I’ve mentioned before that my day job can be a real downer for someone who cares about the environment. This weekend, I was shown a ray of hope. More on that in a bit, but first a joke I heard on UpWorthy (check out the video here):
Q: How is the Earth’s ecosystem different from Goldman Sachs?
A: It’s not “too big to fail.”
Basically, retail sales of wind-generated electricity consists of setting up a table and display in a retail setting and talking to people in the process of going about their busy lives.
No one shows up at these stores to shop for electricity.
Occasionally, we set up a canopy at an outdoor event and speak to people there. I had the privilege of attending the July 4th Willie Nelson picnic in Fort Worth. It was an all-day affair, but my shift did not begin until 5:00PM. I was surprised by the aroma drifting throughout the crowd, even though it was still broad daylight…
Anyway, even at events, your soul can be sucked out of you by the lack of concern for our ecosystem. The media have succeeded at framing the debate as a political one rather than one based on science.
Consequently, when people see the wind turbines on our displays, some make anti-Obama remarks, although in Texas, the growth of the wind energy movement started during the days that Ann Richards and later, George W. Bush were governor.
I’ve learned a bit about the history of the wind energy industry in Texas by reading reviews of a book entitled “The Great Texas Wind Rush.” The Ann Richards / George W. Bush involvement was one of the things I learned.
I was also shocked to read that Texas currently (no pun intended) has more wind-generated electricity than any other state in the U.S. In fact, Texas is generating twice as much as California! Who’da thunk it?!?! I was so impressed by these tidbits, that I ordered the book today and am looking forward to reading it and possibly reviewing it for you. UPDATE: I read the book and found the history of wind power in Texas to be fascinating. Texas is blessed (and to some extent, cursed) with high winds in West Texas, along the Gulf coast and in the panhandle and, although we lead the nation in wind-generated electricity production, we’re just getting started.
Back to sales: As the stream of people pass our display, each salesperson tries to initiate a conversation with members of said stream.
Some people see you as they approach, and in order to not speak with you, they will find something to look at away from you, so as to avoid eye contact. This can be amusing at times. In The Parks Mall at Arlington, my employer has a semi-permanent kiosk across the walkway from a Mrs. Fields Cookies. I have commented that it must be the most interesting cookie store in the world, because people will literally keep their eyes on it from the moment they see our display until they are well down the walkway.
Some will pretend they don’t hear you and some will just wave you away with their hand.
Some will make a B-line to the salesperson to start an argument about climate change being a liberal plot or that it does exist, but mankind has no role in it. I often get remarks about “Obama.” Of course, these interactions are counterproductive and not conducive to sales, so we are trained to deflect the comment, diffuse any conflict and move on to the next available person. This is called “catch and release.”
I have even had one guy point at the slogan, “100% Pollution-Free Electricity” and comment “That’s a lie.” That time, I just could not help myself, I had to ask, “You believe the wind turbines pollute?” His response was that the manufacture of the wind turbine components, the delivery and erection of said turbines all generate pollution, so wind energy is therefore not 100% pollution free. I guess the same can be said of solar, geothermal and hydroelectric facilities. Once I got the gist of his comments, I performed the “catch and release,” and let him proceed on his fantastical journey. I wonder what color the sky is in his world…
It is very common for someone to say they don’t care about the environment or the environmental aspects of our product. They just want the price. Although I do not share that view, I get it. Money is important, especially in this economy. However, one man even went so far as to say he has no responsibility for the problems with our ecosphere. To quote, “Let the next generations sort it out. I’m not responsible for my car burning gas. I didn’t design it.”
Catch and release…
Well, as the title of this post says, I saw a ray of hope this weekend. Other salespeople have shared their sales experiences with me, to help me out. A couple of the observations were:
“The more affluent someone is, the less they care about the environment. They just want to enjoy the luxurious life their money can bring them.” Unfortunately, my experience seems to show that, generally speaking, this appears to have the ring of truth.
