By Stephen Ashkin

As a sales person you know that selling is a numbers game. The more calls you make, the more you sell. But what do you do if you are already working the maximum number of hours? You can’t expand the hours in the day. And while you can spend time at night or on the weekends getting organized, writing reports, planning, doing expense reports, etc, but there is a limit to the hours you can work. Thus one of the keys to improving your success is to become more efficient with the accounts you call on and to use one of my favorite sales expressions to “fish where the fish are.”

Think about it. If you want to catch a giant blue-fin tuna you probably want to fish in the Atlantic Ocean east of Boston. If you want to catch a salmon you probably want to fish in a river in the Northwest. And if you want to catch a nice catfish dinner, well I prefer the rivers of the Midwest or Southeast. The point I think is obvious. Just as each type of fish resides in different areas and requires different bait, different fishing line, etc., so does prospecting for business. If you want to catch some Green Cleaning business, the best place to fish is where there is a concentration of green building people. And while Green Cleaning is an issue that at some point most buildings will be doing, for the best sales results go to the places where the building owners and managers already understand the value of green and the need for switching to green products. This is a lot better use of your time than having to educate the uneducated.

The following are some ideas where the fish are very concentrated, like you’ll being able to “catch fish in a barrel”:
• Join the local chapter of the US Green Building Council. Ever person you meet there is a qualified prospect. And most need help with their Green Cleaning program. To find the nearest local USGBC Chapter, go to their website www.usgbc.org and click on the “chapters” button.
• Manufacturers, distributors and building service contractors can become a “champion” of Hospitals for a Healthy Environment if you want to sell green products into healthcare. This organization has had an enormous amount of success reducing mercury and other toxic materials in hospitals and would be very interested in implementing Green Cleaning programs. Their “partners” are the healthcare facilities already committed to going green. Check them out at www.h2e-online.org.
• Join the “Green” Hotels Association. If you go to their website at www.greenhotels.com you can click on their “member hotels” button and find a list by states of the hotels already committed to green. And if you click on the “speaking” button you’ll see numerous events where they are presenting, which are all opportunities to sell green products.
• Attend “green” conferences as either an exhibitor or attendee. A number of these are listed in this issue of DestinationGreen by clicking on the Calendar button back on the homepage.
• Get involved with other organizations focused on creating healthier buildings, such as the Healthy School Campaign in Illinois. You can visit their website at www.healthyschoolscampaign.org. Organizations like this exist in other areas of the country as well.
• There are also Green purchasing organizations, such as the Center for the New American Dream, which works primarily with government entities at the federal, state, and local levels. Visit their website at www.newdream.org.
• Finally, many professional organizations, such as the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA), are also developing a growing interest in Green Cleaning as are their members. Keep you eyes open – the fish are spawning everywhere.

So good luck selling green. We can’t change the industry until buildings start using Green Cleaning products. And as long as they have to buy them from someone, we hope they’ll buy them from you!