doing the energy audits, and also to be the one
to provide the solutions.
5. Become passionate about how
going green is the right thing to do and be just as passionate about how going
green saves the customer money.
Then, get great at marketing your
success stories and begin to move from a commodity service business to a niche
service business and reap the rich rewards in ever possible way.
PM Columnist Hosts
Online Growth Seminar
Business
consultant Al Levi, who writes a monthly column for
Plumbing &
Mechanical and blogs for other BNP Media trade magazines, will
present an online business seminar, “Growing Big In A Recession,” June 1, at 12
noon CST.
The June date will be the first part of six total seminars with the others
taking place every two weeks. Each online seminar is expected to last one hour.
Levi already held his first Grow Big seminar series last
January and has since added features to enhance to the experience. Participants
will receive forms, procedures, a “Grow Big Optimizer” CD and have the
opportunity to e-mail Levi for further support up to 60 days after the series
is over.
For more information and to register, log on to
www.GrowBigInARecession.com. The
website also includes several video testimonies from contractors who took part
in the first seminar series and got their phone ringing again and their companies
growing again.
Anyone interested in taking part will need to register by
May 25. Levi provides geographically exclusivity to participants within a
30-mile radius of their businesses. There is a charge for the seminar, but
there is also a money-back guarantee.
