Cover Story: Our greener future
1 May, 2009 By: Ron Hall Landscape Managementyou might already have figured this out, but here's the scoop: Most of your customers aren't interested in green services, particularly if it means they will be writing bigger checks to you. The hype and posturing regarding sustainability, regardless of products or services, far exceed the public's acceptance and adoption.
At least that's the case right now.
"Very few people today are making buying decisions based on what is green," says Dr. Honey Rand, APR, president and CEO of Environmental PR Group, Lutz, FL. Rand describes selling propositions based solely on environmental claims as "meaningless."
"Green is the new branding. There is so much green now that (the term) has no meaning anymore," she adds.
Rand has solid, hands-on expertise in that arena. She started her marketing and public relations company that specializes in environmental issues after serving as director of communications at the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
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But if the majority of the public has yet to embrace green with its wallets, why would anyone suggest, as we now are, that the Green Industry must become greener, and that ultimately following that path will provide landscape and lawn service providers with its best opportunities for long-term revenue growth and prosperity.
The short answer is the Green Industry might have no choice in the matter.
Government agencies, activist organizations, the state of the economy (the age of extravagant waste is over) and other industries that provide allied services, such as the building industry, will see to that.
Changing standards
Will the public accept this new reality? Evidence suggests yes. Witness how Canadian citizens have accepted the ban on the use of synthetic pest control products on public and private landscapes in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Or how property owners throughout the United States are changing their landscape irrigation practices because of water agency restrictions or water costs.
Hendrikus Schraven, owner of a successful design/build company in Issaquah, WA, and a decades-long advocate of sustainable practices, says the industry must shift its mindset. Professionals must begin designing and delivering landscapes that provide clients with ecological benefits in addition to being functional and beautiful.
A conversation Schraven had with a client several decades ago — in this case, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft — suggests to him that it can be done.
"I'm going to put a computer in every home in America," Gates told Schraven, who found the statement to be more than a bit bold at the time.
"How are you going to that," queried Schraven?
"I'm going to change the standard," he recalls Gates responding in a matter-of-fact voice.
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