22/05/2008 by blog.

One of the key issues for many eco / green / sustainable businesses, is how and when to take their share of the market place. Many ecopreneurs are concerned about others copying their ideas and have to weigh up market visibility V eco sales.

There are a lot of matters to consider, but the key point is - if no one knows you are there, how would you expect anyone to buy from you? The fact is, that there are many competitors for most products or services. Will your competitor’s steal some of your ideas before you have a market share? The answer - is probably YES! It’s a cut-throat world out there and unfortunately there are many so called “Ethical” companies out there who would quite happily steal your ideas, along with many more who wouldn’t dream of being so mean.

I was discussing ethical investments last week with a number of people. One chap pointed out that it is possible to say that Adolf Hitler, Ghengis Khan and Martin Luther could all be deemed “ethical” as they had a set of ethics and stuck to them. Whilst most people would certainly not lump infamous people in to the “ethical” camp, it is important to stress that we all have different ethics - some one might consider “good” and others “bad”. So when your eco marketing campaign suddenly shoots you in to the public arena, how can you avoid the Genghis Khan’s and focus on the the Martin Luther’s?

Advertising is not for everyone, but if you have deep pockets and an excellent media agency - it can help you to storm the eco market. The truth is that most green businesses do not have deep pockets. There are few ecopreneurs with the available capital to afford to keep up national advertising campaigns or even start them in the first place. With enough money behind you, it is possible to storm the eco market and take the largest market share rapidly. If the market share you desiered is yours, then any competiton becomes an also-ran and it is then a question of maintaining your market share. By this stage any anxieties about copying have been limited.

If you cannot afford a national advertising campagn - what do you do? Will you lose market share by others copying your enterprise? Many accountants or solicitors would of course tell you to be careful - why? - because that’s their job. But should an ecopreneur be setting out to make sure they are not a failure, or setting out to make sure they are a success? Hiding your light under a bushel forever is unlikely to help you to succeed - is it?

At some point all sustainable companies need to bite the bullet and tell the market place that they have arrived. One of the best ways to reach the Martin Luthers and avoid the Ghengis Khans is to use eco telemarketing. Rather than announce to everyone that you exist, why not target prospective customers that are more likely to be the good guys? Of course, you can never be certain about the outcome - but you can limit the risks.

Many ecopreneurs have what I would describe as “good ethics” - such as treating others as you would wish to be treated yourself. In a world of spin, hype and greenwash, it’s easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because a disreputable company mis-selling renewable energy is bad, does that mean the World should not embrace renewable energy? Similarly, should all marketing been seen as bad? Marketing itself is not bad, just as money is not bad - it’s how we use it.

The problem is often that most people don’t understand eco marketing. Worse still, most people don’t understand eco direct marketing. Eco direct marketing is the front line of marketing - it’s all about green sales generation rather than window dressing. Eco direct marketing is about telemarketing, telesales, direct mail, email marketing - all methods to create sales opportunities and close on them. But does your eco team possess these skills?

ECO1 is a group of eco direct marketing experts. Rather than hiring a full-time Business Development Director at say £40k per annum, ECO1 fills in the gaps from as little as a couple of days per month. If you need to storm your eco market place, then you must either have the experience yourself or seek help from an expert. An expert can help you to identify the best routes to market and to reach your goals as fast as possible. Whether your budget is £600 per month or £6,000 - take some advice on key decisions such as your eco market storm. ECO1 offer a FREE first consultation - it could well be the most important hour of your ecopreneurial life!

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06/01/2008 by blog.

There appears to be a certain amount of confusion going on at present, as to how to go about ECO Marketing? Most people, from the ordinary person in the street to the CEO at the global corporation, want to be green. But there seems to be a big confusion about how to market green ideas. So here is the current lowdown on how to “green” your business

From a UK perspective, the USA as a whole appears to be very schizophrenic in it’s attitude to all things eco. The US leadership reluctantly agreed at Bali to get on board with those who had already signed the Kyoto Protocol, whilst US commerce is catching on fast to the fact that the eco market is worth billions of dollars.

Mr Bush sits like King Canute, against a tide of environmental change in the USA. In the meantime, forward economic thinkers on eco marketing are making their first major breakthroughs. The information giant Experian recently announced its new segmentation marketing system called GreenAware. The primary stage in any marketing has to be an understanding of the market place. Experian sees the “Green” segment for 2008 at a predicted value of $500 billion For a mini US perspective on the segmentation of this market see this short video by Angelika Kaprelian of Experian.

