Get committed to green

f f,/rrH 20+ yeans experience with Y Y green building and remodeling, I-like many other contractors-have experienced a disconnect between the message I hear from manufacturer and dealer reps at conferences and trade shows versus the reality of the experience back home.

While manufacturers are now as excited about selling green products as we are about buying them, their commitment to green is not as deep as we hoped. Greenwashing is commonplace, lack of legitimate third party testing/certification is not unusual, and little understanding of what it means to be green is prevalent.

Yes, going green is a journey and not a destination. And yes, as an industry, we are doing a lot of this on the fly. But these realities are no excuse for ignoring the milestones we have passed, the resources available to us, and the fact that educating reps to better serve the green builder client is a win-win for everyone.

When it comes time to buy green building products, we buy into the individual first, the company second, and the product third. The majority of the salespeople I have purchased from over the last 20 years have been comfortable selling obsolete (non-green) products, so why would I buy into their representation of a green product? In my eyes, the worst-case scenario is that they have no credibility and the best case is that they have some explaining to do.

If you are a brown company trying to sell green products, you will run into skeptical consumers, builders, and remodelers who are just like me. And your field reps will run into a btzz saw of that skepticism. In order to protect and better arm those reps in the field, you can take some concrete steps to improve the street credibility of your company:

Revamp your cultur€. Yep,I know this is big one. You are either committed to being green or you're not. That doesn't mean you must become the purest shade ofgreen possible or that it needs to occur overnight. But it does mean your company is committed to getting greener every day, that it has a plan to do so, the budget to support it, and that your senior leadership is person- ally committed to the change. ln 2O1l, being committed to your stakeholders (employees, customers, communities in which you operate, and your shareholders) means being committed to green. Being committed to green requires. at a minimum. offering products that will have the least possible negative consequences to the planet. The good news is there are numerous other companies that have blazed this trail before, so there will be less skeptical, more enthusiastic buyers waiting when you get there!

Offer all green products. Not just some products. Not just some of the time. Again, this will likely not happen overnight, but the commitment to being green across all your product offerings will speak volumes about your company's commitment to green.

Get rated. Getting the seal of approval from unbiased, third-party, science-based organizations will help your field reps more than anything else you can say or do. And it will make it easier for me to specify and buy your products, as I will not have to do that research myself.

- Named NAHB's Green Remodeling Advocate of the Year in 2008, Michael Strong's projects include the first LEEDrated home in Houstotr, 7.r., and Texas' Jirst NGBS-certified remodel. He consults with supply-chain distributors and manuJacturers on how to "g,reen" their sales Jrtrt'e for the housing rebound, co-hosts a weekly radio show on green buiLding issues, and cr.t-instructs a green building/remodeling c/ass at Rice University. Contact hint at michael.d.stronp@att.net.