Who Are the Decision-Makers and Advocates Today?

Within companies and communities, many people are stepping up to advocate for more sustainable building. If you are a product or service provider, know who the influencers, decision-makers, and advocates are within your target market.

As with any behavior change, sales, or marketing effort, you must know your target market at a deep level.Whether you’re attempting to make an internal change at your company or mapping out your sales strategy for a product or service, understand your audience and their pain points and be prepared to answer questions and respond confidently to objections.

"The best advocates are local advocacy organizations and trusted community leaders.”

Gordian Raacke, Executive Director, Renewable Energy Long Island (reLI.org)

"The best advocates are the people who sit at the top -- from architects to CEOs. Effective leaders have the ability to motivate the masses to act. When properly channeled, positive influence can generate great change as individual actions align with group efforts to produce an amazing outcome.”

Keng-Fu Lo, managing director of the Chain10 Architecture & Interior Design Institute

"Certainly, the case for sustainability in business requires a commitment by the leadership — supporting and allocating resources for research and development are critical to achieving results. Developers who are committed to allocating budgets for sustainability are also critical. But company leadership is just the beginning. Some of the best advocates are going to be those working in the day-to-day. For us, that means that our architects and designers need to have the knowledge and passion to infuse their projects with sustainable methods. From selecting materials to designing climate-responsive form, every decision is additive in its impact on climate change.”

Scott Sullivan, AIA, NCARB, Principal, Relativity Architects

What Consultants, Designers, and Manufacturers Can Do

Marketing and selling within the building industry have always been complex.Global competition for materials, cost-focused buyers, and the need for speed all make the job of solutions providers challenging.

Add to that a sustainability imperative. Your role is now also one of education -- knowing your facts about green solutions and being able to present trends and alternatives to buyers and decision-makers in a way that turns them into believers.

"As a firm, we must stay current on digital design tools and energy-efficient products to be awarded new-building projects and adaptive-reuse updates to existing structures to make them as green as possible. Sustainability is a priority for most companies we work with. They are interested in the latest green technologies and solutions.”

Richard Berliner, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, Berliner Architects

"We make the sustainability case to clients by explaining all of the currently available green products and design approaches, such as passive strategies for using fewer resources or minimizing heat gain. In these cases, we’ll discuss the design features most likely to earn certification at the desired LEED level.”

Jenna Knudsen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Managing Principal, CO Architects

"Companies can make the case for sustainability with a simple willingness to innovate and challenge the status quo. In one recent instance, a large furniture manufacturer had requested their fabric supplier to analyze the make-up of their products and reformulate them to remove chemicals of concern. When that supplier failed to respond, the furniture company approached us instead, requesting the creation of a more sustainable upholstery fabric without sacrificing the material’s performance. The furniture company trusted that we would be able to do so because we had demonstrated a history of (self-motivated) product improvements.”

Iwan Nassimi, Executive VP, Nassimi

"Businesses are already making their case for sustainability. But there has to be a distinction between green- or sustainability-washing and genuine attempts to ensure that they and their products do not harm and even go further by being regenerative. That push has to come from the ground up.”

Ganesh Nayak, Principal, Metier Inc.