In the UK, according to investigation by the Observer, ” British people are now convinced about the dangers of global warming but are either baffled about how to stop it or are ignoring the issue.” The report goes on to explain that 9 out of 10 members of the UK public believe Climate Change is real and manmade, but their is a distrust of government involvement in solving issues especially in relation to “Green Taxes”. The most interesting point about this research is that Richard Lambert, the CBI’s director-general noted that UK Businesses are taking the lead, and ‘They are ahead of the consumer.’

It looks as if the gaps are finally being filled between “understanding” of the climate change issues and “action” to resolve them. Yet at present, the USA whilst lagging behind the developed world in it’s political rhetoric, US business is now forging ahead with the marketing tools to reach green consumers. In the UK, political rhetoric about environmental issues is high on the agenda but perceived poorly by UK citizens, whilst UK businesses are forging ahead preparing to sell green products and services.

The key difference in thinking at present between the “optimists” and the “pessemists” appears to revolve around “the bubble bursting in the green market place“. From a purely logical standpoint in terms of marketing, the idea of the bubble bursting on the growth of a green economy makes no sense. The market is at such an early stage and is related to facts as opposed to fashion. Green may be the new black in fashion, but putting short term fads aside, the green market place is comparable to the early days of the motor industry. I am sure their were plenty of short-sighted pessemists declaring that Henry Ford’s new vehicles would be a flop; but the reality was that this industry was based on global industrial needs not the whims of the fashionable glitterati.

So when viewed logically, the green market place is really quite straight forward. As usual, politicians are all jostling to gain new voters on any subject they can in the UK and USA, whilst the public they are supposed to serve has questionable belief in them. Meanwhile, consumers and businesses run the world through supply and demand.

Marketing remains the same for the new green industry, just as it did for the old high carbon industry. There will still be rogue marketeers claiming unsubstantiated facts like “there are more germs on your chopping board than your toilet seat“. Similarly, there have recently been some absolutely barking marketing campaigns about green products. There are always a few rotten apples in the barrel, but marketing that works will always be about facts (with plenty of hyperbole) about products that meet the needs of the consumer. The green industry is no different.

In terms of “reaching” the hearts and minds of the public, commerce and industry who wish to “buy-in” to all things green, it is simply a case of good market research. The difficult part for businesses is often a lack of knowledge from their own marketing teams. If the current marketing team still feast at the local burger bar and endeavour to possess the latest gas guzzling vehicle, then are they of the right mind-set to understand their customers?

If you are serious about eco marketing, then take a look at some the growing eco marketing agencies that appear to be springing up. The truth of the matter is that they have been slogging away in the background for the last 15-20 years. The Head of ECO1, the first ECO Direct Marketing Agency, has been directing business development of ECO Products and Services since the late 1980’s.

Whilst public perception may be of a “revolutionary” need for eco marketing, it has been going on for a long time. It is simply a question of logical change from a high carbon to a low carbon economy. Companies who survive and prosper will be those who seek the advice of expert eco marketing professionals such as ECO1. It’s worth bearing in mind that when Henry Ford built his first cars, there was plenty of money to be made in building roads, car-parks, maintenance and fuel. Those with enough business acumen to get on board now with the green industry will be the Fords of the 21st Century, and which self-respecting entrepreneur does not get excited about that?

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26/11/2007 by blog.

It’s beginning to look like the World has woken up to the need for Eco Action. I’m not talking about living in a teepee or strapping yourself to a tree. I am talking about the need for a change in the products and services that we consume.

Let’s face it, unless you seriously believe that everyone is going to convert to some radical new set of politics, then you must accept that we all live in a capitalist world. I’m not going to argue whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. What is important is being realistic and honest with yourself. Once you accept the facts, then you can take action.

In my opinion, few politicians really have an opportunity to make all the changes they wanted to enact during their term of office. Did Al Gore or President Clinton really have time to make any major climate change policies? Even if they had done, that would not change the fact that it is up to each and every person to green their World. In a capitalist system, it boils down to supply and demand. So if you (as a consumer) demand eco products and services, then there will be plenty of organisations willing to supply what you ask for.

I’m not going to debate the pros and cons of government intervention here. Some people believe intervention could help, whilst others believe that true sustainable growth will be hampered by tampering politicians. The truth is that the system our great-grand-parents fought hard to construct, offers us all the chance to get involved and change matters as consumers. There is an old axiom that says “You are what you eat”. Well, today that can be extended to “You are what you consume“.

