Meet Jeff from Vision Personal Training. He cycles on a busy road with a red wig seven hours a week and attracts two new clients a month for his efforts. This is what it takes to win new business.

It really makes me question if our company does enough to attract new business. If motivated, enthusiastic people are willing to throw modesty aside and endure car exhaust fumes and the occasional beer bottle thrown at them, what are we willing to do to grow OUR business?

Jeff starts work at 5.00am and rarely leaves before 7pm six days a week. Imagine what we could achieve if we worked those hours and implemented high profile marketing strategies at the same time!

Not only has Jeff helped me get fitter and stronger, I am much more productive and happier. For years people told me if you get fit you will feel better and perform better at work. Well it is true. It makes such a difference especially when you spend so many hours at a computer or in meetings.

Thanks Jeff – not only have you helped me be a better business person, you have inspired me to utilize marketing strategies that really help GreenBizCheck to stand out and make a difference to companies that want to save money, attract new business and protect our valuable natural resources.

Nearly every speaker at the conference mentioned the importance of sustainable business practices and how environmental leadership how the business should take action and not wait for government to regulate or subsidize. Numerous presenters talked not only about our responsibility to protect our planet’s natural resources, they emphasized the commercial benefits of green business – cost savings and new revenue opportunities.

Professor Michael Porter said pollution and business waste is a sign of inefficiency and an opportunity to improve profit and performance. The financial and social benefit of taking environmental action now outweighs the cost.

Moreover, General Electric’s CEO said GE has invested US$5 billion in clean technology research and development and generated US$70 billion in revenues in its first five years of operation. Surely this level of investment could heard a new megatrend – a much needed boost to economically stale world markets.

Meanwhile, GreenBizCheck continues to grow with franchise owners in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. It is heartening that nearly 90% of clients are re-certifying for a second year which tells us the price we charge offers value and most importantly saves companies money, helps them attract new business and most importantly gives them a credible certification to stand out in an increasingly eco-aware marketplace.

Please watch our latest short video on green business benefits:

It will only take a minute but could really change the way you look at life and success.

It came to me very early this morning at 430am with the birds chirping and the sun well into the sky. Our Government thinks it is funny not to introduce day light savings.

I always thought that The Meaning Of Life was…there is NO meaning of life – we live, we die and we need to make the most of every precious minute we have.

The team at GreenBizCheck is constantly thinking of new ways to better support our franchise owners and team members and help them grow their business quickly. Every day we send tips, articles, ideas and potential new business opportunities. We communicate regularly, we regularly offer feedback and encouragement. We do everything possible to assist.

The critical success factor in our business is meeting people and presenting our world-leading online environmental certification tool. The system is high-impact, low cost and guaranteed to help companies to save money and rapidly establish meaningful environmental credentials.

Once we are in front of business business decision makers, the product sells itself and the conversion of presentations to clients is only a matter of time.

Back to The Meaning of Life.

You will agree that knowledge is power. However, without applying that knowledge, the knowledge is useless.

So I go to the world’s largest source of knowledge and type in “How to get meetings with decision makers” I am talking about Google Of course.

Google indexes billions of web pages and is by far the largest library in the world, hosted on 450,000 servers. Hopefully they are eco-friendly servers.

Every possible great idea on how to professionally obtain meetings appears in the Google search results.

I was amazed. If ever our team members are stuck and need to generate more clients – just go to Google and type in the problem – its all there. How to get meetings, close sales, organise presentations, build relationships – nearly every possible idea has been posted on the internet.

Just try it – how to save thousands of dollars by making your own tooth whitening paste for only a few dollars or, how to make your own organic insect repellent, how to find hubcaps for your 1985 $2000 BMW…It will change your life. Google could have the answer to The Meaning Of Life if you follow my logic that all the answers for a happy, fulfilled and successful life are readily available on the internet – for FREE.

One of my all time favourite expressions came from an old mate who owned an advertising agency in Sydney -

We Know What To Do, But We Must DO What We Know.

Google will give you any answer you need to achieve happiness and success.

Only YOU can DO something with that knowledge.

Hope this helps you – please humour me with at least one line of feedback or comment.

The business community is increasingly recognising that good environmental citizenship is important on a number of fronts – cost savings, business efficiency, staff morale, government and international tenders, and maybe we should be doing more to reduce our impact on the environment…

Over the past six months, GreenBizCheck has been fortunate to appoint ten very capable franchise owners across Australia, New Zealand and now Singapore – our first step into the very vibrant Asian market.

After investing a tremendous amount of time, money and passion, it is gratifying for the GreenBizCheck team to see a steady increase in companies certifying and a strong uptake in strategic alliances with large, leading industry associations and certification suppliers.

We are very grateful for our head office team’s hard work and the very enthusiastic participation of our franchise business owners and look forward to rapid expansion in 2011.

