Green Ump

Sustainable Packaging - how green is yours?

A tip of the hat to Environmental Leader for this tidbit which predicts that sustainable packaging will grab 32% of the market by 2014. For the full article go here.

Paper and paper-based packaging are the largest sectors with more than 40% of the global packaging market. That's another reason why the LACCD is paying so much attention to companies who wrap their products in materials that can be recycled. The packaging coming into the district on building products and materials is separated, then sold back into the material supply chain.

 

Are you in the process of redesigning your packaging to be part of the 32%? Check out JoAnn Hines, the Packaging Diva. She has decades of experience and will help you carry your sustainable message through, as well as make your package as sustainable as your product. Give her a call or follow her on twitter along with the other 4000 who do.

Welcome ThermaSteel Panels

ThermaSteel Panels has joined the Green Building Pages ranks. It manufactures foundation, floor, wall, roof and ceiling components for residential, commercial and industrial applications as well as infill or curtain for high-rise construction. It's a pre-insulated light gauge steel framing, utilizing galvanized steel and EPA (both 100% recyclable).ThermaSteel carries and Energy Star Rating and UL, ASTM and others.

ThermaSteel came to Green Building Pages on the recommendation of the Los Angeles Community College District. As soon as the ThermaSteel team answered the triple bottom line questions on Green Building Pages, Green Building Pages sends their link back to Lilian the LACCD procurement specialist. Now Lilian has all the answers to anything she needs to know at her fingertips (as does everyone else at LACCD). 

But that's just a starting point...

Lilian heads up the interiors procurement operations and acts as the filter for all products coming into the LACCD, but she doesn't specify products and materials that will be used to build the buildings. That job goes to one of the 150 or so architectural and design firms contracted with the LACCD. 

Educating the architects to use Green Building Pages and also flag the firms on new products is Amber Olson. With this same link, she can share ThermaSteel's LEED Credit opportunties in energy performance, controllability of systems - thermal, thermal comfort - design, recycled content, innovation and design.

Thank you ThermaSteel for making the transferring of knowledge through LACCD so easy.

The New Bottom Line in Sales

Ahh the infamous bottom line question that strikes terror in any newbie sales person - you polished your shoes and your presentation yet before you can crack a smile or a proposal your prospect asks, "So what's the bottom line"?

 

Anyone in sales training will give you a dozen different ways to sidestep the money question and get back to the job of pre-selling your product. Since the market is turning green, however,  there is new way to answer...

 

Q: What's the bottom line?

A: That depends on how you want your triple bottom line to look.

 

The prospect will either "get" what you're offering right away or they'll stare at you with a dumbfounded expression, either way you should be ready to show them how your product is going to save them money, save the environment and be a good neighbor to those they do business with around the planet. It takes the "features and benefits" conversation to a whole new Life Cycle Assessment level.

 

If your product can compete wellin all three areas of the triple bottom line, economics, environment and social equity (and can prove it) you've hit the trifecta of new market sales. You will Win, Place and Show others what a sustainable product looks like in green economy.

 

If you're really savvy you'll have your sustainable future story together as well - how can you guarantee that this product is no fluke, that it will continue to improve and make their triple bottom line better in the process. You'll also have a promotion plan together to help them help you cross promote the product's use.  It's no longer a grab-your-commissions-and-run world.

 

If you're a sales and marketing manager can your sales force answer the triple bottom line questions as easily as they can answer product specifications and installation concerns?

 

Do you have a  Sustainable Sales Training program? Let us know.

 

SLM: The Marketing of Green May 31- June 4 Monterey, CA

Do you have green building products that span both the Business to Business and the Business to Consumer worlds? You may want to attend the Sustainable Life Mediaconference at the end of the month in Monterey, CA. Sustainable Life Media focuses on green brand management and everything you need to make those brands authentic and market changing.

The event contains mostly consumer goods, but what happens in consumerland spills over into B2B world. The one sector reinforces the other.

You'll hear about:

• Transformations
• Capturing the essence of sustainability
• Consumer product case studies
• Green brand messaging
• How to inspire employees and customers alike
• Collaboration programs
• Give Back Programs
• Low impact packaging
• Social Media shifting consumer thinking
• Eco Labeling 
• Green event planning
• Social footprints

Check out the whole line up here: http://sustainablelifemedia.com/events/sb09

Other key presentations:

LCA on a budget, Jeremy Faludi, Professor, Stanford Design School.

Top 10 Online Sustainable Brands Stories and the Tools That Got Them There

A Legal Look at Green Marketing Claims and the FTC's Green Guides

Transparency & Green Materials: Key Building Blocks for Tomorrow's Brand Leaders

Leonard Robinson, California Dept. of Toxic Substances - DTSC Goes "Wiki" With Green Chemistry "On September 29, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 1879 and Senate Bill 509, two laws that authorize California state government to develop an alternatives analysis framework to stimulate the rapid acceleration of replacement of harmful chemicals and ingredients with safer alternatives in products sold in California. One of the most forward-looking initiatives in the world, Mr. Robinson will share his perspective on the implications of this initiative and the doors it might open for new product innovation for a greener future.

Check out the Who's Who list of attendees and go if only to meet the sustainable innovators inside a company who might want to bring your product into the mix.You never know who you might be sitting next to.

Be there or NOT be talked about.