I think “The West” has gone far past the point of debating whether climate change is real or not. Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter whether a public speaker says it’s real or not anymore. It’s a question of what the ordinary person in the street thinks. At ECO1, we spend 90% of our time on the telephone, talking to hundreds or thousands of people every week about eco products and services. From our feedback, it seems that some people are better informed than others, but that’s normal. The key point, is that the ordinary person in the street wants to do their bit when it comes to climate change. The same is true of just about every business person.

It is the belief of ECO1, that the change from an unsustainable capitalist economy to a sustainable capitalist economy is already happening. Sure, some of the less reputable organisations are bending the truth, but most are genuinely moving towards sustainable practice within their organisation. One factor pointing towards this change is the “holier than though” set of comments, springing from the mouths of old green activists. The days of people jumping on their soapbox about the need for a sustainable future have passed. Changes are already taking place, leaving the old activists redundant. No one wants to hear that change needs to take place anymore. The new cry from the ordinary person in the street is, “Give me sustainable products and services to buy”.

The question now is how “The West” migrates in to this sustainable future. All markets from the domestic to the commercial to the industrial will require eco products and services. The question is “how will this be achieved at a pace that will negate climate change problems?” At ECO1, we believe we have the answer.

Certainly there are many routes to market, but by far the fastest method is Ethical Eco Telemarketing. To avoid the bad-press caused by a minority of unscrupulous marketing spinners, it is necessary to promote all things eco in an honest and positive manner. In other words, Ethical Eco Sales.

So how can sales be termed ethical? Many people have a very confused idea of what “Sales” is all about. A young chap from Mumbai, calls you in the car at night, whilst you are driving home. He tries to “flog” you a ring-ding mobile contract. Is that “Sales”? Well, of course it is, but it is a tiny part of “Sales” as a whole, and probably the worst impression of the true meaning of “Sales”. At the other end of the spectrum, your business is paying an ever increasing amount for Utilities, cutting at your ability to trade. One day, a charming person calls you, takes time to understand the issues you face, then offers a Green Utility deal that was just what you needed. Now that’s what I call “True Sales” and “Ethical Sales”.

We have many people applying to join the ECO1 sales team, but few meet our high standards. We believe that ethical sales are not just about glibly jumping on the green band wagon. It’s not about knowing the right techniques, but underneath having no passion for green matters. Sure, we know a number of people out there trying to copy ECO1, who will spout all the jargon and wave the eco flag; but in the end they are no better than the greenwash promoted by a small number of large corporations.

Ethical sales is not about trying to be nice, it’s about genuinely being nice to people. Ethical sales is about matching needs with products and services, not someone being rude to you when you say, “no thank you”. It’s about treating people with respect, and having a genuine interest in what they have to say. Ethical Sales is about knowing when someone is interested and knowing when they are not. At ECO1 we believe these are the key factors in what makes a true ethical sales person.

So when you need to sell your products, think carefully about what image you wish to portray. If you are ethical and green, you will want a telemarketing person who represents what you believe in. Don’t be fooled by people telling you they are “eco” or “ethical”. Trust your gut instincts when you need an ethical sales person. If the person on the other end of the phone sounds false and aggressive, that’s probably exactly what they are. If they are overtly pushey with you, then that’s very likely how they will talk to your prospective customers. So choose an ethical sales team where you feel the person on the phone is someone you would want to buy from.

At present, ECO1 are the only true Ethical Eco Telemarketing company in existence. Sure, there are hundreds of telemarketing companies out there. It has to be said that 99% of them haven’t got a clue what “eco” means. That’s why they often hire ECO1 for all their eco projects. The other 1% know what “eco” means, but you would probably be better asking an axe-wielding-maniac to undertake your sales. They would probably be a lot more polite and certainly cause less damage to your organisation’s reputation.

The market for ethical eco telemarketing is destined to expand dramatically over the next decade. Demand for eco products and services is increasing annually. The supply chain for eco products and services is growing rapidly and still has a long way to go. That’s probably why ECO1 is growing rapidly.

This is the time for eco action. This decade is witnessing the rise of the green consumer, the rise of the green corporate leader, and the rise of the green industrialist. ECO1 are part of this eco action, part of a growing eco-preneur trend. If you own or work for an eco organisation, contact ECO1 to find out how to be part of this eco action. Only by increasing your sales, can ECO1 fulfil its function of accelerating a sustainable economy - UK Tel. - 020 8906 6730, info@eco1.biz , www.eco1.biz .

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14/06/2007 by blog.