Most of us dream of being our own boss, spending more time with the family and taking time off when we want, not when some low paying corporation allows us to. A GreenBizCheck franchise offers all this at a relatively low cost and fast return on investment, plus the opportunity to work in a field which is actually doing something very good – helping businesses go green in a very practical and cost efficient manner. GreenBizCheck certification is the first of its kind, low cost, high impact and comes with a full money back guarantee that companies will save the cost of certification in the first year. There is no risk and no excuse now for companies not to take action and implement the basics – reduce energy, water and waste and stand out as an environmentally responsible corporate citizen.

Now that we are though the hard stages of setting up a franchise model, we continue to appoint, train and support passionate franchise business owners who are energetic and keen to show businesses how beneficial it is to certify their business. No environmental experience is required, just enthusiasm and drive. More details at (GreenBizCheck)

Congratulations to Singapore airlines for making an effort to set an example on fuel savings and emissions.

Singapore Airlines paints its jetliners blue and gold, but the carrier went green on a flight between Los Angeles and Singapore.

The airline said a Boeing 747-400 completed one of the more environmentally friendly flights over the Pacific on Tuesday, saving more than 11 tons of fuel and reducing carbon emissions by more than 37 tons.

Flight SQ11 departed Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 31 and stopped in Tokyo before arriving in Singapore’s Changi Airport early Tuesday. The aircraft used about 6% less fuel than normally required for a similar flight.

The flight was part of the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions, or ASPIRE. The initiative is a partnership among carriers in the region to cut greenhouse gases and become more environmentally friendly, the airline said. SQ11 was ASPIRE’s fifth green flight.

To be more fuel-efficient, the aircraft underwent a number of maintenance measures, such as a detailed engine wash and airframe polish, before the flight. The airline also worked with aviation authorities in the U.S., Japan and Singapore to ensure optimal air traffic conditions.

“The route an aircraft takes, the altitude at which it flies and the weather it encounters all affect the amount of fuel it burns and the carbon dioxide emitted,” said Gerard Yeap, Singapore Airlines’ senior vice president of flight operations. “Managing this effectively and in real time is therefore very important for the operating carrier and the environment.”

When the final numbers came in, about 23,500 pounds of fuel were saved and more than 74,000 pounds of carbon emissions were eliminated, the airliner said. The flight was speedy too, because it came in about 30 minutes earlier than expected.

The passengers on the flight hardly noticed. In fact, most didn’t even know they were part of a test.

When we first started GreenBizCheck we emailed lots of people. We reunited with old contacts and we spread the word that Green Business Is Good Business. Now, finally people are starting to listen. Big companies, universities, industry associations, micro businesses and more are all starting to contact us for more information about how to effectively and efficiently green their business. This is great news as two years of substantial financial and time commitment is starting to pay off. The only downside is that we cannot keep up with communications and must now expand our response times to half a day instead of a few minutes when we first started out.

What have we learned? Email is fast and cheap but often sits unread as business people receive hundreds of messages every day. These emails all require some sort of action which has increased our productivity and volume of communication so much it is often paralyzing. Imagine if we sent as many letters as we now send emails? We would need to build bigger mail boxes and put the postmen on weight-training routines. I have now learned that if someone doesn’t reply, not to take it personally because the sheer volume of email is making it hard for us all to keep up and respond in a timely manner. Perhaps the only thing keeping me from toppling onto my keyboard with exhaustion, is that any email response I receive is a compliment that our communications are worth replying to! The final lesson for me is that each email counts and that if every email I write is relevant and important, just maybe recipients will spot my small line among their hundreds of messages and deem me worthy of a response.

Occasionally I have some time on weekends to read online, and stumbled across www.wordl66.com on Ben Groundwater’s excellent travel blog in the Sydney Morning Herald. Ben is a Y generation backpacker who writes really well. His recent blog was about choosing your next travel destination and how it is more exciting to try new destinations rather than places you have already been, although they are proven and you had a great time. So, go to world66.com and simply enter in the countries you have visited and the site gives you an excellent map of the ones you have already visited and the countries you still need to conquer. I could not believe how little of this planet I had covered in all my years of traveling. Look at the huge blank spaces in Canada, Eastern Europe, Asia an Africa!

To me, travel is the ultimate educational pastime. There is so much out there to see and experience, I just hope I can do it all in time!

I did not care how much they cost and had no concern if they did a good job – I just needed them right away. The problem was I could not find time in my day to search and call even one of these tradespeople even though it was urgent.

So here is my point – if extremely busy decision makers don’t have the time to conduct even the most urgent priorities in their everyday lives, how can they possibly have time to assess, question and commit to purchasing the world’s most beneficial products companies are trying to sell them?

The sales process is even harder than we think because we know we have a great product, with strong benefits at a great price, yet it is often painfully slow to generate consistent revenues. I believe the reason for slow sales is not about benefits or price, it is about decision makers literally having the time to say “yes sign me up.”

The solution – for the best results in professional selling, my view is that we must regularly get in front of decision makers, build a strong relationship, conduct a compelling presentation and obtain commitment on the spot. If we don’t close the sale right away – even the best product or service gets quickly lost in the crazy mayhem of everyday life.