Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 56

Rebate and Incentive Tips, Part Three

Now that we’ve covered a handful of tips and tricks for maximizing rebates and incentives, we’re going to explore some useful resources that can help us track down the most relevant rebates and incentives for our projects.

Rebate and Incentive Tips, Part Two

Verify accurate input by third parties: Several years ago, a national retailer needed to file hundreds of incentive applications in the context of a planned portfolio-wide lighting retrofit campaign. The utilities granting the incentives required plenty of project data, including the exact lighting equipment proposed, the resulting lighting power density, etc. Several of the lighting contractors didn't understand the data request and submitted Title 24 compliance documentation rather than what was required for the utility to sign off on the incentive. Once the error was discovered, the client managed to retrieve the correct data and salvage the incentive.  The moral of the story is clear: you have to take the time to clarify the data needed from third parties to qualify for an incentive, and you have to verify that the data they provided is, in fact, what you requested.

Rebate and Incentive Tips, Part One

Utilizing rebates and incentives can be key in getting your efficiency projects approved. Over the course of the next three days, we’ll cover some tips and tricks of rebates and incentives.

The Code of the Extraordinary Mind

“When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact. This is – everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” - Steve Jobs 

Weekly Recap, September 25, 2022

Here are our sales-enhancing tips from this week's Selling Energy Blogs...

How to Get a Self-Motivated Team

When we think about ways to improve productivity, we usually think of software programs, smartphone apps, time-management systems, to-do lists, ergonomics, and so forth. While these tools and life hacks have the potential to improve productivity greatly, we often overlook a key factor in our ability to perform at our highest potential: self-motivation.

Finding Your Competitive Advantage

What is your competitive advantage? If you don’t have a clear picture of how your business differs (or fails to differ) from other similar businesses, you might want to spend some time researching your competition and strategizing new ways in which you might set yourself apart. Here are 8 questions you might ask yourself to determine your competitive advantage:

Talk Less, Listen More

Passionate people love to talk about their passions. If you’re in the efficiency industry, you may be passionate about efficiency. One of the habits that I’ve noticed among passionate salespeople is that they dominate the conversation waxing poetic about their business. While it is great to show your passion, being verbose is not always the best way to create interest in your product or service. People value what they ask for more than what they are offered unsolicited.

7 Signs You Should Invest in Sales Training

Is your sales team performing at its best? Probably not, but corporate managers tend to overlook even lackluster sales performance as long as company profits continue to climb.

What's the Real Payback?

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has experienced one of my efficiency-focused professional selling or financial analysis workshops that I recommend migrating the conversation away from Simple Payback Period (SPP) when discussing the merits of a proposed expense-reducing capital project.