My colleague asked me the other day “Should we undertake eco pilot sales campaigns, for people who don’t take our advice”? My straight answer was “Well they do want to pay us”. Whether that would be a good thing for the customer or ECO1 is debateable.ECO1 is an ethical eco marketing company; so should we just take the money and do what is asked of us? Read on, then tell us what you think we should have done?

In truth, it is a tricky question to answer. It boils down to the question - why employ the services of a professional, then try to tell them what to do? To be fair, I think it generally takes someone with an ego the size of a house, to start a business in the first place (I include myself here).

After all, it is often much easier just to go and work for someone else, without all the worries of Tax, NI, employment legislation, and the list goes on. So it seems like most people start a business because they have such a drive (and an ego) to succeed. So does the fact that we are an eco marketing company make a difference to our ethics?

At some point, every business faces its largest obstacle, making sales. Everyone has heard the story of the man who built the best widget in the world. But let’s face it; if he can’t sell for toffee, then no one will buy his widget. This applies to eco green marketing too - an inventor’s idea may have the potential to “save the World”, but only if the World gets to hear about it properly.

If you come from a successful eco sales and eco marketing background in the first place, then making eco sales should not be a problem. But what about the vast majority of people out there with a great idea, and the determination to win, but in truth are pretty weak when it comes to eco sales and eco marketing?

Sure, you can pop down to a local Business Link, who will often give you some good advice, but they won’t do the job for you. If selling is not your forte, you can read as many useful pamphlets and books as you like – but it isn’t going to transform your business in to a selling machine.

At some point, you need to decide whether you will take on an eco sales person on PAYE or outsource your eco sales. I suppose this is the point where I have to giggle. Very few businesses would fail if they employed a weak accountant or solicitor. Yet how many would succeed if they chose a weak sales person?

What makes me giggle is that so many people place a huge emphasis on choosing a good accountant or solicitor; yet treat sales as if it were an afterthought. How many people sit patiently in the waiting room of a solicitor, as if they were meeting with the Prime Minister for the day? Please don’t misunderstand me; I am not suggesting that financial and legal issues are not important. What I am saying is that if there is no money coming in to a business from sales, then having the best accountant or solicitor in the world will not save the business from ruin.

So this begs the question, why tell a professional eco sales team how to sell? The phone rings with a new customer. We go through a set pattern of asking questions to ascertain whether a pilot eco sales campaign would be of use. We strongly advise customers to take our advice on the best way to conduct a campaign. The customer announces, “We are a breath of fresh air as we know what we are doing”.

Then a few days later, the customer announces that he is in a hurry and has written the sales pitch and the marketing materials himself. He asks if we can start tomorrow, and he wants us to hit the targets he has set himself. So in one fell swoop, the customer has gone from hiring the best to becoming the best himself and telling us what to do.

We take a look at the pitch and try not to utter any expletives. The sales pitch is so long and involved that a customer would get confused. There are so many mixed messages that the aim has been lost. The targets have now been doubled from what was originally discussed. As we go very quiet on the telephone, the customer blurts out “I’ll BACS the money in to your account today”. What should we do?

You see at this point, our new customer has suddenly decided how to run the entire campaign himself. He has based his ideas on what he has learned before. Of course he wasn’t making many sales before using his own ideas – so why are we being asked to follow a path of failure? If this Eco Sales Pilot Campaign goes ahead – Who is flying the plane?

The Green Sales Generator

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20/05/2007 by blog.

How Green is your marketing? This was a question from a recent customer. This led on to a discussion about eco marketing as a whole. Most organisations now prefer a green alternative where it is possible, but does eco marketing have to be more expensive to meet the criteria?

At ECO1 we are always striving to be as eco as possible in our marketing and the way we work and try to keep our prices in-line with non Green alternatives. Only last week, we managed to find an eco printing and design supplier that ran an off-grid facility. The suppliers use a mix of micro-hydro, Photovoltaics and wind turbines to power their eco marketing facility. So does that mean they are more expensive?

Well, the funny thing was this, that after a lot of hard work by the ECO1 team in shopping around, we found that eco marketing does NOT always have to be more expensive than conventional marketing. The eco printing and design facility we found had invested in green energy. Yet despite all the capital investment, their prices were still on a par with the non greens. Certainly, if a customer wanted a very small run on printing using an obscure paper, then the price would be more, just as it would be with none green printing. But the key point is that green printing and eco marketing as a whole does not have to cost more.

