×
×
homepage logo

Greg Kozera: What Successful Sales People Know Can Help You

By Staff | Sep 11, 2024

Last week I read a good column on the value of a tree, commercially (wood or fruit), beauty, shade in summer, fun like a tire swing or tree house and ecological benefits including taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and producing oxygen. My neighbor cleared an acre of trees for an eventual building. The grass he planted hasn’t done well in the dry weather. In a good rain, soil will wash away soil ending up in the Elk River. Trees and grass always prevented this. Foreign visitors are amazed by the number of trees we have and “How green it is here.”

Shale Crescent USA (SCUSA) is working with a company met at SelectUSA from India who wants to expand to the USA. SCUSA shared the business reasons for them to come like; Economical dependable energy, abundant water like the Ohio River, an experienced manufacturing workforce, location in the middle of half of U.S. consumers and potential industrial customers like the auto industry. A company from Europe visited recently and were amazed by the size of the Ohio River and the barge traffic.

The U.S. Operations President for the Indian company will be moving to the USA. I sent him a photo of Nathan, SCUSA President, and me having lunch in Marietta along the Muskingum River and included a photo of my wife Lynnda, who he knows, and me from our backyard fire pit. His response was immediate and positive. A quiet lunch along the river and an evening backyard firepit surrounded by trees are a big deal to a gentleman in India where they are uncommon. He wants to experience this quality of life with his family. It is just as important as the business reasons for expanding to the USA. Other foreign companies are planning their business visit so they can see the fall colors in our region.

Dependable economical energy we have in the Shale Crescent region is easy to take for granted. If we want air conditioning or heat, we change the thermostat. Last Saturday we lost our power for several hours. Suddenly no lights, air conditioning, cable TV or coffee pot. In India electric reliability is a problem with routine, sometimes daily power outages. The natural gas to produce electricity costs 8 times more than it does in the USA.

Last week at the West Virginia Chamber’s Business Summit there was a lot of discussion about electric power. We heard the USA will require an additional 100 GW in electricity by 2030. Most of this is for data centers and artificial intelligence (AI). This means over 33 more, 3 GW John Amos type baseload power plants are needed assuming all current coal and natural gas power plants remain in operation. Data is lost if a datacenter loses power. Data Centers require 100% baseload electricity backup 365 days a year. We learned under the current permitting structure it will take years just to get permits, making meeting 2030 demand almost impossible without changes. Senator Manchin has submitted a permitting reform bill in the U.S. Senate.

Baseload power is the minimum amount of electricity needed to be supplied to an electric power grid at any given time. It’s the power ensuring people have the electricity they need for their daily lives. Baseload power is typically coal, nuclear, geothermal, hydroelectric or natural gas

generated. Solar power with battery backup can also be baseload, understanding that batteries can only store electricity and require recharging. One panel at the Business Summit talked about the large amount of renewable power planned for West Virginia. There was not an opportunity for questions. Talking to a panel member at the evening reception, I learned none of the renewable power discussed would be baseload. Coal will need to stay on line and more natural gas power plants will need to be built to meet 24/7 data center, industry and consumer needs. We learned PJM, the power grid Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia belong to, is the most stable in the country and it is struggling to meet future base load demand. Other parts of the USA are in worse shape.

Hydrogen and small modular nuclear power have potential but are decades away and won’t help meet 2030 demand. If the U.S. EPA enforces new strict emissions requirements it may be difficult to keep some current power plants in operation. This would make our EPA responsible for power outages and related deaths. Small consolation for family members who lose loved ones. Do we just hope for the best? Hope is never a plan.

Every successful sales person knows the best way to increase revenue quickly is to sell more to existing customers. It takes a long time to develop a new customer. It is quicker to create jobs by helping existing businesses to grow in the region. It takes years to get most new plants built. An existing business can add a line or a shift in months. Our friends Willey and Dee Jolley are marriage mentors. They have a program for couples on relationship repair which is much cheaper than a divorce and moving on to a new relationship with the same issues that destroyed the first relationship.

Like in sales or relationships, new research and pilot projects show it is cheaper and quicker to decarbonize existing energy sources while developing new ones. This can be done to meet demand years before new power sources are available or the Chinese take the lead in AI. Building new coal power plants isn’t a problem for China.

The beauty of trees, quality of life, personal relationships and energy should never be taken for granted. When power goes off people have died. Power demand is increasing. Successful sales people take care of existing customers. We can take care of our trees, quality of life, our relationships and existing energy sources while working on new energy sources. We can have abundant energy, maintain quality of life and keep people safe for many years into the future.