On March 17, 2009, we won’t be adding green dye to our drinks (it doesn’t change the color of coffee anyway), but we will be continuing our efforts to add “green” thinking to our business practices.  Like most of you, we’ve learned how to adjust our thinking to conserve energy, to recycle, to car-pool – but it’s one thing to think about doing it and quite another to actually do it.

At Perry & Co., we’ve been recycling all of our business paper for many years.  The recognizable blue bins can be seen at every staff person’s desk and at all our printing stations.  We recycle so much that Denver Recycles gave us our own dumpsters.

As most of you know, we tour our new property listings every week – ensuring that any agent answering the phone at our floor desk has actually seen your home and can answer questions about it.  Plus, all of us are passionate about real estate and this weekly trip allows us to see and feel what we sell.  This requires a LOT of driving, all over metro Denver, and frankly, it’s too important to give up.  So, the tour is planned a day in advance to allow for the most efficient use of time and gas.  And, of course, we car-pool.  I’m always amazed at how many agents can comfortably fit into Dagley Arnold’s Mini Cooper, or Katie Hulings’ Toyota Prius.

Direct mail, flyers and brochures are used to sell our listings and they are an important part of our marketing efforts.  While it’s comforting to know that ALL of our printed materials can be recycled once they are received, we also use a 30% recycled-paper product for printing.  In addition, we limit mailings that require envelopes, preferring to market using postcards.  Three years ago we brought a lot of our printing in-house to alleviate trips to the copy center.  Additionally, all company printers are default set to print two-sided.

Of course, it’s always lights out at the end of the day and now that Daylight Savings Time is here and it’s lighter throughout the afternoon we keep our upstairs lights down in our headquarters office to keep it cooler during the warm weather. 

Several of our agents have their EcoBroker designation – Dave Browning, Karen Nichols and Mary Sullivan-Ridge – and are educated about green building techniques for remodeling and retrofitting homes to conserve, and re-use, energy.

Several other Perry & Co. Agents committed themselves to getting the National Association of Realtors’ Green Designation this year in honor of St. Patrick.  They include Amy Shonstrom, Corrie Lee, Diana Garrett and Barb Sheldon.

We’re always open to new ideas about being green and would love to hear yours.  The patron saint of Ireland would probably be glad to know that folks are using the “green” moniker and his namesake day to be more responsible, more respectful and ultimately gentler towards this beautiful planet we call home (Don’t forget Earth Day is right around the corner on April 22^nd).

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from all of us at Perry & Co. – where Green is a standard business practice!

Written by Perry & Co Marketing Director Lorrie Grillo