I took a good look at ECO1 to think are we as green in our eco marketing as we could be? I mean 80% of our eco marketing is eco telemarketing. So is telemarketing green? Well our competition all jump in to their cars everyday, to race round the country burning up fossil fuels. I don’t just mean their sales reps, but the call centres who draw their staff from up to 50 miles away and encourage their staff to drive in by offering car parks. In contrast, the ECO1 team are all home based, using their legs to get to work. So is telemarketing green? I guess if you choose Eco1 Telemarketing it is.

The customer asked whether eco telemarketing really worked though? Surely, a representative from their company had to go and see a customer? That was an interesting point. The answer is yes and no. It really depends on the type of business someone is in, who their customers are and how sales are made.

We have a current customer at ECO1 who uses eco telemarketing.All our work for this customer has been carried out by telephone or internet. Our customer has closed 100% of their eco sales without ever leaving their office.

I agree that in some cases, you will have to meet a customer for your eco marketing. But if you take the time to think about the eco sales cycle for a moment, could you adapt to greener measures too? It is all too easy for everyone to lose sight of the way the world is changing and not realise that eco marketing is not just an idea but is totally feasible.

The globe is now covered in fibre optic cables wrapping the planet with speed of light communications. I am not pointing to Microsoft as the greenest company on the planet (yet), but do you think all their international meetings take place face-to-face? Take a green leaf out of their book for a moment, and consider how eco online demos, eco video conferencing, and eco tele conferencing is changing the way we all work.

Think for a moment, whether your eco product or service could be explained and sold better by telephone and internet. Last year ECO1 worked on a project that left many green people confused as to the benefits. It was all about “paper to digital migration” using cross-platform technologies to integrate communication systems. So how was that green? Talking to the key directors in UK and Global corporations, we managed to help pursuade these people to start saving tons and tons of paper communications. In fact, just as we have minimised or removed the need for carbon-usage in travel at ECO1, we helped minimise or remove the need for paper at numerous major corporations.

Of course, us ECO bods are never satisfied. Is the change from paper to digital simply greenwash, because of all the electricity being used by computers now storing the data? Well, to be fair, that really comes down to how the companies produce/use energy? More and more organisations are implementing green energy strategies as part of their eco marketing. It is now possible to use an internet provider powered by eco energy. Wind turbines are starting to pop up outside offices on commercial estates. The shift is beginning to happen right now.

So what about eco public relations or eco direct mail, we were asked? Is this really eco marketing? In regards to eco public relations, it is not that dissimilar to eco telemarketing. Certainly paper is involved in the process, but much of this can be reduced to electronic bytes rather than hard copy. Wherever possible, all paper products are recycled. So the impact of paper can be minimised or removed using eco recycled papers. Travel once again can be minimised. In fact, at ECO1 we recently discussed a new form of eco streaming media with a customer that will relay their message to millions at a much lower price to the environment and their pocket. Take a quick look at how Greenpeace are using this technology.

As for eco direct mail forming part of an eco marketing strategy, that is a different kettle of fish. Let’s be honest with ourselves, direct mail is not what it used to be. ECO1 deal with Business2Business in the main, so let us leave the consumer direct mail discussion for another topic. Any eco direct mail campaign is only likely to produce somewhere between 0.4% and 4.0% return. That does not sound great does it? Take a look at the statistics on email marketing and it just gets worse. Once you get over the statistics, and stop thinking about mailing the planet, the picture does begin to clear on eco direct mail. In a nutshell, it is all about focus.

Too many mediocre marketing people will tell you that marketing is marketing, and eco marketing is nothing different. Well personally this sounds like bunkum. Most people who recieve badly targeted mail are not keen on unsolicited mail whether it be via snailmail or electronic. That said, if the project is handled with care and the right people are targeted in the right way, eco direct mail can work well.

Ignore the fact that some people don’t like eco direct mail. You cannot please everyone (some people would moan if you tried to offer them free cash). The key is to focus on the right market segment who DO want you to contact them with something worthwhile. This is when eco marketing using eco direct mail suddenly starts to work.

In essence, eco marketing can be green and as cost effective, as any other form of marketing. It is a question of choosing the right eco marketing agency, such as ECO1. I suppose we like to believe that we are greening the world one customer at a time.

Regards,

The Green Sales Generator

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13/05/2007 by blog.

Welcome to everyone. This is the blog site for eco1, the Green Sales Generator. I hope you enjoy the contents of the site, which puts “eco” on the number 1 agenda.

Interesting blogs will be coming up about eco marketing and sales. In the meantime, if you need direct help or advice on your eco green marketing take a look now at http://www.eco1.biz.

Regards,

The Green Sales Generator

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