“The older someone is, the less likely they are to care about the environment or to change their electricity provider. They don’t like change.” What about me? I’m 55 and am very concerned about the environment!
These are just rules of thumb, intended to help me make to most productive use of my time by selecting from a pool more inclined to be interested in our products. Yes, I know it seems like profiling, judging a book by its cover.
Then the weekend came.
Friday evening, I was at a Fort Worth event called “Friday on the Green.” It is basically a park set up as a live music venue with the public lying on blankets and sitting in lawn chairs surrounded by vendors selling food, beer, veterinary services, insurance and yes, 100% pollution free electricity. Again, none of them came to the park to buy electricity. The bands were “The Hannah Barbarians,” (loved that name!) “The Phuss,” and “We’rewolves.”
I had the pleasure of meeting a delightful couple, Janet and Arthur, with whom I had a lot in common. They were early adopters of Apple computers and hybrid cars (they were on their 2nd Prius). They were in the process of working with Solar City to get solar panels installed on their home, something I want to do at the home we’re currently building. They were also around my age. I had a great time talking with them and probably spent too much time doing so, as I’m supposed to be talking with lots of people, but I couldn’t help myself. They were a breath of fresh air! (side note: I hope to interview them about their Solar City panels once they have them up and running)
They signed up to have their electric service switched to us and said they had three other homes they’d like to switch, once they had tried us out. They made my Friday evening! I drove home in a much better mood than I usually am in after working a shift.
UPDATE: Janet and Arthur switched all four of their homes to wind-generated electricity and I visited their home and saw their Solar City array. It was so large, I had to go into their neighbor’s backyard to take it all in! Their house was built in 1910, so it is a nice mixture of old architecture and new technology. One disappointment for Janet was the fact that if any of the panels fall into shade, they all stop producing electricity. Due to this, they’re going to have to trim the cedar tree in the photo below because, at certain times, it will cast a shadow on the left array. (It’s the one centered over the left-most array.)
Janet had plenty of problems with customer service, during this adventure, with One Block Off The Grid, Solar City and unfortunately, even with Green Mountain Energy. It took several months from the first contact with One Block Off The Grid/Solar City to have the panels installed, and the customer service Janet received from Green Mountain Energy was less than what our A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and #2 ranking in this year’s J. D. Powers’ Texas Residential Retail Electric Provider Customer Satisfaction Survey would cause one to expect. Fortunately, I think all the issues are behind them now!
Sunday, I picked up an extra shift at a Big Lots store in an upper-middle class neighborhood. No one from my company had worked the store all week. Those that had worked there the previous couple of weeks said it was not a good place for them to sell. I had worked there twice before as well, and had not had a single sale. I was standing at my display, talking with people as they walked by, when a couple about my age approached me and pointed down to the silhouettes of wind turbines on the tablecloth asking, “What’s this about?”
I explained our products and a little about the history of the company and the woman picked up my clipboard, with the form to authorize the switch to our company’s product, handed it to her husband, Richard, saying, “You better start filling this out.” He didn’t have his reading glasses on, so she started filling it out for him.
I was dumbfounded. This is not my usual sale.
It turns out they have a family ranch in Southeast Colorado and have leased seventeen locations there for the erection of wind turbines! They showed me pictures on their smartphone of the turbines being delivered and erected. I was in heaven! We discussed their wind turbines and the hoops they had to go through to get them in, including having some of the components helicoptered in, because a neighbor refused to allow the trucks to cross their property. The neighbor, they told me was fine with construction equipment crossing their property, until they heard it was for wind turbines. You see, their neighbor had investments in oil and gas. I’m hoping to interview the couple as well and get the full story along with photos, so stay tuned.
Admittedly, stories like these too are few and far between in my line of work, but they helped raise my spirits and prepare me for the next week of trying to convince people they should use pollution-free energy. If this wasn’t so much a mission for me, if it was more of just a way to make a living, I guess the naysayers wouldn’t bring me down so much. But then again, these two couples wouldn’t have been near as much fun for me.
God bless them both!
